Trine (video game)
Encyclopedia
Trine is a side-scrolling action platform
and puzzle video game, available for the Microsoft Windows
, Linux
, Mac OS X
and PlayStation Network. It was developed by the Finnish
company Frozenbyte
, who previously developed the Shadowgrounds
series. The game takes place in a medieval fantasy
setting and allows players to take control of three separate characters who can battle enemies and solve environmental puzzles.
The game was released for Windows on July 3, 2009. The PlayStation Network version was to be released in July 2009, but last-minute bugs discovered in testing caused a delay. It was released on September 17, 2009 in Europe and on October 22, 2009 in North America. A port of the game to Mac OS X was released on November 2, 2010, and the game was later ported to Linux by Alternative Games
, with the finished port being released as part of the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle.A version for Xbox Live Arcade
was being developed by Atlus
, but "most likely won't happen." according to Frozenbyte.
Frozenbyte is currently developing a sequel titled Trine 2.
, and a wizard) to try to complete levels. There is also a cooperative play feature, whereby multiple players can join in at any time to control different characters simultaneously.
Each character has their own health and energy meter. Energy is used for certain weapons and abilities, and is replenished by blue-colored bottles found throughout levels. Health is replenished by collecting heart-shaped containers, which result from destroying certain enemies.
The player also has a single experience rating that is shared among all characters, and is incremented by acquiring green-colored bottles found throughout levels. Every 50 experience points, each character is given one point towards the purchase of upgrades to their abilities.
Treasure chests are also spread throughout levels, each containing a charm that offers the bearing character new or upgraded abilities. The player can transfer these objects between characters, though some will only have an effect on certain characters.
Checkpoints are spread throughout levels, in the form of silver orbs on pedestals. Upon crossing a checkpoint, any deceased characters are brought back to life, and any characters below a certain amount of health and energy are replenished up to that amount. The amount of energy and health replenished is dependent upon the difficulty setting chosen by the player.
When a character dies, the player must choose another living character to continue playing the level. If all three characters die, the player is sent back to the last checkpoint crossed, and all three characters are resurrected.
Enemies primarily include walking skeleton
s and bat
s, along with boss characters
, like giant skeletons and other large creatures. Some skeletons are armed with swords, others with bows and arrows, some spit fire, and some have shields. Skeletons are capable of scaling walls. Other dangers include lava
, fireballs, giant sharp pendulums, and various other booby traps.
Trine uses Nvidia
's PhysX
physics
engine to provide objects and characters with full physics interaction.
which can be fired at wooden surfaces. Regular arrows and the grappling hook are unlimited, and do not diminish the thief's energy. At some point during the game, the thief acquires the ability to shoot flaming arrows, which do diminish her energy. Flaming arrows inflict more damage on enemies, can break certain objects, and can light torches found in certain dark areas of the game.
The thief's possible upgrades include shooting more arrows with each shot, faster charging of the bow, and more damage inflicted with the flaming arrow.
and shield
. He acquires a flaming sword during the game, which inflicts more damage and can light torches. The knight also acquires a sledgehammer
. The knight has the ability to lift certain objects and hurl them. His shield can be used to deflect enemy attacks, as well as falling objects and projectiles.
The knight's possible upgrades include additional sword damage, charging attacks, and additional sledgehammer attacks.
to move objects remotely, as well as conjure new objects into existence. Initially, the wizard is only able to conjure a cube
-shaped object. At some point in the game, he acquires the ability to conjure an oblong platform (called a "plank" in the game). The box and plank behave as normal objects, obeying the laws of physics and gravity. The wizard later acquires the ability to conjure a floating object shaped like a square pyramid
(called a floating platform in the game), which remains at a fixed point in space unless the wizard moves it. Conjured objects are primarily used to help overcome obstacles and reach difficult areas. The plank, for example, can be used to bridge gaps. All conjuring and remote moving drains the wizard's energy.
The wizard has no traditional attacks, however he can crush certain enemies by hurling objects into them. He can also block attacks by conjuring or moving objects in their path.
The wizard's possible upgrades include the ability to conjure more than one box or plank into simultaneous existence (whereas initially only one of each could be on the screen at once), changing future conjured floating platforms into wood (so that the thief can attach her grappling hook to it), and making the floating platform into an explosive that the knight or thief can trigger.
After an unspecified amount of time, Trine begins with a thief searching for a legendary treasure in the Astral Academy, a derelict institution of magical studies. Unknown to her, a wizard remained at the academy to study the skies, while a knight arrived there to protect the academy. The three meet at the chamber of the ancient treasure and, touching the object at the same time, disappear.
