Trine 4 swinging back into 2.5D
My favourite magical trio return
The magical puzzle-platforming adventures of a thief, a knight, and a wizard will continue this autumn in Trine 4, developers Frozenbyte announced today. Following a terse announcement for the game last year, now they've opened up with screenshots and a trailer and details and all that marketing jazz. Once again, our trio will be leaping around levels, solving physics-driven puzzles and smashing baddies in different ways with their different abilities. Perhaps most notably, Trine 4 is going back to the side-on '2.5D' style of the first two games, after Trine 3's expedition into the third dimension turned out a little blah.
First, a collection of images displayed as sufficient speed to create the suggestion of motion:
I like that Wind In The Willows-lookin' badger and hedgehog. And I'm very glad to see Trine is still crammed full of all the colours Frozenbyte could think of. It's a warm and friendly series, fluffy fantasy with nice people who go on colourful adventures.
Trine is a puzzle-platformer series with three characters we switch between as needed and wanted. Zoya the thief has a bow and a grappling hook, swinging around and making holes in faces. Pontius the knight is a big lad who can bash baddies really good, and anything else that needs bashing really, as well as wielding a shield. And Amadeus the wizard is a scruffy git who can conjure blocks to climb up, drop on switches, drop on baddies, and so on. Put them all together and you tend to have several different ways to solve each of the physics-y puzzles, as well as do those fantasy murders.
Trine 3 was a bit of a disappointment, with the 3D sections being wonky (as we noted) and the story kinda cutting short. Frozenbyte admitted they'd been over-ambitious and couldn't afford to pull off what they had once planned. I'll not hold a grudge over that, and will certainly give Trine 4 a chance. I'm also curious about how this will apparently support four-player local and online co-op, up from three in earlier games, given that there are only three playable characters. Aren't there?
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is due to launch some time this autumn, priced at £25/€30. It's made by Frozenbyte and published by Modus Games.