Trove - Build and Battle in Your Own World

A Blocky MMORPG for Loot-fest Fans

Creating a World

The last several years have taught players that it's not what a game looks like that matters, but rather how it plays. The success of games like Minecraft and Terraria have allowed players to look past AAA graphics in search of fantastic game-play. Trove sticks to a lo-fi aesthetic, but whether that's in service of a better game is up to the individual player's expectations and experience.

Elements of Design

Trove often feels like it is the forgotten child of Minecraft and World of Warcraft, a voxel-based game that desperately wants to be an MMO. There's nothing particularly new about either half of its heritage, of course, but Trove doesn't want to be new - it just wants to take what works from two different genres. On that note, at least, it succeeds.

...>Trove is a rare book that you can judge by its cover.

Trove looks and feels like a big Minecraft mod, and that feeling carries throughout the game. There's not much of a story here, but there is plenty of room to explore and create. It's an MMO that divests itself of some of the genre's more common trappings, for good or ill.

A Blocky World

To some degree, it feels a little weird to judge Trove for its aesthetic. This game really wants to feel like Minecraft, so it decidedly apes that same style. The problem, though, is that what feels smart and unique in Minecraft doesn't feel quite as extraordinary here. Trove feels like one of the hordes of voxel-based games that tried to make it big in Minecraft's wake, and it suffers for that.

Where Trove should have taken more from Minecraft, though, is in the sound department. There's no excellent score here, no fantastic ambient noise to make you keep your volume turned on. Instead, it's just generic sound and noise, enough to give you some audio cues but not enough to stop you from turning on Spotify while you play. It's

Creating an Adventure - Gameplay: 4/5

Where Trove shines is in its gameplay. It's certainly not perfect, but it is very interesting for a free game. While it advertises itself as an MMO, it feels a lot more like a loot grinding game. Though this isn't bad, if you enjoy games like Diablo or Titan Quest, you'll feel at home here.

....>The creative bits are what make the game stand out.

Trove allows you to build your own house, which isn't all that unique. What's unique, though, is that you can carry that house with you and plop it down on various worlds. Getting to create something that you see in the game is amazing, and not having it tethered to one place is even better. The Club Worlds are this writ large, and all the little bits and pieces of creativity in the game help it stand out.

A New World

Trove is an imperfect MMO that still manages to be fun. It's not going to dethrone WoW anytime soon, but it's an excellent example of how to do free-to-play correctly. With great loot mechanics and some fun creative aspects, you'll find it hard to step away from it.

TL/DR

Trove is a F2P MMO that combines loot grinding with the building to create something special.