Troll and I has the potential to be a must-play adventure but its lack of fine-tuning makes it an often haphazard experience that'll test your patience more than it provides enjoyment. Here's hoping the developers retool it down the road or perhaps learn from their mistakes and create a more refined sequel because they definitely have a winning formula on their hands.

While the team’s modest size is betrayed by the game’s myriad technical issues, what they’ve attempted here is, quite honestly, laudable. Maybe they’d do well to view this as a functional blueprint for a future project that builds on the good work that’s been accomplished—I know I’ll be waiting for what’s next. Here’s hoping the bugs get patched out and that we eventually get a Troll and I sequel, one that focuses on cleaner controls and a more emotionally engaging story.

Troll and I is a game whose ambition is deflated by a lack of polish and a worrying absence of player guidance. Combat feels serviceable, if a little unsatisfying, and they find good reasons to switch between the two titular protagonists. There’s an endearing story at play but the game itself has enough issues to stifle the most enthusiastic player. Repercussions from poor execution prevent this from being a truly worthwhile experience.

I wish I could be more kind to this game, considering it’s an indie title with big ambition, but considering Horizon: Zero Dawn and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out only a few weeks ago, and how similar Troll and I is trying to be to those games, there’s really no excusing it.

A longer development period might have made this into something more playable, but it would still be a game of rehashed concepts notable only for its sheer banality. [May 2017, p.96]

Slapping down poor video games never brings me much pleasure, especially those that genuinely show promise. While it has a unique setting and some solid ideas, boring level design and a general lack of imagination when piecing together all of these components leaves me with very little to praise.

Troll and I is ambitious but rubbish, with flawed mechanics and weak storytelling.