Trine 2

One word to describe Trine 2 would "gorgeous". It's without a doubt one of the most beautiful side scrollers ever made and still holds up very nicely for a game that's over ten years old by now, first released at the end of 2011. The visuals can feel a little bit cluttered at first, maybe even overwhelming, because it's all so detailed and colorful, but you get used to it and may even fall in love with it. Combined with the fantastic soundtrack, it just creates an impressive experience to behold.

It can also be seen as the pinnacle of the series, where it not only looks the prettiest, it has improved upon many aspects of the first game. If you only have time and money for one of the Trine games, then it should be without a doubt Trine 2.

The story also allows for it, because it's mostly independent from the rest. Some time after the events of the first game the Trine summons the heroes once more and sends them into a distant kingdom riddled with Goblins. There they get to meet a mysterious witch named Rosabel, who reveals herself to be the crown princess, and the adventure unfolds from there...

Anyway, if you enjoy looking for hidden things in platformers, like the star coins in various Super Mario games or the puzzle pieces in the Donkey Kong Country saga, then Trine 2 has you covered with all its secrets throughout the levels, mainly the Experience. In the first game this stuff was mostly easy to find, but not so here, where you have to be really observant and also really creative. It has by far some of the craziest secrets in the series.

However, there is the problem of completion, where the game will tell you how much Experience there is to find in each level and how much you've already found, the same with the hidden treasure chests. But the levels can be very long, where you'll have to search through everything all over again for the one last bit that you might be missing... It's not required of course, you can actually play through the entire game without collecting anything (though it will be very challenging without any additional abilities), but for perfectionists and completionists this can be annoying.

In any case, the key to solving everything are the abilities of your heroes, where they've gained a couple more in the sequel. For example, the thief now has a variety of different arrow types: Fire Arrows, Ice Arrows, Bomb Arrows, and Gravity Arrows, which all can be unlocked one after another. Most of these are like you know them from the Zelda series, but the Gravity Arrows are certainly special. On impact they create a low gravity bubble, which lets anything inside float and also move slower. Your own speed isn't hindered as much, however, and you can nicely use these fields for puzzles and combat alike. The Bomb Arrows are as strong and powerful as you would expect, but you can also create a low gravity bubble, start firing lots of Bombs Arrows inside, which then will hail all at once at your enemies once they leave the bubble. It's these type of interactions which make the game so much fun.

The knight can now use his shield as a glider and even magnetize it to attract and repel metallic objects, including those made by the wizard. All of these useful abilities are unlocked and upgraded in a skill tree via your collected Experience. Unlike in the first game, you can always redistribute your gained Experience in case you want to try something different.

There is also no fixed progression with your abilities, so it's really up to you what might be the most useful for your personally. This leads to the most free form puzzle design in the series, because you are often presented with obstacles that encourage different approaches based on what abilities you have and what might be the easiest for you. Of course you can also make things needlessly complicated for yourself, but it doesn't really matter, as long as you make it to the goal somehow.

It's not just about the abilities, however, where the levels often provide a variety of elements that need to be put in the right way. Those can be teleportals or pipes to route streams of air or fire. And this is where the wizard comes in, who can levitate pretty much anything that's not fixed, even enemies this time.

Trine 2: The Goblin Menace

The main game has 13 levels in total, one of which is the final boss battle. But there are six more levels available in an expansion, called The Goblin Menace, which includes another nasty boss. In addition, there is a bonus level, the Dwarven Cavern, which got originally made for the Wii U version (Trine 2: Director's Cut). However, if you buy the game now on any current platform, you should get the Complete Story Edition, which includes all 20 levels.

The expansion is easily the best part of the game, though, where its levels get lengthy and very creative. It starts off with the heroes celebrating in a town after their victory, but then said town gets invaded by Goblins. Those try to get rid of our heroes by throwing them into a desert, where they have to fight through some ancient ruins, only to be swallowed by a giant sand worm à la Dune at the end. Let's just say that this game makes Jabu Jabu's Belly look like a resort in comparison.

It has a lot of variety and the most stunning levels of Trine 2, which makes the main game, which looks already very good, seem almost dull in comparison. So, by saying that Trine 2 is the pinnacle of the series, it's really all about The Goblin Menace. But you want to experience the whole package, of course, where the expansion really builds on the skills that you've learned throughout the main game and puts them to good test.

Conclusion

Trine 2 is Trine at its best. It's a beautiful, beautiful game that nearly has perfected the formula of the series. And that's really all you need to know.

PS: The previous article got updated with some additional paragraphs of things that came up while writing this mini review.