Trine is a freshly released 3D side-scrolling platform game developed by independent developer Frozenbyte. It lets you assume the role of a knight, wizard and thief on their quest to rid themselves of an ancient curse – or is it a blessing? – that binds them together as a single entity.
Taking elements from the platform genre, it combines them with RPG elements (skills, levels, inventories) and puzzles worthy of adventure games. It all fits together into a unique new title that is bound to please. Having played it for a couple of hours, I’d like to share my first impressions with you.
Physics and Gameplay
Physics is a major aspect of gameplay in Trine. The multitude of puzzles present in this game require throwing objects through walls with the knight, using the thief to light torches and sever cords with her bow and taking control over the wizard to lay down new floorboards. And of course use their various skills to defeat hordes of enemies.
Each character has a unique skill set to work with, which expands as they gain new levels, items and abilities. The Thief is an excellent shot with the bow and can eventually fire multiple arrows at once and light torches spread throughout each level. She’s also the most agile character, which makes her the best character for straightforward platform gameplay. Oh and she can shoot ropes towards a wooden surface and swing to her hearts delight. A skill that will be required many a time in Trine.
The Knight is a much more straightforward character. He can block blows – and falling debris – with his shield and use his sword for smashing obstacles and enemies alike. He cannot swim due to his heavy armor, but he can learn to throw heavy objects later on and charge oncoming foes which sends them flying across the map.
And the Wizard is of course a capable spellcaster. He can conjure boxes and planks, which can be used to solve puzzles, like putting a box on a pressure plate. This conjuring has to be done by drawing the box or plank in question, which is a nice extra touch. But he can also move objects, including giant pendulums and crates. And drawing crates above skeletons to crush them where they stand never gets old.
The various items they uncover help further improve their abilities. The knight and thief can gain poison for their sword and arrows, the wizard can use energy vials for when his energy depletes, and so on. Most of these items are usable for all characters, but clearly most effective for use by a specific character (e.g.: the energy vial). In a slightly unusual move (for a three-in-one entity) you do have three separate inventories, but I’m guessing that this has been designed with multiplayer in mind.
The abilities can also be upgraded by spending skillpoints on them, which can actually change their use. Upgrading the knight’s throw ability will allow him to charge for example, whereas upgrading the wizards conjure box skill will increase the number of simultaneous boxes that he can conjure. I’ve as yet unlocked two skills for each character and there’s room for three (and three levels for each) so I’ve got a ways to go yet.
You will occasionally run into challenging boss fights
Controls
The controls are intuitive and simple. You have your basic movements and a handful of special abilities per character and that’s it.
Switching between characters is easily done by pressing 1, 2 or 3 on the keyboard. So you’ll can swap characters on-the-fly without any problems.
This makes Trine perfect for playing on both mouse and keyboard and controller setups. Mouse and keyboard does seem to play a little better, because you can aim your arrows and paint your boxes with the mouse, which allows for better precision and more speed. But it works fine with a controller too and you can set up various custom configurations so your friends can come over and play with their preferred configs (yes, on the same computer!).
Plot and Character
Trine presents its plot by means of witty remarks from your motley fellowship and a narrator fills in the blanks along the way. Occasionally Trine will present cutscenes of a sort, which consist of drawn images and a narrator’s voice, much like NeverWinter Nights (1). The fact that most of it is told during the loading of maps, or during lulls in the action, means that the pace is never truly disturbed by storytelling. That makes it quite enjoyable to play and means even less dedicated players will still know what’s going on.
Thus far Trine has remained a more humorous than serious game. The plot is nothing spectacular, but that’s okay because it clearly wasn’t intended to be. In its stead Trine offers excellent platforming gameplay and a trio of engaging characters.
Indeed, not only do the three characters have vastly differing skill sets, but their personalities are vastly different. The knight is not your average heroic knight as you may have suspected, but rather a dimwitted fellow with a big sword, a big shield, a mountain of honour and no clue as to what’s going on. The wizard thinks himself a real ladies man, but he can’t seem to figure out how to conjure a fireball, even if his planks and boxes are works of art. Meanwhile the thief is a self-absorbed woman, who adores jewelry, especially jewelry she doesn’t own – yet.
As you may suspect their personalities clash frequently, which makes for entertaining conversations. It keeps the game lighthearted and fun, which makes for a nice departure from all those serious shooters, serious RPGs and serious strategy games. It hasn’t gotten on my nerves yet, so I’m hoping it stays that way.
Much of the story is told inbetween levels
Graphics and Atmosphere
Trine is an independently developed game, but you wouldn’t know it from the production values. The drawings in cutscenes are detailed and stylish, whereas the in-game graphics are incredible masterpieces that make for a good wallpaper wherever you go.
This is not so much due to the technical capabilities of the engine, which is admittedly quite impressive (great lighting and physics especially). But has more to do with the manner in which everything is presented. The backgrounds are beautifully detailed and made to suit the characters and objects that inhabit them. Skeletons move clumsily, the thief has an air of grace in everything she does and the wizard always manages to keep his pointy hat on.
Sound effects are distinct and recognisable and the voice actors have done a great job. The music enhances the light atmosphere of the game, but is never overly present.
Replayability and Multiplayer
I’ve yet to finish the singleplayer campaign, but I’ve already seen that there’s at least one unlockable difficulty setting which encourages further play sessions. Especially if you want those Steam achievements, of which there are many.
Trine is quite the linear experience. As a sidescrolling game it has yet to offer any choice of routing through maps, but you may be challenged to collect all the experience vials and assorted goodies spread out in the weirdest of places in the various levels.
But it’s multiplayer that looks to be the main draw for repeated play sessions here. You can take your friends in for co-op sessions, where each player controls one character. This allows you to assist each other at all times and I imagine it’ll make for some fine late night co-op sessions. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten any opportunity to test this yet and it seems online play is not featured at this time. Apparently Frozenbyte may patch this in if Trine sells well. So only single-computer co-op is available for now.
Visually, Trine certainly does not disappoint!
Overall Trine has been very entertaining thus far. Hacking and slashing skeletons with the knight, swinging from plank to plank with the thief and conjuring my way through intricate puzzles has been a blast. Hopefully it doesn’t deteriorate or become too repetitive towards the end.
I’ll be back with a full review after finishing the game and playing some co-op. Meanwhile you can check out the Trine Screenshots Galore that I posted up yesterday for a few shots of the game in action, or try it for yourself in the demo.
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