Trine 4 to release later this year

A wizard, a thief and a knight walk into a magical, enchanted forest... Let me know if you've heard this one before.

Developers Frozenbyte have announced that a new entry in their puzzle-platformer series, Trine, will be released this Spring (also known as Fall in those Northern lands). Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince will return to the series' original 2.5D perspective, which is a good thing especially after Trine 3's disastrous foray into full 3D gameplay.

As usual the game boasts the gorgeous visuals that fans have come to expect, those screenshots are truly what the game will look like! There will also be local and online multiplayer, this time with up to four players instead of the usual three (so no longer a Trine then?) as players tackle the environmental puzzles which are tailored to the number of people playing.

The developers are also promising a completely revamped combat system against various enemies and bosses. Each character will once again have a skill tree with diverse abilities and skills to learn. Players will be taken on a journey through magical, fairytale landscapes as they follow the story of a haunted prince and face nightmarish foes. All of this will be accompanied by an enchanting soundtrack. The narrator from the previous games will also be making a return.

I, for one, am excited for this release. I have fond memories of playing through the Trine games. The first one, although limited to local multiplayer, even had the option of plugging in more than one keyboard and mouse for the extra players. The puzzles are fun to solve in unusual ways, exploiting the physics of the game. The environments themselves are beautiful and enchanting, they really represent good old, classic fantasy.

Trine 4 will be releasing on PC, Xbox, Playstation and Switch later this year. There will also be an Ultimate Collection containing all four games in the series releasing at the same time.