The wizard recalls that the treasure is actually an artifact called the Trine, which has the power to bind souls. This results in only one of them being able to physically exist, with the other two being forced to remain inside the Trine. The wizard also remembers that the Trine was connected to the legend of a guardian, whose tomb could be found under the Astral Academy.
Searching for a way to free themselves of the Trine's effect, they explore the catacombs under the academy, finding the guardian's tomb. The wizard deciphers some inscriptions on the tomb, discovering that there were once three artifacts: one for the soul, one for the mind and one for the body, each protected by a guardian. The guardians used the three objects to maintain peace throughout the kingdom. The wizard believes that reuniting the three artifacts might undo the spell binding their souls.
The inscriptions suggest that one of the artifacts was guarded in the castle of the old king. The trio searches the castle, finding the king's journals, which describes how the artifacts of mind and body can be found at some ruins, the home of the three guardians and where the three relics were originally created.
Exploring the ruins, the three learn at the burial place of one the guardians that the Trine, the artifact of the soul, was separated in an earthquake from the artifacts of mind and body, which became tainted. This gave birth to an evil tower from which the soulless undead first emerged. The trio ascends the tower, avoiding the obstacles created by a gargantuan undead (which is in fact the old king returned as a wraith) and combines the Trine with the two lost artifacts, unbinding their souls. The undead are cleansed through the kingdom, allowing it to eventually recover, with the wizard, the thief and the knight proclaimed as its heroes.
score of 80% and 83% for the PC and PlayStation 3 version, respectively. Trine won Gamespot
's Editor's Choice award at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009.
PC Format
magazine praised the game's "stunning attention to detail throughout", and added that its "beautifully fluid game mechanics are impossible not to appreciate."
IT Reviews gave the game a Recommended award, and concluded: "Trine is an aesthetically pleasing and well executed puzzle platformer, with a distinct addictive streak when it comes to fully exploring the levels in order to upgrade your characters to their maximum power. When you're done with single player, the multiplayer mode adds extra life to the game, as the experience is genuinely different."
IGN was more reserved, saying that "a lack of enemy variety, disappointing conclusion, and the wonky multiplayer keep Trine from greatness, but this is still a highly recommended puzzle platformer."
The Australian video game talk show Good Game
's reviewers both gave Trine 7.5/10.
In February 2011 Frozenbyte
told the Finnish financial newspaper Kauppalehti
, that Trine has sold approximately 400,000 copies across all platforms.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
and puzzle video game, available for the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and PlayStation Network. It was developed by the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
company Frozenbyte
Frozenbyte
Frozenbyte Inc. is a Finnish game-developer founded in 2001 and based in Helsinki, Finland. The company has now grown to a professional team of almost 20 people, with its first commercial game being Shadowgrounds for Microsoft Windows...
, who previously developed the Shadowgrounds
Shadowgrounds (video game series)
Shadowgrounds is the name of a shoot 'em up video game series for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux developed by Frozenbyte. The games are fast-paced top-down shooters reminiscent of the Alien Breed series and present anachronistic concepts with modern resources...
series. The game takes place in a medieval fantasy
Medieval fantasy
Medieval fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that encompasses medieval era high fantasy and sometimes simply represents fictitious versions of historic events. This subgenre is common among role-playing games, text-based roleplaying, and high-fantasy literature....
setting and allows players to take control of three separate characters who can battle enemies and solve environmental puzzles.
The game was released for Windows on July 3, 2009. The PlayStation Network version was to be released in July 2009, but last-minute bugs discovered in testing caused a delay. It was released on September 17, 2009 in Europe and on October 22, 2009 in North America. A port of the game to Mac OS X was released on November 2, 2010, and the game was later ported to Linux by Alternative Games
Alternative Games
Alternative Games is a Finnish video game company specializing in porting games primarily to the Linux platform as well as to Mac OS X ....
, with the finished port being released as part of the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle.A version for Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
was being developed by Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
, but "most likely won't happen." according to Frozenbyte.
Frozenbyte is currently developing a sequel titled Trine 2.
Gameplay
The player controls and switches between three different characters (a thief, a knightKnight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, and a wizard) to try to complete levels. There is also a cooperative play feature, whereby multiple players can join in at any time to control different characters simultaneously.
