Foxes and temples and triangles, oh my!
"What friendship truly means is something you see only when your commitment gets challenged."
Released on Steam in October 2014, TRI: Of Friendship and Madness
is an indie Puzzle Game about spatial awareness and manipulating a three-dimensional environment to progress and uncover secrets. It was developed by Rat King Games and published by Rising Star, with a World Music-inspired soundtrack by King Ludi.
Following the guidance of a mysterious temple monk, the player is tasked with entering the Odd Gods' World in hopes of finding where one of the missing fox deities of this realm disappeared off to.
A first-person puzzle platformer with emphasis on reality-defying puzzles in the same vein as Antichamber, TRI: Of Friendship and Madness' main gimmick is the TRI; the eponymous artifact that gives its holder the ability to construct endless triangles. Using the TRI, the player must explore various locations in the Odd Gods' World, solving puzzles and collecting red fox statues along the way.
TRI: Of Friendship and Madness contains examples of:
- Acid Pool: A frequent sight after Wings in the Void. Particularly jarring as there weren't any ways to die prior to them.
- Alien Geometries: On occasion, some things aren't quite what they seem.
- Climbing to the top of the Tower of Nowhere in chapter 3 reveals that you can drop down inside it; doing so, however, takes you to a room much larger than the tower itself.
- In the same chapter, after exploring a large inside area, you'll come across a corner in a hallway. Stepping around it reveals that it loops in on itself, and you'll soon realize you're back at the outside of the tower.
- Baby Planet: Chapter 15 contains a few, some of which are rotating or half-domed.
- Collection Sidequest: Scattered throughout the levels are small Golden Fox Idols, some of which are hidden so well they have their own achievements associated with finding them.
- Cool Gate: Most notably is the entrance to the Odd Gods' World. If the player turns around at the start of Chapter 2, they'll see a series of hollow triangles rotating in opposite directions leading into a blinding light. And that's just where you came from.
- Cool Mask: The Monk.
- Energy Ball: Kami, wayward balls of Pure Energy that follow a preset path until they're interacted with. They don't damage you, not even the red ones, and can turn into Pinball Projectiles if they touch a TRI.
- Eternal Engine: Chapter 12, Out of the Box, takes place inside a building... Inside an even bigger building. It's a towering vertical level with enormous gears turning on the sides, and even the rooms themselves shift around with a pull of a lever. Add the Kami flowing throughout and it invokes a feeling of constant motion.
- Everything Fades: Broken vases, books, and blocks will all eventually fade away into nothingness - likely to prevent the pieces from getting in the way or providing an unintentional advantage.
- Force-Field Door
- Foreshadowing: In Red Means Dangerous, there are several apparitions of the red fox growling and snarling at a downward-pointing laser in the center of the room. Cut to the final chapter in the game, Madness, and you'll find out that in order to catch the fox, you'll have to make use of a downward-pointing laser.
- Gravity Screw: And how. Nearly every chapter focuses on defying the laws of gravity in some manner, whether it's caused by the environment itself or from walking up walls and ceilings with the TRI.
- Jump Physics: Due to the vertical layouts of some areas, it's no wonder why there's no Falling Damage.
- Mr. Exposition: The Monk. Justified in that he's the only other character you meet who can talk.
- Puzzle Boss: During the final chapter, you have to carefully set up a trap for the fox with the TRI rather than trying to outright catch him. You bait him with triangles early on, but it's the final red light ray puzzle that puts your wit to the test.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red and blue foxes, respectively.
- Reflecting Laser: After collecting a certain Power-Up the TRI is able to reflect lasers rather than simply block them. This goes for the red ones, as well.
- Rule of Three: Each chapter requires collecting three red fox statues.
- See No Evil, Hear No Evil: The fox makes a jingling bell sound, but only when he's within the player's line of sight.
- Unlockable Content: If the player collects enough Golden Idols, they'll unlock new bonus content accessible on the main menu. These can be anything from concept art pictures to enabling developer commentary for the levels.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: According to the monk, acolytes previously enjoyed using the powers of the TRI, though he can't quite remember if they went insane because of it or not. What he does know is that the more power a being has, the easier it is for this loss of sanity to occur."Perhaps it is a good thing you are only human?"
- This turns out to be the root cause of the red fox's disappearance, and due to His status as a god, His insanity set in extremely quickly.
