There was a period of time in the early to mid-2000s when motion controls burst onto the scene in console gaming. Between the EyeToy and the Kinect, gamers could attempt all kinds of weird and wonderful minigames and in some cases, fully fledged games just moving their body around the screen. Core Trials is a PC homage to this idea and is currently in early access. With a spritely price of £1.69, it brings the same kind of charm as those early motion-controlled games did to me 20 years ago.
PC gamers only need a webcam to experience Core Trials. There is no app or any other software required. What is required is plenty of room and plenty of evenly distributed light. If the light is uneven or inconsistent, like most motion-controlled games, the framerate absolutely tanks. This happened to me across multiple playthroughs, but I have a living room with a giant window behind me causing the problem. Deciding how close or far away you are from your webcam is the other setup choice, as being closer also improved the framerate for me too.
In Core Trials, your goal is to protect the core from various elemental monsters. The core is placed at the base of your neck as a green circular emblem and it follows you around as you move, duck and weave around the screen. Each monster has a selection of attacks that will be picked at random for you to avoid. Most of them have an animation lead-in or a flashing exclamation point that shows something is incoming so that you can prepare for it. As long as you can dodge the effects on screen and keep your core intact, you’ll survive the level. The core has health points so you can take a few hits, and that is helpful because some things you need to dodge are fired in quick succession. You are only invulnable after a hit for a very short space of time, so some attacks can take multiple health points away.
As the game is in early access, content is limited. What is here is well-themed and put together – it’s just a tad too easy. Many of the early trials only have one level, but the later ones have up to seven, with the patterns of attacks becoming faster and triggering from new directions. This increased the challenge, and I’d like to see the same approach applied to the earlier levels to bulk out the game. The difficulty mainly comes from either drops in framerates, or non-linear attacks. By non-linear, I mean the wind monster sending feather attacks that sway rather than fire in straight lines. These were far trickier to avoid and usually cost me the most health.
With simple but effective graphics, a small but decent chiptune soundtrack, and a solid implementation of motion controls that requires zero set up, Core Trials is a nostalgic blast from the past. All it needs is some difficulty scaling by adding in a few more levels and it’s good to go! I hope early access allows that to happen. If you miss the EyeToy or Kinect and want a simple but effective budget alternative in 2025 – Core Trials is your choice.
Review copy provided by the developer. Core Trials is out now on PC.
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