Each character has their own health and energy meter. Energy is used for certain weapons and abilities, and is replenished by blue-colored bottles found throughout levels. Health is replenished by collecting heart-shaped containers, which result from destroying certain enemies.
The player also has a single experience rating that is shared among all characters, and is incremented by acquiring green-colored bottles found throughout levels. Every 50 experience points, each character is given one point towards the purchase of upgrades to their abilities.
Treasure chests are also spread throughout levels, each containing a charm that offers the bearing character new or upgraded abilities. The player can transfer these objects between characters, though some will only have an effect on certain characters.
Checkpoints are spread throughout levels, in the form of silver orbs on pedestals. Upon crossing a checkpoint, any deceased characters are brought back to life, and any characters below a certain amount of health and energy are replenished up to that amount. The amount of energy and health replenished is dependent upon the difficulty setting chosen by the player.
When a character dies, the player must choose another living character to continue playing the level. If all three characters die, the player is sent back to the last checkpoint crossed, and all three characters are resurrected.
Enemies primarily include walking skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
s and bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, along with boss characters
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
, like giant skeletons and other large creatures. Some skeletons are armed with swords, others with bows and arrows, some spit fire, and some have shields. Skeletons are capable of scaling walls. Other dangers include lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
, fireballs, giant sharp pendulums, and various other booby traps.
Trine uses Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
's PhysX
PhysX
PhysX is a proprietary realtime physics engine middleware SDK developed by Ageia with the purchase of ETH Zurich spin-off NovodeX in 2004...
physics
Game physics
Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the laws of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer...
engine to provide objects and characters with full physics interaction.
Thief
Zoya the thief is voiced by Vicky Krueger. The thief's weapon is her bow and arrow. The bow can be "charged" by holding down the fire button before releasing, and longer charges make for farther, straighter shots. The thief also has a grappling hookGrappling hook
A grappling hook is an anchor with multiple hooks , attached to a rope; it is thrown, dropped, sunk, projected, or fastened directly by hand to where at least one hook may catch and hold. Generally, grappling hooks are used to temporarily secure one end of a rope. They may also be used to dredge...
which can be fired at wooden surfaces. Regular arrows and the grappling hook are unlimited, and do not diminish the thief's energy. At some point during the game, the thief acquires the ability to shoot flaming arrows, which do diminish her energy. Flaming arrows inflict more damage on enemies, can break certain objects, and can light torches found in certain dark areas of the game.
The thief's possible upgrades include shooting more arrows with each shot, faster charging of the bow, and more damage inflicted with the flaming arrow.
Knight
Pontius the knight's initial weapons are his swordSword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
and shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
. He acquires a flaming sword during the game, which inflicts more damage and can light torches. The knight also acquires a sledgehammer
Sledgehammer
A sledgehammer is a tool consisting of a large, flat head attached to a lever . The head is typically made of metal. The sledgehammer can apply more impulse than other hammers, due to its large size. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area...
. The knight has the ability to lift certain objects and hurl them. His shield can be used to deflect enemy attacks, as well as falling objects and projectiles.
The knight's possible upgrades include additional sword damage, charging attacks, and additional sledgehammer attacks.
Wizard
Amadeus the wizard has the ability to use sorceryMagic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
to move objects remotely, as well as conjure new objects into existence. Initially, the wizard is only able to conjure a cube
Cube
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. The cube can also be called a regular hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids. It is a special kind of square prism, of rectangular parallelepiped and...
-shaped object. At some point in the game, he acquires the ability to conjure an oblong platform (called a "plank" in the game). The box and plank behave as normal objects, obeying the laws of physics and gravity. The wizard later acquires the ability to conjure a floating object shaped like a square pyramid
Pyramid (geometry)
In geometry, a pyramid is a polyhedron formed by connecting a polygonal base and a point, called the apex. Each base edge and apex form a triangle. It is a conic solid with polygonal base....
(called a floating platform in the game), which remains at a fixed point in space unless the wizard moves it. Conjured objects are primarily used to help overcome obstacles and reach difficult areas. The plank, for example, can be used to bridge gaps. All conjuring and remote moving drains the wizard's energy.
The wizard has no traditional attacks, however he can crush certain enemies by hurling objects into them. He can also block attacks by conjuring or moving objects in their path.
The wizard's possible upgrades include the ability to conjure more than one box or plank into simultaneous existence (whereas initially only one of each could be on the screen at once), changing future conjured floating platforms into wood (so that the thief can attach her grappling hook to it), and making the floating platform into an explosive that the knight or thief can trigger.
