Trine 4: Nightmare Prince Review - Can You Save A Prince Who Doesn’t Want To Be Saved?

Written by Brandon Hofer  on October 13, 2019

Reviews: Trine 4 is a great addition to the franchise that encourages teamwork and with some puzzles that will definitely stump you for a few moments.

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Frozebyte has returned to the Trine universe with Trine 4: Nightmare Prince and it really is a sight to behold. The game looks incredible whether you are outside in a vibrant environment or underground trying to solve some puzzles so that you can advance in the story. Our three heroes have returned for this adventure with Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight, and Zoya the Thief being sent to track down the petulant Prince Selius.

The adventure starts out with each hero going through a solo mission so that you can get used to the gameplay mechanics before everyone reunites. Once the band is back together though, then you have fight through the Prince’s nightmares in order to track him down and, hopefully, convince him to go with you. He doesn’t make it easy on you though whether it is through his immature actions or lack of understanding of the situation. There are a number of different creatures you are going to need to take down and some pretty clever puzzles that definitely stumped me a time or two. That feeling you get when you finally figure out the solution is amazing though and should help propel you throughout this game.



As you progress through the game the heroes will level up their abilities and you will get to choose who you want to focus on first. Throughout the majority of the levels, there are experience drops to collect and once you hit your milestone you can select how you want to power up your character. I chose Pontius the Knight as the first I would fully level first as I used him a lot during combat, getting right in the face of the enemy and whacking them with my sword or using my shield to reflect projectiles back at them. My favorite hero in the game is probably Zoya the Thief. When I was free to pick the character I wanted to use it was usually her as I enjoyed using her arrows and she always had a sarcastic one-liner to spout off. All three heroes have distinct personalities and are pretty different from each other but they play off each other well and you can tell that they are growing closer and gaining more respect for each other as your adventure goes on.

Trine 4 features over 20 levels for you to go through with a variety of different environments. If you aren’t familiar with the Trine franchise, or this game, in particular, it is basically an action-platforming puzzle title. There is a tremendous amount of platforming throughout the game, interspersed with combat from time to time, and figuring out the puzzle that is front of you so that you can advance to the next area. I generally enjoy these types of titles and Trine 4 is no exception. I will say though that you will enjoy this game more if you just take your time and relax and are not in a big hurry. With these types of games if you try to rush through the levels (and the game itself) it can only lead to frustration when something doesn’t click right away or when you need to solve a problem through trial and error. Take your time, slow down, explore the landscape, and smell the proverbial roses.



Trine 4 also features some multiplayer so you can go through the story by yourself or with a group of friends. Playing these types of games with friends can definitely be a lot of fun and that is definitely the case with Trine 4. You can play with up to three other people and you can play either online or via local co-op with your friends sitting on the couch. You can choose the level of difficulty you want to go through as well as whether you want to play in Classic or Unlimited mode. Classic mode will limit the action to just three players and one of each character. If you choose to go the Unlimited mode route it removes the restriction so you can play with a total of four players and it doesn’t matter which character you select. You can have two thieves, one wizard, and one knight, or whatever combination your party decides on.

Trine 4 has a good number of collectibles so if you are someone that enjoys tracking everything down in a game, that will definitely add on to the playtime you spend here. There are the aforementioned experience points but there are also letters to be found, different treasures, and a variety of knicknacks. The great thing that the development team did is that they broke it all down for you so that you know which area you need to visit to find the collectibles you might have missed. To find this out all you have to do is click on the level and then you will be told what you found and what is still missing. It breaks the levels down by checkpoint so you don’t have to go through the whole thing if you are just missing one collectible that is 95% of the way through the level. It will tell you that at checkpoint 2, for example, you found 6 out of 11 experience points in that area and that you found ten out of ten stars. Then when you scroll down it might say that at checkpoint 7 you found all five of the experience points in that section. I always greatly appreciate when the developers go the extra mile and give us this level of detail. It makes me want to keep playing the game and track everything done, instead of trying to search the entire game for a handful of collectibles.



Trine 4 is a really fun action-platforming-puzzle title. If you are new to the franchise there is enough here that will ease you in to what the game expects of you and you might even want to go pick up the Ultimate Collection which comes with all four Trine titles. If you are an experienced Trine player then you already know what to expect here, for the most part. I enjoyed the story that was told and my overall experience with the title. The soundtrack was great and I enjoyed the dialogue between the three heroes. The game seemed to run flawlessly on my Xbox One X and I highly recommend this title to anyone who enjoys solving puzzles with some nice platforming action.

**We received a Trine 4 code from Modus Games for review purposes**