Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince follows three heroes, Amadeus the wizard, Pontius the knight, and Zoya the thief on their quest to find Prince Selius and figure out a solution to the young man’s rampant nightmare magic. The game is a puzzle-platformer, and thanks to each character’s unique moveset, there are multiple ways to progress through, and solve puzzles in, each of the 17 levels spread across 5 acts. Starting off, Amadeus can move objects and conjure up boxes, spheres, and planks for all your platforming needs. Armed with his trusty sword, Pontius is more of a fighter, but he can also charge and use his shield to reflect light or redirect water. And Zoya can use her ropes to swing from hooks, make bridges, or tie objects together, and she has three types of arrows at her disposal.
Unlike Unravel, another puzzle-platformer that I completed just prior, Trine 4 has creative puzzles spread throughout the whole game, so it won’t feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again. Not only are we faced with a myriad of unique and challenging puzzles, but certain levels have different themes to their puzzles, as well. For example, in one level, you must use light or water to make plants grow, and in another, you’ll be using magnetic surfaces, to which Amadeus’ conjured objects can stick.
As you progress, you’ll be faced with a handful of battles per level, where you gain the necessary experience for your heroes to obtain required upgrades. These are my least favorite parts of the game, though it’s not like the battles are bad or anything; they just interrupt the gameplay and distract from the puzzling, which is what I’d much rather be doing most of the time. Pontius and Zoya are the most cut out for fighting, since, you know, they are actually armed with weapons. You can also unlock optional upgrades in addition to the required ones using the pink collectibles spread throughout each level, such as Pontius’ lightning sword and frost stomp. (Other non-combat-related abilities can be unlocked, as well, though the aforementioned ones were the most useful, along with Amadeus’ optional ability to teleport forward short distances, which helps in avoiding certain enemy attacks.) Oh, and if someone dies, you merely need to switch to someone else and wait for the deceased team member to respawn. The only way to get a game over is if all three characters die in quick succession, which did happen to me during the game’s final boss and once or twice in some of the later levels.
In general, Trine 4 is a really pleasant game, and I largely enjoyed my time with it. The natural and fantasy-themed environments are both beautiful and detailed, the music is pleasant, and the characters are likable. I also enjoyed the narrator’s voice, whom I think would make an excellent choice for an audiobook of The Hobbit. Checkpoints are also very generous and make it very convenient to revisit levels when on the hunt for missing collectibles, treasures, and letters without having to redo the whole thing. (And then, once you’ve found what you were looking for, you can leave the level, your newly acquired collectibles nice and safe.) The physics in this game can also have some rather humorous side effects, as well, though you’d probably just need to see it for yourself….
The only issue I remembered was Zoya frequently getting stuck holding her bow. This never really caused any problems, and you can just shoot an arrow to make her stop, but it was odd. Additionally, the game can be a little exhausting at times due to its very nature. Levels are of a generous length and can usually be completed within 30-45 minutes on your first playthrough, but the quantity of puzzles could make me a little tired after a while. I really appreciated the variety and creativity of said puzzles, but playing this game for long periods of time might not be recommended, if only to avoid making your brain too weary.
If you’re looking for a fun and challenging puzzle-platformer set in a fantasy world, then I would highly recommend Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, which is available on all major consoles and PC and takes roughly 10-15 hours to complete, depending on if you just want to play through the main game or get 100%.. I got all four games on sale in the Trine: Ultimate Collection that cost me a very fair $12.49 (normally $49.99), when Trine 4, on its own, can cost $29.99! (Yeah, I know how to get a good deal…)
This post was originally published on Virtual Bastion on April 23, 2024.
The Duck of Indeed 