So . . . the tricky thing about playing a game over and over again to reach an arbitrary time limit is that it gives you lots of practice. My third run through Trine 3, I finished in about three and a half hours. My fourth time was two and a half hours. Even after playing a half dozen mod levels, I still had a little more than an hour to spare. Yikes.
Overall, Trine 3 was a good game to play once, a burdensome game to play twice, a decent game to play three or four times, and a frustrating game to play five times or more. Which is to say, it doesn't have much replay value. Its secrets are pretty obvious and while the final boss was a disheartening difficulty spike, once you figure it out it becomes almost rote. On the other hand, there was a certain pleasure in increasing my skills and retreading the levels in an attempt to finish faster.
Trine 3 wasn't an entirely successful attempt to tweak the Trine formula. It had its moments, but it was undeniably sloppier than the previous games, and removing the experience system didn't do it any favors. But it still has the characteristic Trine charm. I liked hanging out with the heroes and even five times in, the graphical eye candy still had the power to occasionally take my breath away.
I will almost certainly never play again, but there are worse games to have to play four and half times in a row.
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