Trine: Enchanted Edition - That Forest has a Whole Lotta Spikes

Look at it. LOOK AT IT!!!

Why a forest would have such spikes is beyond me.

Trine is a game that I purchased from Steam in one of my weakest moments, which have only gotten worse. I bought it as part of the Frozenbyte collection during the Steam Summer Sale. It has beautiful graphics, as seen in the screenshot above. That screenshot is only on medium. Despite the fact that my computer does funky things when its being pushed too hard, it played the game flawlessly. So at least it isn't too heavy on systems, or at the very least not on mine. The company who makes it is a pile of sweethearts because after they released Trine 2, they updated the original Trine with the Trine 2 engine. That's where "Enchanted Edition" comes from, as well as its prettifulness... ness. That's definitely an admirable quality in any studio or publisher, especially since they updated the original games to Enchanted Edition free of charge.


However, I've come to realize one thing while playing Trine: Enchanted Edition. I hate puzzle platformers. I'm not sure if it's the genre, or Trine in general because I do like playing the old school platformers, but I didn't have an overall excellent experience. It felt more like a "popcorn" game. You didn't play it for something serious, you played it as something that is fun. That's totally fine, I have no problems with that, but that children would be called a lie. I keed. The game did have a unique atmosphere but... I feel like the game had a lot of blanketed generic areas. It tried to make the characters compelling but it failed. The music... was like three tracks long. The skills... they were.. eh. Just know that before we go forward, my opinion appears to be in the minority in accordance to the game's Steam store page and the users who have commented on it.

I'd like to start with the first HUGE problem of mine, because this annoys the crackers out of me. It is a generic fantasy game. The undead are taking over. That's a fantasy plot that has been used since the 80s. Well, more roaming skeletons than anything. Not only that, every character (there are only three) has what seems to be a European accent! WHO THE LLAMA MADE EUROPE SO MAGICAL! Watch, it's made in the UK and then I'll feel like a total ass. There's a generic magical object that binds all three souls of the characters together. What does that mean? I have no idea. So then the characters go off to find other magical relics. Sigh. I'm a fantasy snob because the genre can become cliche and generic so easily. I feel like Trine fits into that. Then again, I do mean fantasy writing.

The game feels like a fairy tale, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it keeps using the same motifs, the same colors. It's sooo annoying. In the one thousand and one forests I wander through, I see the same colors used, the same themes. OH LOOK, ANOTHER PURPLE MUSHROOM! I hate you mushroom. There are a few unique areas, but there are about four or five forested areas that all feel the same. Then you land in a village, and I was thrilled because I thought... you know, VILLAGE! I'd see something unique, get out of the forest. But nope, bunch of houses stuck in trees.

The characters are presented as having some sort of weight, but they don't really react to anything in the level. It tries to make them... you know, people. In the beginning, I felt it. The ending wasn't bad either because it says what happens to each character, but there's a whooole lotta inbetween with meh. Before every stage, it's cool because there's a narrator that tells you what's going on, but once the reins get handed over to the characters, they often flub or say nothing. Sometimes, it's done right, but not enough for my taste.

The enemies are also generic skeletons. There's skeleton, skeleton with shield, skeleton with bow, all the previous things with chain mail and then skeleton with torch that blows fire, which makes no sense BECAUSE BONES DON'T HAVE LUNGS. I understood skeletons were rising from the opening monologue, but I really REALLY wanted something more. There are literally two types of bosses you fight multiple times. There's big scary skeleton and freaky mutant fish man with crystals on his back. The characters have noooo reaction to these bosses. There is no reason for these bosses being there. They just ARE. And you fight them. End of the story.

The worst part is, you get to the end of the game and there's this floating skeleton guy that you think you might be able to fight at the end. I got super excited when he showed up. You reached the top, after going up obstacles fast to avoid a rising pool of lava, which was fun and challenging and its the end of the game. No boss fight. Just scene where you see him get hit by a hammer courtesy of the knight. Not to mention that it lunges at the female thief and the knight "protects" her. Am I a femi-nazi? Why not.

Look at him. Just lying there.

Siiiiigh.

So battle definitely was not a priority at all in this game.

Then there's the skills. The knight had the coolest set because it was varied. He had his normal slash attack, he could use his shield. Then he gets a dash that hurts enemies and he even gets a hammer to PWN some skellies with. The thief character is the second best because she uses a bow and can increase the arrows she shoots, she can shot fire arrows, and she can increase the time to takes to fire. she also has a convenient grappling hook. Not bad. Wizard is where I get annoyed.

This is a puzzle game, I'm coming to realize. It has side elements, but those elements aren't a focus. Battle. Just throw in some generic stuff. Story? Ehhh... this decent thing over here. Puzzle? PUZZLE!!! So the wizard can conjure up puzzle elements. He can conjure boxes, planks, and a floating platform yaaay, magic that offer new ways to get through challenges. I wished they had given him some actual magic to balance out his puzzle magic. They did not. It would have worked well I think and it could have made for even even more unique experience. But le sigh.

Music... had some interesting parts, but mostly plain and generic. The menu theme is beautiful, but once you are in the game, the music feels very... flowery? The kingdom is getting taken over by skeletons, damnit! Use some urgency. The music did live up to the game's fairy-tale feel, but too much so for my taste. You wander through so many levels and it seems to me like they all have the same song. It's not very immersive in that regard. I'm wandering through a forge that the skeletons use to make their weapons but there isn't anything with urgency to the music. It's just... music. Something that exists in the background.

Now, these are my personal issues with Trine. That doesn't mean it is an awful game. It got a 80/100 metacritic score. You know why? I don't. I mean... The puzzle elements. It did something exciting and the environment is very interactable. It's not like you just jumped and slashed. You had to work your way through the environment. You can use just one character to get through the level, or you can use all three. Plus, it has co-op. Being able to switch between characters was interesting you could do it at any time and very fun. I didn't have any particular difficulty playing through the game, but that's probably my fault for picking medium difficulty and hardcore mode off. I may have enjoyed it more on hard and in hardcore more, who's to say?

My issues come from playing a game that I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. In playing the game, I found out more about what *I* look for in what I consider a great game more than anything else. You know what those things are? Diversity, Challenge, Epic music, and Immersion. Diversity means the gameplay doesn't get or feel repetitive. It doesn't make me feel like I'm doing the same things and for what reason? It can also apply to battle elements of the game, like enemies or skills. Make everything feel unique and different. Challenge makes the content fun by not making it easy. I feel like I've progressed further in the game and in turn feel like I've become more powerful. Epic music and Immersion are similar. The Music makes me want to stay in the world, it makes the world more memorable and it means I carry the world with me if the song is stuck in my head. Immersion means the world is seamless, and like music, it makes me want to stay. If I'm reminded that I'm playing a game, then what's the fun? This element is brought forth by the other elements I've mentioned, by things feeling alive and different. Characters are an optional category. If you are going to try making characters part of the game, make them mean something. Otherwise, it's milk with a dash of chocolate syrup instead of being the whole damn chocolate milk. No one wants that! D:<

Is my list absolute, or will it change? I have no idea, but this is what Trine helped me discover about myself. Would I recommend Trine? Sure. Not as something serious, but if you have a few twenty minutes with nothing to do, it IS fun enough to play. I have the second one, so that'll be my next playthrough. Fingers crossed that some of the issues I had have been improved!