Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince isn’t just another title in the well-received Trine franchise, but also a return to form after Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power took the series from its trademark 2.5D gameplay into full 3D. That ended up being a bad decision, as it tripled the costs of that game, resulting in the final product being unfinished. Basically, the additional freedom cost so much money that the developers couldn’t keep up, and Trine 3 remained an incomplete game so peppered with criticism that the future of the series was explicitly called into question. Trine 4 represents a return to form, relying on the same 2.5D puzzle-platformer gameplay that made the first two entries so successful while adding 4-player co-op into the mix. Seeing as how there are only 3 main characters from the previous games, the easy assumption is that the titular Nightmare Prince will be playable, though I don’t have enough experience with the series (yet) to be confident either way based on the gameplay footage alone.
Trine is yet another series where I’ve owned all the games, but never actually played through them. Despite making an effort a few times, I could never bring myself to play more than a few minutes of the first Trine, knowing that Trine 3‘s story would likely still be unfinished by the time I reached the third game. Now that Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is slated for release, however, it looks like the third game will remain forever incomplete. That would normally be a bad thing, but in this case it makes it much easier for me to get into the series.
Trine 4 publisher Modus Games will also be releasing Trine: Ultimate Collection, which bundles all 4 games together for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Trine: Ultimate Collection is going to release both digitally and physically (!), which is a significant—and welcome—reversal of fortune for a series that was on the cusp of disappearing just a few years ago.
As for Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, it’ll see the return of series staples Amadeus, Pontius, and Zoya, and incorporate both local and online multiplayer. In fact, most of the press release bullet points sound like they could have come from the first 2 games. The only exceptions to this are Trine 4‘s 4-player co-op and combat, which is apparently “totally revamped.” I’d love to tell you what that means, but just try to derive meaning from this PR fluff: “Experience the heroes’ own bloodcurdling nightmares in boss fights featuring an enriched combat system with fresh challenges and thrilling action!” That’s directly from the press release, and it’s the kind of thing designed to sound exciting without saying anything specific.
Still, Trine 4 is looking like a quality game, and it’ll be interesting to see whether or not it manages to erase players’ bitter memories of Trine 3.
The post Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince releases in Fall 2019 appeared first on Killa Penguin.
