Trine: Enchanted Edition (Switch) Review

Game: Trine: Enchanted Edition
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/Publisher: Frozenbyte
Age Rating: 12+ (UK & EU) | 10+ (US)
Regular Price: £13.49| €14,99| $14.99
Release Date: 9th November 2018
(The game is also available on PC, Mac, Linux, Wii U & PS4)

Review Code kindly provided by Frozenbyte

Bound Together

There was once a Thief called Zoya, a Wizard named Armadeus, and a Knight called Pontius; each seeking out their own pursuits, unaware that fate was about to bring them together, and send them on an fantastic adventure!

When their paths cross with the mystical Trine, they become bound to one another and whisked away to a far away kingdom; one which has fallen into ruin and taken over by the unndead! It’s down to Zoya, Armadeus and Pontius to bring peace back to the far away kingdom – Huzzaah! The saviors are here!

Gameplay & Controls

Trine: Enchanted Edition is a brilliant fantasy-adventure, side-scrolling platformer, with puzzles to solve, baddies to fight and treasure to find!

The game’s story is told by a narrator; giving the game a fantasy story-book vibe and drawing the player into the world a little more. It’s not necessary to pay attention to what the story is about, but part of Trine’s charm is the narration – so you would be missing out on a key aspect if you skip it.

To traverse through the levels the player can switch between the three characters (as long as they are alive). Each character has their own unique skill set:

Armadeus the wizard – The support character in the group; he can create boxes and other platforms to assist in overcoming obstacles and reach greater heights. There is an option where you can use his powers to “levitate” yourself (and other players) around the screen (it’s pretty fun and beats running around).
Pontius the knight – The stronger one of the three and great in close quarter combat; he carries a sword and shield, as well as a hammer to bash through walls and whack enemies about. Although typically slower, he can run for a short time (great fun running into a block and sending it flying across the screen and into an enemy 😛 ).
Zoya the thief – The more nimble and agile of the three; she has a bow and arrows to defeat hostiles, but also has a grapple that allows her to latch onto wooden platforms and swing through the air. It’s great fun swinging around and the arrows are great for attacking from a distance (she’s like a mix between Spider-Gwen and Robin Hood 😀 ).

What is that green stuff?!

Throughout the levels, there are green experience points to collect/use to power-up the trio and unlock new abilities. The experience tends to be dotted around and can be rather hidden – so keep an eye out! You can also gain experience from defeating enemies – an incentive to defeat them rather than ignore/run away from them.

Another object to keep an eye out for is the treasure chests. Although some chests are in plain sight, others take a bit of searching to find, but they are certainly worth it! Each chest contains an item that can give a boost to a character: increase health, better defence, conjure more boxes,etc and you can give the items to which ever character you like (but some only grant benefits to a specific character).

Adventuring with friends/randoms

If adventuring alone isn’t your cup of tea; Trine allows for 2 friends to join you either locally or online. For the online modes, a Nintendo Switch Online membership is required, and unfortunately these days I don’t tend to see random people online (neither hosting or joining). So if you are looking to play alongside other players, it would be best to have a friend or two that’s able to join.

When it comes to which character a player can be in multiplayer, there are two options: Classic or Unlimited. Classic only allows one person to be a specific character at one time, while Unlimited allows for all players to switch characters and be the same one simultaneously (if they wanted to). Classic requires a lot more team work due to the restrictions – making communication key to success (and all the more difficult if you’re unable to speak to a player that is stuck for what ever reason).

While playing online with Jonah, we used Discord for voice chat – which made team work a lot easier and playing a lot more fun. 😀

The only oddity I typically experienced while playing online didn’t affect gameplay, but Zoya’s character model did some bizarre things after dying (see tweet below for video clip).

Crazy happenings in Trine – Poor Zoya…#Trine #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/YsrZfRIcvJ
— Evriun (@evriun) February 17, 2019

No touching!

Trine: Enchanted Edition uses the joy-cons and has pro-controller support, but has no touch functionality at all. Anyone that has played Trine 1 or 2 on Wii U will likely feel a little put off by this, as the touch screen on the Wii U’s gamepad was perfect for conjuring objects with Armadeus. Not to say the joy-cons or the pro-controller are bad, but with no touch screen functionality; the fluidity of the game is affected, and makes conjuring more of a chore than it should be – don’t worry Armadeus, I still like you 😛 .

Graphics, Designs & Soundtrack

During gameplay; Trine: Enchanted Edition has a wonderfully wispy, mist-like look, giving it a magical fantasy feeling/atmosphere. The style works brilliantly with the game’s setting and adds an air of mystery to the locations.

The story segments on the other hand, have a more traditional art style and are similar to illustrations that can be found with fantasy stories (just with slight animations) – certainly works well with the story-telling and fantasy setting the game has.

The levels are really well designed, they aren’t overly complex which allows for a nice fluid progression throughout. Some sections require a little more thought than just platform hopping, and others require a specific character’s skill to progress – if a character is no longer alive and you are unable to revive them, you can go onto the pause menu and go back to the last check point if needs be (so all is not lost thankfully).

Trine’s soundtrack truly evokes that magical feeling; filled with intrigue and emotion, with some light and bouncy segments to keep things lighthearted and fun – works brilliantly with the levels and makes the game all the more interesting!

Additional Comments

One of the aspects I really like about Trine, is the conversations and comments that each of the trio make throughout the game. The dialogue between them allows the player to learn more about the characters and their personalities, and allows you to connect with them a little more as characters in a story (rather than just one you’re controlling) – I think it’s great and a really nice aspect to have in a game.

Trine: Enchanted Edition is typically £9.99 on Steam and £10.99 on Wii U. Both versions are better for when using Armadeus, but if you want a bit of Trine on the go; the extra expense for the Switch version isn’t too bad in my view. Always keep an eye out for those sales if you want to save some money though. (it’s only £1.49 on Steam until April 4th 2019; now that’s a bargain!)

Overall Opinion

Trine: Enchanted Edition is a brilliant game and (along with Trine 2) is one of my favourite platformer games – Super Mario or Trine? Trine any day for me! 😀

The Good

I love the characters’ personalities, the level designs, the story-telling aspect, the fantasy setting, the puzzles; it’s one of those games that has many gaming elements that I really enjoy – definitely looking forward to Trine 4!

Even though I have played through the game a few times now, I still have 2 or 3 experience points to find and I just like playing through the game as fast as I can on Hard mode – the fluidity of the physics/character movements makes it so much fun, especially with Zoya being so agile and versatile.

The Bad

While I do enjoy Trine a great deal, the lack of touch functionality is a negative for me. I had played Trine on PC and the mouse was alright, but the Wii U’s gamepad made the Wii U version all the more superior to me – especially when doing a quick run through. I had hoped that the Switch version would also have the touch functionality like the Wii U version; such a shame that it doesn’t!

Another slight negative is the boss battles; sure they were bigger and stronger than other enemies, but I feel they could of been fleshed out a bit more, to make them even more of a challenge and memorable.