Fox And His Friends
HIGH Interesting mash-up of ideas and a cute aesthetic.
LOW Two crashes.
WTF A pirate wolf chugging explosive fluid to make himself buff is the first boss.
Trifox is a bizarre example of a game that was not quite what I expected. Developer Glowfish Interactive billed it as “Inspired by the golden age of 3D platformers.” and on the surface, I can totally see that. It’s an adventure starring an animal mascot and uses simplistic visuals that are clearly an homage to that era, something I’ve talked about in the past.
Despite that, Trifox is not a 3D platformer. Rather, it’s a twin-stick action title with light platforming elements. Shown from an isometric perspective, players control a fox on a journey to track down evil looters who stole his TV. The titular Trifox is a master engineer and fighter, gearing himself up to take down enemies across four distinct worlds.
As mentioned, most of the 3D platformer comparisons are surface-level. The main difference between this and ‘classic’ platformers is a focus on action and building up skills. Combat sees the player fighting off hordes of enemies that range from standard grunts to bizarre ones like ninjas that spin themselves around. To put them down, Trifox has attacks that are separated into three different classes — Engineer, Warrior, and Mage — which can be upgraded in the hub, and mixed and matched to the player’s preference.
For example, the Engineer class has a backpack that converts to a helipack to make traversal easier. The Warrior can wield a large hammer with a special slam attack, and the Mage can warp around. Other abilities include a dodge roll, being able to build a turret, a shield to block projectiles and more. There’s plenty of variety and the combinations are pretty wild. Using a minigun on a group of enemies from afar while closing the gaps to take them out with my hammer is enjoyable, as is setting three flamethrower turrets to take out brutes.
Despite not being a platformer, there’s still a lot of jumping involved. Thankfully, the fixed camera never gets in the way due to a small circle appearing under Trifox to let players know where they will land. There are puzzles to complete, and like the platforming, they’re all fairly simple to solve, but provide a decent change of pace.
While I enjoyed my time with Trifox, my main issue with it that it crashed on me a few times. It was nothing too damaging to the overall experience thanks to a generous checkpoint system. Still, it was annoying having to load the game back up after sudden crashes. Hopefully a few patch or two will get this all ironed out.
Simple yet enjoyable, Trifox is a bit like a throwback in the best ways, yet manages to find its own lane. The gameplay is creative and the aesthetics are nice, and despite not being a straightforward “platformer,” I was pleasantly surprised by this one.
Disclosures: This game is published by Big Sugar and developed by Glowfish Interactive. It is available on Switch, PS4/PS5, PC and XBO/X/S.This copy was obtained via the publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 8 hours were spent in singleplayer and were completed. There is no multiplayer.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10 for Fantasy Violence. There’s some cartoony and light violence here that is totally fine for young children.
Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no dialogue in the game and there are plenty of visual cues present, but those cannot be adjusted. There are no audio cues needed for gameplay. This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped and there is a control diagram.
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