E3 2019: Hands On with Modus Games

At E3 2019, I got to meet with the minds behind Modus Games and received an inside look at some of their upcoming titles. Modus Games has a delightful library, and the games they showcased at E3 2019 are ones to keep an eye on! Here are my thoughts on two of their upcoming titles: Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince and Ary and the Secret of Seasons.

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince

The Trine series continues with the newest installment, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince. If you are unfamiliar with the series, Trine is a platformer where you utilize three characters (a Knight, a Thief, and a Wizard) and their skills to overcome a variety of challenging puzzles and enemies. Trine 4 takes all of the best elements of the series and adds new functions to create fresh yet familiar gameplay. For instance, Amadeus (the Wizard) can now conjure spheres, Zoya (the Thief) has frozen arrows added to her quiver, and Pontius (the Warrior) has the ability to reflect items off of his shield.

In the demo, I got to play through Pontius’ Tutorial level. I had so much fun battling and solving platforming puzzles, all the while listening to Pontius’ charming dialogue. The Boss Fight at the end of the Tutorial was tough yet rewarding. Bosses in Trine 4 are puzzle-centric, and can also deal a great amount of damage if you’re not being careful. The Cursed Knight was landing some pretty nasty blows on me; however, once I figured out how to defeat him, it was exhilarating lining up my Shield Reflect and taking him down!

Along with the gameplay, the art and sound design of Trine 4 are remarkable. Sweeping fantasy soundtracks play as you explore a number of delicately detailed levels; each with their own unique story, sound, and color design. The developers stated that a lot of the locations were inspired by Finnish Folklore. This gives the fantasy world of Trine 4 a personalized touch, rather than your standard vague fantasy landscape. Overall, this was one of my favorite titles I played at E3 2019. I cannot wait to explore the full story of Trine 4 on my Switch!

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince will be available in 2019 for the Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince

Ary and the Secret of Seasons

The powers of the seasons are at your beck and call in Ary and the Secret of Seasons. In this adventure game, you must use the unique powers of the Seasons to defeat foes, clear through problems, and save the world of Valdi. You’ll have the ability to manipulate the world around you using the powers of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter and you are not limited to just one Season. Ary can have three different Season spheres operating at any given moment. This allows you to create unique gameplay moments for you and your enemies!

During my in-depth look at the game, I got to experience one of the Boss battles. During the battle, Ary had to utilize the power of Winter to reveal icy blue platforms that allowed her to scale up to the Boss. Winter is a Season that not only produces snow and freezes water into ice, but it also reveals hidden platforms for the player to use. Later in the fight, the Boss was firing powerful flames Ary’s way. And what is the best way to stop fire? Water of course, which Fall is full of! Just at the right moment, I watched Ary shoot an arrow full of the power of Fall at the Boss. Finally, it was sent tumbling to the ground, laying prone for Ary’s attack.

The powers of the Seasons not only creates unique environmental opportunities, but they also manifest into some stunning visuals. Each Season creates a completely different look on the landscape around you (see for yourself in the screenshot below!) Moreover, I am personally really excited by the idea of environmental manipulation being the central gameplay element. This kind of unique and innovative gameplay inspires me as a gamer, and I look forward to wielding the power of the Seasons myself next year!

Ary and the Secret of Seasons will be available in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.