What Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is a 2.5D puzzle platformer from Frozenbyte, the fifth entry in the Trine series. You play as three heroes: Amadeus the Wizard, Zoya the Thief, and Pontius the Knight. Their reputations have been tarnished, their loved ones are in danger, and their magical powers are at stake, so they reunite to push back a Clockwork army and bring peace back to the kingdom. The journey takes you through richly detailed fantasy landscapes with a new cast of characters, some allies and some foes, plus boss encounters and a new combat system. Levels, puzzles and battles are more numerous than in earlier entries, and a fairytale soundtrack with returning and new voice actors runs underneath it all.
Playing it together as a group
The game supports 1 to 4 players, so your group can run it solo, in local co-op, or in online co-op. Each player takes one of the three heroes, and the heroes' different toolkits are meant to be combined to get past obstacles, which is where the co-op play really sits. The puzzle difficulty system adapts to how many people are in the session, so a full group and a smaller one both get a challenge that fits. Remote Play Together is also available if someone wants to join from a distance.
Before you start
Combat and puzzles both scale through the adaptive difficulty system, so the game can be tuned up or down rather than locked to one setting. There is a skill quest system that lets you level up each hero's abilities and shape how they play, so expect to spend time growing your character between levels. Outfits are customisable for each hero if you want to change how they look. The game is tagged as family friendly and colourful, but it does include combat and boss fights alongside the platforming and puzzle work.