Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is a fun, but flawed action-platformer that may deliver a lot of thrills for fans of the series, but lacks enough substance to be a must-buy for those coming in cold. It’s a good game technically, but one with levels that lack soul and a rock-solid layout. What’s here is done well — but it could be done better. The graphical design in particular feels like something from a bygone era with iffy-looking character models and environments that are dull and lifeless. There’s a lot of life to the world around you, but the darker visual look of everything beguiles it and doesn’t do it much justice. Thankfully, it’s still a fun romp in part to the show’s voice cast shining and the excellent soundtrack making the adventure fun to listen to.

At the end of the day Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia has far too many issues to be worth a player's time. Most of the gameplay mechanics may be functional, but they are boring and repetitive. The storyline isn't awful, but doesn't hold up against the critically acclaimed Trollhunters TV show, and to top it all off the bugs make Defenders of Arcadia basically unplayable at times. Even if this was a free mobile title it still wouldn't be worth a playthrough except for maybe the most loyal of fans - but as a console game purchase, this is a pass for anyone.

It didn’t have to be this way. WayForward has worked minor miracles with licensed fare before – see Aliens: Infestation and The Mummy Demastered. But this is work for hire of the most rotten kind, showing total contempt for the fans it hopes to lure in with a bright, likeable licence. Trollhunters is one of the less enjoyable things to happen to us this year. Given what a year it’s been, that is quite a feat.