Motion of the Ocean.
With the likes of Sea of Thieves, Skull and Bones, Ys: Nordic, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza, and even Cat Quest III, the era of pirate games is at an all-time high. While their quality varies from game to game, many allow you to explore an open ocean as you attempt to make a name for yourself. On that note, developer 3DClouds brings us Trident’s Tale, a swashbuckling adventure on the seven seas that, while it does entertain, much of its treasure could use a bit of polish.
You play as the appropriately named Ocean, a young girl with dreams of being a pirate. Living on a small island and fairly isolated, she wishes to get out and embrace excitement on the sea. However, after a quick gathering of her friend’s tools, she discovers a lost fragment of the Trident, a mystical weapon once wielded by an evil force known as Thaloq. Many years ago, Thaloq was defeated and imprisoned; however, like any once long forgotten evil, it finds a way back. And once Ocean discovers this fragment, skeletons attack her island, capturing her friend as she is forced to flee the island and track down the remaining fragments.
Trident’s Tale feels very much like a Saturday morning cartoon. The voice acting feels suited for a very young audience with some “one-take” deliveries, and a very matter-of-fact script of one-liners and cheesy jokes. Its characters are not particularly memorable or well-defined, but they do fit the cliches needed to flesh out the group of allies that will aid Ocean in battle and save the world from Thaloq.
Ocean herself is very high-spirited and fearless, willing to take on danger regardless of the cost. There is some good character development with her regarding her parents, which, while a tad limited in how much they dig into it, is fairly well handled. Ocean’s drive to collect the fragments attracts many to her side, such as Frank, an adorable little skeleton man, Pedro the musician, Aleq, a user of the mystic arts, Nik, a chemist with a penchant for explosives, and Helen, an naval officer with a pet seagull who wishes to aid Ocean in her efforts. The cast is fairly engaging, but rarely interacts as a group. On their own, there is a lot to like about them, but the story never uses them as the community needed to rally around Ocean.
Like an episode of a Saturday morning cartoon, each piece of the fragment is where you’ll meet these characters, which explains the attention they get individually. It’s a shame there were not more cutscenes that had them together, interacting in ways that showed the various personalities mixing and maybe even butting heads. We do get a few repetitive text-only conversations like Pedro wanting to drink, while we are out sailing, but these are not as in-depth as I wish they could have been.
Each ally comes with an ability that will serve Ocean well. In fact, some can turn the game from a very challenging affair to a mere cakewalk. Frank can summon skeletal arms that damage enemies who get near them, even if enemies tend to walk around and ignore the aoe, whereas Pedro can lend his violin to Ocean to heal on the spot while damaging her foes. Aleq can apply curses to enemies while Nik brings some fire blasts that cause burn to your foes, each of which are not terribly functional in battle. However, Helen, who is the final ally you’ll recruit, has a devastating cannonball attack that you’ll never unequip; it is that good. These skills are also upgraded via Grog, a drink you’ll earn very easily or buy from a few vendors. In fact, once you upgrade Pedro and Helen’s abilities, you’ll be set for the rest of the game and never look back.
Ocean herself can be improved through her crafting. Your sword, gun, hat, and clothes can be crafted as you discover new blueprints and gather materials. You’ll craft these on your ship and while it is beyond easy to craft them, the game does a poor job at explaining how crafting works, at least initially. When you get your first bench, it is unclear how to get the next workbench. And since most of what you need to craft requires that next bench, right off the bat, you’ll be left wondering just how you’ll obtain this and when. Hint: Just keep playing the story.
Materials for crafting come from nearly everything you do. You’ll find chests as you explore, cargo in the ocean that you’ll gather as you sail by, or through shopkeepers on each of the game’s colorful and detailed islands. Some items may require that you down certain vessels or sea monsters, so you’ll want to upgrade your ship in the same way as you improve your heavy and chained cannons, the figurehead of your boat, the quarterdeck, to the hull, and its sails. To add, the same abilities that Ocean herself can use can be equipped to her ship. So yeah, Helen’s cannonballs and Pedro’s healing? You’ll never unequip them, ever.
Combat has two flavors, through Ocean herself, and via her ship. Combat through Ocean is handled with regular and heavy attacks of her sword, firing off her gun, and using a small array of powers granted by her allies. While I initially would have loved a block or a parry, I can understand why they didn't include them. Combat with Ocean is meant to be simple since the powers she will gain is where the majority of her damage comes from. And since enemies all attack at once, being able to block or parry would simply leave you open for attack. You are meant to dodge around the battlefield, attacking to build up the charge to use your abilities, and repeat.
Ship combat has about as much depth here with attacking either forward, backwards, or on each side of the ship. Upgrading your cannons and durability is priority, and you'll do that via blueprints you'll discover as you progress throughout the story. You can drop your sails to turn on a dime or have them set up to speed around, even if some fights are a tad too long due to the minimal health you are chipping off. That said, building up to fire off Helen’s cannonballs is where you'll destroy ships in seconds, collecting their goods as a reward, even if the money earned from each ship is a bit paltry.
With colorful characters and fairly spacious little towns and islands to explore, Trident's Tale is a visually fun and engaging game. It has a look you've seen before, but that doesn't discount the fun you can have here, provided you are ok with its rough edges and lack of polish with a wonky camera and some issues with the lock on.
If I had to call out the biggest issue with Trident's Tale, it is how you die. If you fall off a cliff, or get hit by a series of floor spikes, it is game over. Sure, you can reload your last save or checkpoint, but why not put me back up at the top of the cliff or behind the spikes with reduced health? This absolutely sucks during one of the final boss encounters, and hell, even the last one has a few dumb instant death attacks that have been extremely annoying.
Now, my time with the game was entirely on the Steam Deck, and apart from some tiny font, the game ran absolutely perfectly. It ran buttery smooth with no issues whatsoever. Now, that said, I did initially try playing this on the Switch and it was a mess. The game, which often ran at 10-15 frames per second, was nearly unplayable as combat was laggy and unresponsive. While a patch may fix it, I don't recommend the game on the Switch whatsoever.
Trident's Tale is a pretty fun time. It's a fun swashbuckling adventure that plays like a Saturday morning cartoon. The characters are fairly likeable with mixed performances, but the ship combat and fights our hero, Ocean, will have are likely where people are going to get the most out of this game, even if they lack polish and features to make them stand out.
Developer - 3DClouds. Publisher - 3DClouds. Released - May 22nd, 2025. Available On - Xbox One/Series X/S, PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC. Rated - (E 10) Fantasy Violence. Platform Reviewed - PC, Nintendo Switch. Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.