Developer WayForward decided to take a crack at Guillermo Del Toro's popular and award-winning Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia series by adapting it into a 2D action platformer called Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia. While the characters and the visuals are similar, the game is completely devoid of any of the charm the series is known for. Even the biggest fans of the Tales of Arcadia franchise are likely to be disappointed by this lackluster effort.
The visuals are one of the few good things that Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia has going for it. Each of the character models look exactly like their TV show counterparts, and all of the trolls populating the game's hub world are full of life with each one having its own individual personality. All of the areas and levels are modeled closely after the different locales of the TV show, which is a nice touch. Enemy designs may not be a varied as they could be, but they are well-designed with very fluid motions and actions.
Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia's gameplay, however, feels ripped straight out of a bad mobile game. Combat is simplified so much that it is hard to enjoy, since every encounter boils down to hitting one button until everything dies. There is no dodging, blocking, or strategy involved with killing enemies. The only tactic at the players disposal is to hit the enemy before they have a chance to deal damage. Enemies with projectiles are the worst, because they are near impossible to avoid.
Platforming isn't any better than the combat mechanics. Most of the levels in Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia are so generic and linear that players really just have to hold right on the control stick for the entire level and then jump whenever they see a pit or hanging platform. This was fine for platforming games in the 1980s, but video games have evolved way past that point in the last 40 years. There is also little incentive to kill enemies or collect coins and other collectibles, since the few upgrades that players can purchase do little to improve their abilities.
One of the biggest issues with Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is how confusing it is despite being such a simple and linear title. The game never explains exactly how to do certain actions, like sliding, which is necessary to progress through certain areas. The game also never explains how to access missions, so players will most likely find themselves wandering aimlessly around the hub world before realizing that they need to use the map in their inventory to access the next mission.
Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia has a storyline, but it is a very generic one that doesn't capture the charm of the property its based around. A new troll has appeared named Porgon who somehow managed to track down a time travel device. With this device he sends main character Jake into several alternate timelines that he must then protect. There is little explanation as to how the time travel device works or why Porgon is messing with the timeline. If the gameplay was more interesting this could be forgiven, but the lack of fun mechanics make this lackluster story even more apparent.
Players should also be aware that Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is loaded with bugs. There were several instances of platforms that were supposed to move but wouldn't, which would force a game restart. Other times, the game would freeze at the beginning of the mission and crash. These bugs were persistent throughout Defenders of Arcadia.
At the end of the day Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia has far too many issues to be worth a player's time. Most of the gameplay mechanics may be functional, but they are boring and repetitive. The storyline isn't awful, but doesn't hold up against the critically acclaimed Trollhunters TV show, and to top it all off the bugs make Defenders of Arcadia basically unplayable at times. Even if this was a free mobile title it still wouldn't be worth a playthrough except for maybe the most loyal of fans - but as a console game purchase, this is a pass for anyone.
Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch September 25th, 2020. A Nintendo Switch code was provided for the purposes of this review.