As if Trine 3 never existed
So, Trine. A tale of a developer that produced a respectable surprise hit, followed up with a worthy iteration, got bored by its own franchise, more or less fucked up the third entry in the series, cranked out a mediocre money maker (that being Shadwen) and eventually produced Trine 4. Did they disappoint yet again?
To answer this question straight away -- No. I believe Trine 4 is a worthy sequel to Trine 2. Personally, I skipped the third one, but I achieved 100% completion on Trine 1, Trine 2 and now Trine 4. So, I would describe myself as a plank enthusiast. This review is based on a solo play-through of the PC version.
Let's talk visuals first, as this is one of the major selling points for the series. After finishing Ori and the Will of the Wisps just days before, the presentation initially didn't quite impress me like it did with the first two Trine games. However, Trine 4 is still a very pretty game, full of colorful setpieces and highly detailed textures. The map design fully utilizes the third dimension, and there is a lot to see back there. As for sound, the effects are pretty much taken from Trine 2 as far as I can tell. The voice work is decent, though the narrator is trying a bit too hard for my liking. The soundtrack however is outstanding. 'Snow-Topped Heights' in particular stuck with me.
The story, as little as there is, is serviceable. The titular prince basically serves as a MacGuffin and is chased throughput various diverse landscapes, castles and tombs. I don't mind the simplicity of the plot, since I am mostly in this for breaking puzzles anyway. In that regard, Trine 4 delivered. Once I got my beloved plank, the game stood no chance. In the 16 or so hours it took me to get all achievements, I reckon I solved at least half the puzzles in ways not remotely intended. Such behavior is facilitated by the underlining physics engine, which is somehow both impressively realistic and utterly unhinged, which allows for all kinds of shenanigans.
In terms of character abilities, all the classics are here -- Boxes, Planks, Balls, Ropes and Shields. And yes, plural everything. There are also more or less useful special effects, some of which are provided randomly during normal gameplay without much fanfare. Others must be unlocked. I find two items in particular noteworthy. First, there is a bouncy ball (manually unlockable), which is just plain stupid. I could not find any good use for it, aside from, of course, breaking two or three puzzles with it. And there is also the weird fairy rope (unlocked through story progress). I straight up don't understand what it actually does. I guess it makes everything float? Apparently the game was not so sure, either. By attaching it to a plank and than attaching my regular rope to it in a peculiar way (as one does in these games), I was able to keep floating upwards indefinitely like a hot air balloon. Uhm, sure.
The ramp up of the puzzle difficulty and the variety was fine for the most part. Some of the challenge rooms (meaning the side areas containing chests, letters and big bottles) were a bit more involved, but I was able to solve/break them with relative ease. Some of the bottles were tucked away in pretty remote places. To balance this out, the map screen is completionist friendly by providing a per-checkpoint item rundown and level access. Also, subtle visual cues mark practically every hidden passage with very few exceptions.
So far, so good. Alas, the fighting sucks. In the previous games the enemies free roamed the map and could be dealt with in numerous ways using the environment. Not this time. In Trine 4, the player is literally boxed in with a bunch of enemies and has to defeat all of them to progress. As these arena encounters happen several times per level without warning, they completely destroy the flow and pacing of the game and I was bummed each and every time such a fight triggered. The arenas are so small that the fights frequently devolve into a frantic mess. Consequentially, only the Knight was viable as fighter for me. Mashing stomp, dash and regular attacks got me through all fights. Both Zoya and Amadeus were utterly useless and destroyed after seconds. I would have preferred if Frozenbyte removed all fighting whatsoever rather than the lackadaisical compromise they went with. Even the final boss fight is no exception.
All in all, I had a fun time with Trine 4. But if there ever will be a Trine 5, Frozenbyte should do something about the balance between puzzling and fighting. Either go back to the freeform approach or simply get rid of enemies altogether. But keep those physics just as wonky as they are, please.