Especially for Gamer.ru: 'A Fairy Tale for Adults'. Game Review.

Trine - a representative of the now dwindling genre of platformers. However, lately we have been witnessing a revival of these wonderful adventures, with hits like: And Yet It Moves, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Braid, where every game is a work of art. So let's take a look at Trine now.

The developers - Frozenbyte, hailing from Finland, are also known as the creators of Shadowgrounds (a frantic action game with beautiful graphics and a decent narrative, released in 2005, a true descendant of Alien Shooter). Nothing less than a masterpiece is expected from them; such is their reputation.

Meet the main characters

There is a flash of light. The Wizard, the thief, and the knight... Simply disappeared.

Yes, yes, you heard it right; we have not one but three main characters! Why? Let's find out.

1. The Wizard Amadeus - a sorcerer who never passed his exams at the Magical Academy, as he doesn’t even know the simplest fireball spell. Instead of studying, he prefers to chase after girls, which he doesn't quite succeed at. By pure coincidence, he was forgotten in a castle; he sees the approaching waves of undead and decides to escape as quickly as possible. Though he didn't pass the exam, the title of wizard still obliges him to do something, right? Our Amadeus knows a few spells, after all. Yes, he can’t go silent, and he can’t whisper spells, but he can create objects from thin air (Hello, Crayon Physics!), and he can also move objects with the power of thought, no matter how heavy they are.

2. The second hero - the thief Zoya. She came to the castle for the treasures that were left unattended. Zoya prefers to conceal her identity under the guise of an assassin, even in conversations, she behaves secretively, not used to showing emotions, and she doesn’t allow unnecessary questions. She is excellent with a bow, and she has a rope that can latch onto wooden surfaces (hello, Bionic Commando!)

3. The knight Pontius - our third character you can play as. Pontius wants to join the royal army, and the best way to do that is to take down the undead in droves. He doesn’t understand the jokes of the other heroes, but as a man, he is a great guy, friendly, positive, albeit a bit slow. But that won’t stop him; he has to save the princess.

In the arsenal, our knight wields various stabbing and cutting weapons, and he is unmatched in melee combat. He also has a shield to protect against enemies. Attention! Pontius cannot swim in his armor!

As we can see, the selection is not the best; all the characters are clearly pseudo-heroes: a thief, a slow knight, and a cowardly loser of a wizard, but they are all unique.

The Universe

Without further ado, we dive into this new world. Gradually going through our first trials, all our characters come to one mysterious, magical, enigmatic object. And here we are on the first level, a riot of colors is striking (in a good way), the graphics are nothing short of impressive, even though it’s a platformer. We are immediately made to understand that the local puzzles can be solved in absolutely different ways; take, for example, the spiked ball hanging from a chain, swinging back and forth. The knight will raise his shield a-la Leonid (remember, from hip to neck!) and calmly move forward; the thief will go over the top, and the wizard will skillfully twist the chain around the nearest wooden beam, and so it goes for nearly everything! Of course, there are exceptions, for example, underwater only the wizard/thief can float. All the action happens in a magical fantasy universe, one that has been attacked by an evil sorcerer. Though it’s fantasy, all the objects have real models and obey the laws of physics, even the sounds of the sword striking different surfaces vary. By the way about sounds, they create a significant part of the atmosphere; the music is unobtrusive. I wonder where these guys got the dragon’s roar? I thought all dragons were extinct.

The developers could have easily thrown us into a sandbox with an excellent physics model and said: start on the left, finish on the right, run. But fortunately, that's not their path. They provided players with a storyline, during which we roam various locations, from a magical forest to a sewer with catacombs. The story is conveyed through small drawn cutscenes.

Obstacles

On our journey, we face several types of obstacles:

"Mobs" - simple skeletons/spiders/bats that pose no particular threat, appearing in pre-defined spots; a limited party! With each level, varieties appear: skeleton, shielded skeleton, fire-breathing skeleton, armored skeleton, etc. Naturally, fighting them becomes harder and harder, and if at the beginning the role of the 'tank' is unclear (the knight can handle simple skeletons), by the third or fourth level, the skill of switching to number "3" sharpens.

"Bosses" - where would we be without them? A titan with a sea of life; they can only be defeated by applying all your skills. Here again, creativity was shown, these big fellows weren't added just for the sake of it; there’s also a variety that perfectly fits the game’s theme: skeletons, stone monsters. Different bosses require different fighting methods!

"Puzzles" - what makes this game unique. Utilizing the characters' abilities, we overcome various obstacles, be it rotating gears or a deep chasm. All interactions with objects obey the laws of physics; this should not be forgotten. These cleverly designed puzzles start out easy and can be solved by one character, but over time they become increasingly intricate, requiring the skills of all three characters to solve one puzzle. Navigating many areas will make you think hard, but when you find the solution, you feel an immense joy; sometimes, it seems like you’ve found an exit that no one even suspected.

As our heroes roam the world, they occasionally die, but generous developers have provided us with checkpoints. As soon as we touch them, all heroes respawn with reduced health and mana.

Findings

Traveling through the world, you discover various bonuses (health bottles, mana, experience, chests with artifacts), all colored differently. Sometimes they are in plain sight, directly on the character's path, while other times they are hidden. Even if you see the desired bottle with "experience," it doesn’t mean it will definitely be yours; very often, you have to puzzle over how to reach it. But rest assured, upon gaining the needed experience, you will receive your well-deserved reward. After collecting several dozen green liquids, your characters level up and gain access to new abilities/weapons. If initially, the wizard has only the ability to create a cube, over time he can increase the number of cubes he can create or learn the spell to create a straight beam. The same goes for the thief and knight. Don’t forget about the artifacts obtained from the chests, which have magical effects on characters and need to be distributed wisely.

And a few words about the sad part... In working through the puzzles, the Finnish developers seem to have forgotten about artificial intelligence. Yes, I understand that this is a simple platformer, but these "dummies" are just awful. The archer can endlessly shoot at the floor, oblivious to the fact that he can just take one step to catch up with you, they can swing their swords without seeing you standing behind a wall, sometimes they jump right under the fireballs, which causes fits of laughter, and when they meet their death, their ragdoll models amusingly bounce (again, according to the laws of physics:)).

Verdict

In conclusion, I want to say that this game is captivating. It invites you to immerse yourself in a magical fairy-tale world "for adults," guiding our hapless heroes, bound by a magical artifact, through the nooks of enchanted forests, the dungeons of a royal castle, sewers, to defeat the evil sorcerer and restore everything to its rightful place in the kingdom. But not everything is so simple in this fairy tale; continuing the traditions of Braid, the game is filled with puzzles.

Trine is an amazing quintessence of Bionic Commando Rearmed, Crayon Physics, and so forth, with its unique atmosphere. Playing is a must!

A few beautiful screenshots and gameplay videos