Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer that once again reunites the heroic trio of Amadeus the Wizard, Zoya the Thief, and Pontius the Knight on a new quest in a medieval high fantasy world. Their latest adventure kicks off when they receive a letter from Wilhelmina, Wizardess of the Astral Academy, summoning them to search for the Academy’s missing ward. Prince Selius, the titular Nightmare Prince, possesses powerful magical abilities which he is unable to control. They regularly erupt, taking the form of shadow creatures that attack anyone near them, including the Prince himself. After one outburst accidentally burned down Selius’ royal home, he was sent to the Astral Academy for the safety of all and the hope he could be taught to control his power. Frustrated by his confinement, he ran away. The heroes of the Trine, experienced adventurers and illustrious saviors of multiple kingdoms, may be the only ones who can track down Prince Selius and help him to control his unusual powers before they put anyone else in danger.
From its start I can tell that Trine 4 is a different, more mature, more refined take on the series’ familiar plots and puzzle platforming design. A kingdom is not threatened by an invading skeleton army, a royal succession crisis, or an evil sorcerer escaping his imprisonment from an artifact of power. This plot, while not free of peril, is much more focused on the struggles of a terrified young man overwhelmed by his own innate magical potential. It’s a much smaller, more intimate conflict that never feels out of the trio’s control, giving them more room to show how they have grown into unlikely friends and legendary heroes.
Trine 4 also feels more refined in how it feels to play. The first two Trine videogames feature erratic and primitive physics-based platforming. Completing their challenges is fun, though I often feel like I am getting away with cheating when a see-saw unexpectedly catapults the trio to a room’s exit or a teetering tower of boxes allows them to ignore the puzzle and climb over an obstacle. Trine 3 has a different approach, trading in chaotic physics for greater polish, three-dimensional environments, and puzzle solutions designed with greater intentionality.
Trine 4 is a happy medium between Trines 1 & 2 and Trine 3. It returns to the simple side-scrolling environments of the first two installments while embracing and expanding upon Trine 3’s emphasis on intentional puzzle design. The result is easily the best installment of the four.
Trine 4 begins with three short tutorial levels, each played with just one of the three heroes. These levels reintroduce me to their unique individual abilities. Amadeus the Wizard is a master levitator and conjurer, though whenever he tries to summon a fireball he ends up creating clockwork boxes, spheres, and planks instead. This quirk used to get him labeled an incompetent wizard, accusations which are now less prominent after his misfires have allowed the trio to save the day three times over. The simple structures and devices built from Amadeus’ conjurations are invaluable in almost every puzzle the trio encounters. Zoya the Thief is equipped with a bow and arrow to shoot distant buttons and a rope she can use to swing across pits or lash objects together from fixed points. Pontius the Knight has the most situational puzzle-solving utility to start out, able to reflect light and projectiles with his shield and use the weight added by his bulky armor to smash through weak floors. He gets much more use in combat, wielding his sword against the nightmares Selius leaves in his wake.
The trio’s core abilities are unchanged from the previous Trine videogames. They even feel slightly depowered at the outset. Some skills, like Amadeus’ ability to conjure multiple objects and Pontius using his shield to glide, are forgotten without explanation and not regained until late into Trine 4’s duration. All their abilities must be applied to solving platforming puzzles across linear, side-scrolling environments. Each one solved brings the trio closer to the exit at the level’s far right-hand side.
Though the Trine artifact that previously brought the heroes together is now missing from the narrative, the trio still join their souls together and share a single body when they reunite to search for Prince Selius. The exact mechanics of this go unexplained; this is a Trine videogame, and this is how Trine videogames work, whether the artifact that justifies it is present or not. I control each hero individually and, with the press of a button, can prompt another player character to appear in a flash of light, occupying the physical space of their predecessor.
In my reviews of previous Trine videogames, I have repeatedly expressed my frustration that the characters’ skills rarely interact. Trine 4 finally and blessedly makes Zoya and Pontius feel just as useful for solving platforming puzzles as Amadeus, particularly when they unlock new abilities while progressing through the seventeen levels.
I sense this change almost as soon as Trine 4 begins. Amadeus’ clockwork conjurations now come fixed with loops to which Zoya can attach her rope. While this is also true in previous Trine installments, in those it is an optional perk unlocked late in the adventure. Here the pair not only have this synergy from the start, it is often the only solution to complete a puzzle. Zoya can suspend her rope between one of Amadeus’ conjured boxes and a loop attached to an opposite wall, creating a tightrope bridge the trio can use to cross a deadly pit. At other times, Amadeus’ conjured constructs can be used with Zoya’s ropes as anchors that hold open doors. When rope targets are not built into the environment, Amadeus’ conjurations can often be substituted so Zoya can swing the trio across a pit. The Wizard and the Thief’s partnership only grows as she acquires enchanted arrows that let her freeze mechanisms and a magic fairy rope that causes whatever is attached to it to float.
It takes some time, but Pontius’ abilities begin to synergize with Zoya and Amadeus as well. It starts out with simple partnerships like Pontius using his strength to launch one of Amadeus’ spheres into a fragile wall, shattering it. As the Knight accumulates more magical abilities, his prominence in puzzle solving logic grows. By the end of the adventure, solving nearly every puzzle requires the application of all three heroes’ abilities. The final few levels of Trine 4 feel like the series’ fundamental design pitch finally grasping at its apotheosis, capitalizing on possibilities that were only hinted at in Trines 1, 2, and 3.