Plot
Trine takes place in a forsaken and ruined kingdom. After enjoying a period of great peace, the king died without leaving an heir, plunging the kingdom into political instability. Taking advantage of the chaos, an undead army suddenly appeared and attacked, forcing the inhabitants to abandon the realm.After an unspecified amount of time, Trine begins with a thief searching for a legendary treasure in the Astral Academy, a derelict institution of magical studies. Unknown to her, a wizard remained at the academy to study the skies, while a knight arrived there to protect the academy. The three meet at the chamber of the ancient treasure and, touching the object at the same time, disappear.
The wizard recalls that the treasure is actually an artifact called the Trine, which has the power to bind souls. This results in only one of them being able to physically exist, with the other two being forced to remain inside the Trine. The wizard also remembers that the Trine was connected to the legend of a guardian, whose tomb could be found under the Astral Academy.
Searching for a way to free themselves of the Trine's effect, they explore the catacombs under the academy, finding the guardian's tomb. The wizard deciphers some inscriptions on the tomb, discovering that there were once three artifacts: one for the soul, one for the mind and one for the body, each protected by a guardian. The guardians used the three objects to maintain peace throughout the kingdom. The wizard believes that reuniting the three artifacts might undo the spell binding their souls.
The inscriptions suggest that one of the artifacts was guarded in the castle of the old king. The trio searches the castle, finding the king's journals, which describes how the artifacts of mind and body can be found at some ruins, the home of the three guardians and where the three relics were originally created.
Exploring the ruins, the three learn at the burial place of one the guardians that the Trine, the artifact of the soul, was separated in an earthquake from the artifacts of mind and body, which became tainted. This gave birth to an evil tower from which the soulless undead first emerged. The trio ascends the tower, avoiding the obstacles created by a gargantuan undead (which is in fact the old king returned as a wraith) and combines the Trine with the two lost artifacts, unbinding their souls. The undead are cleansed through the kingdom, allowing it to eventually recover, with the wizard, the thief and the knight proclaimed as its heroes.
Reception and sales
Trine has received generally favorable reviews, with a MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
score of 80% and 83% for the PC and PlayStation 3 version, respectively. Trine won Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Editor's Choice award at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009.
PC Format
PC Format
PC Format is a computer magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and licensed to other publishers in countries around the world. In publication since 1991, it is part of Future Publishing's Format series of magazines that include articles about games, entertainment and how to...
magazine praised the game's "stunning attention to detail throughout", and added that its "beautifully fluid game mechanics are impossible not to appreciate."
IT Reviews gave the game a Recommended award, and concluded: "Trine is an aesthetically pleasing and well executed puzzle platformer, with a distinct addictive streak when it comes to fully exploring the levels in order to upgrade your characters to their maximum power. When you're done with single player, the multiplayer mode adds extra life to the game, as the experience is genuinely different."
IGN was more reserved, saying that "a lack of enemy variety, disappointing conclusion, and the wonky multiplayer keep Trine from greatness, but this is still a highly recommended puzzle platformer."
The Australian video game talk show Good Game
Good Game
Good Game is an Australian video gaming talk show television programme created by Janet Carr and Jeremy Ray currently on ABC2. It premiered on ABC on 19 September 2006...
's reviewers both gave Trine 7.5/10.
In February 2011 Frozenbyte
Frozenbyte
Frozenbyte Inc. is a Finnish game-developer founded in 2001 and based in Helsinki, Finland. The company has now grown to a professional team of almost 20 people, with its first commercial game being Shadowgrounds for Microsoft Windows...
told the Finnish financial newspaper Kauppalehti
Kauppalehti
Kauppalehti is a commerce-oriented newspaper in Finland owned by Alma Media....
, that Trine has sold approximately 400,000 copies across all platforms.
See also
- Metal MutantMetal mutantMetal Mutant is a side-scrolling action-adventure game developed and published for MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari ST by Silmarils and released in 1991...
- The Lost VikingsThe Lost VikingsThe Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse . The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment for DOS, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and SNES among others...
- Gobliins
- Wizards & Warriors
- Fury of the FurriesFury of the FurriesFury of the Furries is a platform/puzzler game released by Kalisto Entertainment for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, Macintosh and MS-DOS systems.-Story:...
- Realms of Chaos
- Little SamsonLittle SamsonLittle Samson is a game developed by Takeru and published by Taito for the Nintendo Entertainment System...
- List of downloadable PlayStation 3 games