Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince (2019)

Trine 5 recently came out and I heard good things about the series so I decided to pick up Trine 4 during a recent Steam sale. I played Trine 2 a long time ago but bounced off quickly for some reason.

However, this one is a great fit for the on-the-go nature of the Steam Deck. I can run through a bunch of quick puzzles and then just pause wherever I am. I am early-on but it has been a relaxing couple of hours of light problem solving, which is great in contrast to end game Lies of P content I am also working through.

My one major gripe is the boss and combat encounters are just lame. They involve far too much actual fighting and not enough problem solving. And the fact that there are skill trees at all seems odd in a puzzle game wherein you would have to always have a means to solve the puzzle. Fortunately I haven’t run into too many combat encounters and I am hoping that continues.

Besides that, it is a great little diversion.

After playing trine 1&2 (ages ago) and skipping 3 (terrible reviews) I decided to dive back in for Trine 4. Having player the first two co-op I convinced my partner to play this with me. However after they decided to not want to finish it, I decided to do that alone. This turned out to be not a bad thing.

Narrative

You play three heroes (or 1, or two depending on player amount). The wizard, the thief and the knight. This time, the prince used a forbidden spell to free his shadow and is rampaging across the land making people's nightmares a reality. The three heroes follow him around to catch him and rid him of his terrible shadow self. It is told by dialogue in the levels, and a narrator in the overworld/map area.

Gameplay

Trine is first and foremost a side scroller puzzle game, with some fighting. All three heroes have a certain ability they can do, which are improved upon over time in the game either automatically or by upgrades you can buy with XP points. The thief can swing on ropes and connect them to certain points to make bridges, she also has a bow and arrow. The wizards can conjure several objects and he can move certain things in the overworld. The knight can use his sword to fights, use his shield to redirect stuff and pounce to get certain things moving.

Using one, two or all of these abilities you need to solve puzzles in tons of interesting levels. The puzzles get more complicated as you go, needing to do several steps to build ingenious solutions.

Besides that, sometimes in a level monsters appear and you have to fight them, also using your abilities. Some levels have boss fights as well.

Setting

It's set in a big kingdom and you go around to see towns, forests, beaches, farms, snowy mountains and so much more. The game is absolutely stunning, with amazing level designs full of detail, and full of chances to get great new wallpapers for your computer. The music is fitting, and especially the menu music keeps hanging around in my head for a good while after I play.

Other

There is a DLC you can buy in addition to the main game. I highly recommend getting it. It has several (I think 6 or 7) new levels, and they are probably my favourites in the game. Very intricate, amazing themes, and pretty hard puzzles, probably harder than the main game.

Conclusion

I was pleasantly suprised with how fun this game still is to play alone. Honestly maybe even more so than co-op. You have complete control over all the characters, so no relying on others to do what is needed. If you are alone you are basically forced to find the real solution to the puzzles. With more people you can often take shortcuts or do glitchy janky stuff. That made the game actually feel janky even if it really isn't. It's also more fun to try and find the (or a maybe) real solution.

The game is absolutely lovely, I really enjoyed the detailed level designs. Especially in the DLC. The puzzles are mostly easy, but there is some real brain teasers in there, especially again, the DLC. Some where really hard, for two of them I did look at a solution because I was stuck for over 20 minutes.

The only thing I didn't really enjoy was the fighting. It didn't add much in my opinion they may as well have left it out and still would have had a fantastic game. Honestly hope if they make a Trine 5 they just make it a pure puzzle game.

All in all, great game if you like puzzle games. Really no need for co-op, may even be better alone. If not for the boring fighting parts, probably 5 stars.

The Trine games have always been games that you play, first and foremost, because they look amazing, and Trine 4 doesn't disappoint. A few samples:

There's also a cute fat seal:

The game is full of stuff like this. You could go into almost any level in the game and end up with a bunch of wallpaper-worthy screenshots, and there's plenty of variety in colors and environments so that they never feel samey. But what the screenshots can't convey is how beautiful the scenes are in motion. Butterflies flutter in the background, flowers sway gently in the breeze, streams splash and sparkle. During night scenes, you can even spy an occasional falling star. Everything feels alive.

Gorgeous graphics aside, it's a straightforward puzzle-platformer. You've got Amadeus the wizard who can conjure objects, Zoya the thief who can grapple and shoot fire and ice arrows, and Pontius the knight who can slash things and redirect flows of water and beams of light with his shield. The puzzle sections are broken up at occasional intervals by bits of combat. I'd say the game is 25% combat and 75% puzzles, or something thereabouts.

There are some combat and QOL improvements that should be welcome to anyone who's played the earlier entries.

(some minor story spoilers here, but they're all from the trailer or early parts of the game)

As for the story, I'm going to go ahead and say it's more memorable than the story from the earlier games, because I can't remember a single thing from Trine 1-3 story-wise other than that there was a mystical artifact called "The Trine". This time, we follow the path of young prince named Selius, the titular Nightmare Prince. Selius has a bit of a condition. Unlike most young kids, who get things like "Chicken Pox", Selius has instead come down with a case of "uncontrollable magic power that causes people's nightmares to manifest themselves in the real world." Rather inconvenient, really. His parents don't seem to know what to do with him, so they hand him off to the Wizards of the Astral Academy, who are equally clueless (what are we paying them for, anyway?), so, they do the most reasonable thing and lock him up. Surely there's no way this could go wrong, right? Like, say, Selius escaping, running off, and leaving a whole bunch of nightmarish creatures in his wake?

Anyway, so our three reluctant heroes are summoned to find Selius, fetch him back, and put an end to the nightmares and other havoc. They're sympathetic to Selius, and understandably so. He's not some villain, after all. He's just a kid. Just some nice kid, with problems. I think a lot of us can relate to that.

In any case, it's not a deep game, but it's more than pleasant enough. Trine's the kind of thing I play just because I want to chill, solve easy-ish puzzles, and admire some gorgeous fantasy-nature scenery. In other words, it's a comfy game. If that's all you're looking for, then Trine 4 should fit the bill beautifully.

Been having a pretty fantastic time with this lately! I'm glad I started playing it. I liked the first two games plenty, but this one is the best of the series by far. It's longer than I'd have expected, too.

Probably going to write up a review when I'm done. Hell, I could probably just fill the review with a bunch of screenshots of the game and then call it done. That alone is enough to sell it. The game looks amazing.

Absolutely fantastic game. I'm very close to 100% completing it and it was a pleasure every second of the playthrough. Highly considering picking up the Trine 1-3 physical copy next!

Puzzles never get aggravating, the story doesn't take itself seriously, the general atmosphere is GORGEOUS and dare I say some of the finest graphics on the Switch, the music is a perfect complement to the environments, and the gameplay is super enjoyable and easy to pick up.

I will say that Pontius (the knight with the shield) is a little underused aside from battles. The battles themselves basically serve as a quick break from the puzzles and let you recharge your mental batteries, which is definitely appreciated. Although the characters and controls are clearly not meant for quick precision movements, and battles end up with a lot of button mashing.

Either way, a totally minor gripe on an otherwise flawless experience, coming from someone who hasn't played any other game in the series. Yet!

A gorgeous adventure that rewards curiosity, while providing challenging puzzles that stay challenging but never gets frustrating. The ability to solve puzzles with more than one solution also keeps things fresh and interesting.

I took a gamble on this one and ended up loving it. This is definitely one I'm proud to have on my shelf!

Did I mention the game looks gorgeous?