Platform: PC

Developer: Rat King Games

Publisher: Rising Star Games

# of Players 1

ESRB Rating: N/A

Official Site

Score: A (95%)

It’s very hard to believe two people (Jana Reinhardt and Friedrich Hanisch) programmed the stellar TRI: Friendship and Madness, but that’s what it says on the official site and in the game credits. This family-friendly first person puzzle game plays like a hybrid child of Portal and a very well made Minecraft mod where you soon find the only limitations to solving the increasingly challenging levels are your imagination and sense of exploration. The game starts off small as a simple, somewhat straightforward Point A to Point B “find the keys to clear the level” experience, but once you get to drawing triangular platforms that can send you almost anywhere on a map, the game opens up into pure brain expanding territory.

Despite the often high level of challenge in reaching some really out of the way items, once you get the hang of things, the game is always a joy to play, particularly when you’re making your own route around the expansive and often gravity defying maps that have you moving around at seemingly impossible angles…

 
Then again, the game is set in a highly stylized polygonal world that’s colorful and always gorgeous to look at. There’s a definite nod to Japanese culture in the story about elder gods, foxes and locating said foxes in statue form as well as tracking down one crafty and very elusive fox that appears throughout the levels, always just out of reach and leading you to some dicey pathways (sometimes seemingly) to nowhere as you try to catch it. The first few levels are more or less training wheels that show you plenty of tricks as you’re slowly eased into seeing that you’ll soon be able to make your way around by… making your way around. Using your mouse, you’ll e able to draw triangle-shaped platforms to use as bridges, ramps, steps and other helpful triangular-shaped areas in order to defy gravity and make your move to even the most out of the way fox stature or other goodie.

If you have a flat surface to start from, you can place those triangles almost anywhere you like. However, they need to be yellow (meaning you can walk/run/jump on them) or else you’ll need to figure out (with a little twisting and turning) what to do with those “unusable” red triangles you’ve just placed (or stumble across in your travels). One thing to consider is at some point, up and down don’t quite exist as they do in the real world (or most game worlds, for that matter), so sometimes a perspective shift is what’s needed (literal and figurative, I’d say). You can take levels at your own pace and explore at will, something that’s highly recommended as the game doesn’t use a hint system at all. That first person view forces you to stop and look around at times during a map so you can see where a ledge you can build starts or ends at or perhaps a collectible that seems impossible to reach.

You’re also free to “TRI” building up some platforms and walkways to find a vantage point in most maps, which can result in some “Aha!” moments as a solution or three to some particularly troublesome puzzles pops into view. The game rewards your curiosity and punishes those who go in playing it as yet another platformer. Think outside the box and you’ll leave each level with a grin or broad smile. Fail to commit to the game’s gentle gray matter kick in the pants and you’ll come away frustrated and annoyed by the lack of hand-holding. To me, this is far smarter (and old-school) game design than other titles that casually guide you through every step and generously hand out tips if you linger for a few seconds in an area.

I was initially concerned that the keyboard/mouse only controls would be a slight to moderate detriment to the experience (hey, I was raised on consoles), but given that a mouse is a far more precise drawing tool than a game pad, my concerns were muted pretty much entirely. Jumping can be a bit tricky, but Rat King made the game with some leeway for younger players or those not used to first-person navigation across some seemingly impossible leaps of faith and other jumpy situations. That, and if you or your kids play Minecraft or have tried Portal out, you’re already used to this sort of movement.

Some patching took care of a few minor issues I had with the game, so I won’t bring them up here. I really have no complaints at all other than to say it’s too bad this probably won’t pop up on a console at all, but I could see it as a Wii U surprise sleeper hit that actually uses that stylus no one seems to know comes in that GamePad. As noted, the game looks great and the music (from an assortment of sources) is a wide range of calming tunes, bouncy modern beats and other stuff that’s always fitting. The game is also pretty lengthy, but you can choose to make a beeline for the fox statues and exits or tackle trying to find every hidden thing you can (or can’t yet) see. Doing so rewards you with artwork, behind the scenes commentary and more, so this one is great for completion freaks like me who didn’t see everything in one play through and plan to go back for more in the near future.

To sum up, TRI: Friendship and Madness is brilliant, beautiful and blissfully boundless in what it brings to the table. Rising Star Games scores another winner and yep, over time they’ve become another one of those solid publishers (actual) gamers can look to for some nicely quirky indie or mainstream titles. Buy it and show it off to a friend or someone you know who loves puzzle games of any type and I’ll bet they’re hooked in as much as you are. I’m not sure how Rat King Games will follow this one up, but I like the ideas of dungeons and towers and adventuring through them with physics and puzzles galore on the plate. All that makes me wonder if the dynamic duo of Reinhardt and Hanisch) happen to also love role-playing games, as adding that into the mix could really turn that genre on its head if everything comes up aces with that combination… one can only hope, right?

-GW
Review code provided by Rising Star Games

(Note: A screenshot gallery will go up tomorrow, as I’m on a slooooow connection today!)