Puzzle-platforming is used for more than reaching the next exit. Each level is strewn with collectables for the trio to gather. The most plentiful are potions. These are stashed on high ledges, behind breakable walls, and dangling from ropes attached to trees and ceilings. Gathering them is usually as simple as noticing they’re there and making a little extra effort to climb up and grab them, though large stashes of potions are sometimes given as rewards for completing more elaborate puzzles. Potions may be spent on additional character upgrades. None of these are necessary to complete Trine 4, though they do allow interesting alternate solutions to many puzzles.
Each level contains three additional collectables which are hidden with much more guile. They are found in hidden areas behind breakable walls or spaces concealed by camera angles and foreground decoration. After solving a much more unorthodox and unintuitive puzzle than the ones leading to the level’s exit, the trio are rewarded with a new item. These take the forms of letters from other characters, say nothing useful or interesting, artifacts from the trio’s pre-Trine lives, which do nothing practical, and machine parts. This last category are the interesting collectables as it adds new interactable elements to Trine 4’s playable start menu. Only by finding every machine part in every level can the trio solve the puzzle on the main menu screen and open the door containing the Arcane Academy’s greatest secret.
Combat has been a consistent weak point in the Trine series and it is here that Trine 4 sadly misses out on the additional refinement. Just as before, when the trio enters certain areas in a level, their progress forward is blocked by a magical wall which will not dissipate until they defeat every enemy that appears to attack them. This time around, enemies are apparitions that escape from the Nightmare Prince’s troubled mind, each made from the black and purple energy that represents Prince Selius’ nightmares. Charging wolves, projectile-throwing satyrs, and spiders that scuttle around the backdrop while spitting elementally-charged acid menace the trio this time around.
Trine 4’s effort to elevate this combat is made by weakening Pontius. His shield no longer makes him practically invulnerable as long as I can point it in the right direction. Many enemy attacks will penetrate the shield’s surface and it will shatter after taking a few hits, leaving him vulnerable until it regenerates seconds later. It’s a brief window but more than enough time for Pontius to get torn to pieces by swarming nightmares. Pontius’ new fragility encourages much more evasive play. Avoiding enemy attacks then getting a few safe counter hits in before retreating is his new path to success.
Zoya and Amadeus are not endowed with increased offensive power to offset Pontius’ decreased defenses. Amadeus’ offensive option is still limited to slamming his conjured objects onto his enemies’ heads. This requires me to concentrate on evading nightmares with the Wizard, moving his levitated object into position, and monitoring multiple enemies’ locations simultaneously. Trying to juggle all of this in the confined arenas is so difficult I never even try. Zoya fares a little better with her bow and arrow but she is vulnerable to melee attacks from the aggressive wolf enemies while she aims.
The only way to get a game over in Trine is for all three heroes to die simultaneously. When out of combat, I have to force this circumstance to happen. A hero falling into a pit or onto a bed of spikes instantly kills them. Switching to another character causes them to respawn on safe ground. When the deceased hero returns to life a moment later, I can switch back to them and try the platforming obstacle again. This forgiving system provides plenty of latitude to experiment with unlikely puzzle solutions. I know that a longshot machine built from Amadeus’ conjured box, Zoya’s rope, and a magical echo of Pontius’ shield won’t send the trio a long way back to a previous checkpoint if it catastrophically misfires.
In combat, death is a little more complicated. Heroes whose hit points are eliminated by a nightmare leave their spirit floating near where they died while the surviving heroes continue to fight. A golden halo immediately starts to grow around the spirit upon their death. When the halo completely encircles the spirit, it jumps back into the trio’s shared body and I can use them once more. When the surviving heroes stand near the spirit, the halo refills faster. This is an interesting risk-reward system, particularly since Pontius is the hero most likely to be killed in battle. Trying to stay near his spirit to speed his resurrection can be difficult considering Amadeus’ and Zoya’s few available defensive options.
Trine 4’s combat design against everyday nightmares is in standstill, barely tweaked from the previous Trine videogames. The same cannot be said for the bosses. Until now the heroes have fought one or two interesting bosses during each of their adventures. Trine 4 has five unique boss fights that capstone each of its five narrative acts. All of them are strong individual encounters and collectively they once again help to elevate Trine 4 far above its predecessors.
A large part of why these boss fights are so fantastic is they choose to eschew Trine’s puzzle-platforming elements. These are encounters that would be at home in a traditional action platformer, choosing to leverage the trio’s unique abilities offensively instead of for puzzle-solving. One boss is a Giant Nightmare Wolf so massive the trio must climb up fragile clouds to reach its vulnerable head. Other bosses are based on each hero’s personal nightmare; these are duel bosses that require skillful application of all a character’s abilities with their partners rendered inaccessible. Turning Trine 4 into a pure action videogame for its boss fights is a risky choice that pays off. It helps the trio feel even more like legendary adventurers.
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is the Trine sequel I have been waiting for. I appreciate Trine 1 and 2 for what they attempt to do more than for what they accomplish. In those installments, it is too easy and too tempting to ignore puzzles by stacking Amadeus’ boxes to climb past obstacles, especially since misbehaving physics often result in wildly different outcomes from similar puzzle solutions. Trine 3 gives the series more polish and its puzzles are designed with more emphasis on intended outcomes. It is also an incomplete videogame, and that’s not hyperbole. Trine 4 is what those three videogames built to over a decade of design, and it feels like it. It is made with refinement, intelligence, and heart. It is easily the best videogame in the series so far.