Trident’s Tale Review: Ambitious Yet Flawed

Even in the 9th generation of video games, quality pirate-themed games remain surprisingly rare. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Sid Meier’s Pirates stand out as some of the best in this expansive genre. Others, like Like A Dragon: Pirates and Sea of Thieves, have shown promise but seem to fall short due to notable flaws. Triden’t Tale aims to capture this similar adventurous pirate spirit with a whimsical, childlike charm reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Trident’s Tale is a single-player pirate adventure developed and published by 3DClouds. It was released on May 22, 2025, and is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.

When Sails Fall Flat

Trident’s tale centers on Ocean, a young pirate on a mission to recover the legendary Storm Trident and save her kidnapped guardian. While the premise has its moments of intrigue, the plot leans too much on repetitive fetch quests and lacks fresh ideas. The world is colorful and lively, but the dialogue and character interactions feel flat, making it hard to connect emotionally with the journey.

Still, it offers a structured, single-player experience. However, its predictable storyline and repetitive quests fail to match the thrill of more dynamic pirate adventures. The plot and writing feel shallow and uninspired. Considering its target audience, it’s clearly designed for a pre-adolescent crowd, which teens and adults might not find appealing.

Ambition That Needs Inspiration

In Trident’s Tale, players embark on adventures across vibrant islands, solving puzzles, recruiting quirky crewmates, battling at sea, and facing mythical sea creatures. Unfortunately, these elements fall short. Sailing feels rigid, puzzles and quests are repetitive and lack originality, crewmates are underdeveloped and need more depth, and while the mythical creatures are decent, their battles are underwhelming due to the clunky combat system.

The game could benefit from additional ideas for exploration and sailing, similar to the indie title Tchia, which uses landmarks for navigation across the vast ocean and embodies a whimsical charm. Combat should feel more responsive, and special powers, shooting mechanics, and inventory management need to be more streamlined.

Despite its relatively small size, it does include a large map, but most of the locations remain empty and feel indistinguishable, lacking unique landmarks or vistas. It comes across as a small city stretched over a vast sea, where you steer a ship that feels lifeless while sailing. While you can adjust the sail speed, it never even remotely matches the sailing experience of titles like The Wind Waker or Tchia.

A Decent Port

The game performs surprisingly well technically. I managed to run it at 1440p despite having a GPU with very low memory by 2025 standards. Even if your PC isn’t the best, it’s likely you’ll be able to play it. Its simplistic visuals generally look good and might be its strongest feature.

That being said, there are a few technical issues like texture streaming and pop-up, but nothing too significant to disrupt the player experience. Given its simplistic visuals, it could be further optimized to enhance performance with upscaling support such as DLSS and FSR.

Real Talk

Trident’s Tale delivers a colorful and whimsical pirate adventure that’s perfect for younger audiences, but it stumbles in execution. While its vibrant world and lighthearted storytelling are charming, the predictable narrative and repetitive quests lack substance. The stiff sailing mechanics, lackluster combat, and forgettable characters make it less appealing to seasoned players. Although it performs well technically, the world feels barren, limiting exploration and immersion. In the end, it fails to measure up to iconic pirate games like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or The Wind Waker.

FINAL SCORE: 60/100