The trio of heroes is back in a beautifully crafted visual feast of a game with complex puzzle play, from Frozenbyte.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy sees our heroes; Amadeus the wizard, Pontius the Knight and Soya the Thief return and joining forces once again after having gone their separate ways from the events of Trine 4.

They have all be summoned to a Hero Awards ceremony in their honour by Lady Sunshine Crawford.

Of course – the Awards ceremony doesn’t go as the trio thought it would and there’s a bit more to Lady Sunny than you’d expect…

As with the previous games, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy requires you to cycle between all three characters within one single Level.

Each character has a specific skill set. Soya can use rope with arrows, Amadeus is able to conjure boxes and planks and Pontius has girth, weight a shield that can aide in puzzles by way of deflecting or changing the flow and a sword for brutal melee combat.

Their individual skills can be levelled up too via a skill tree where you’re specified character will learn new abilities.

Difficulty and puzzle solving to get through each Level is very dynamic. You may feel brain sweats very early on in the game, whereas later on you’ll find yourself thinking, ‘ah that one was easy’.

The environments and obstacles within (and ones that you will conjure) are all real-world physics based. This of course can add to the complexity of finding the solution to the said physics and environmental puzzle.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy also has multiplayer.

Classic sees you having the three characters only where other players can jump in and join you to get through the game. This is limited to one instance of the three playables.

A new mode called Unlimited sees you having up to 4 players in one go and not limited to specific characters. No need for you and your friends to argue about who plays as which character, you can, for example, have four Soya’s on screen.

The multiplayers aspect is either co-op offline or online.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is a short game in theory. Around 20 Levels, however, do not expect that you’ll whiz through it. The puzzles you’ll encounter will see you sapping countless hours, day even, in to various Levels.

A stunning platformer, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy will test your logical thinking, frustrate you at times and reward you with satisfaction once you’ve got through those really tricky bits.

Myself a fan of the series was more than pleased to see that a fifth one was in the making. And for likeminded Trine players, be assured that it has retained all of the goodness from the previous games and then some.

The post Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy (PlayStation 5) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

How do you do it all over again, for the fourth time? How do you keep the same formula fresh after so many iterations of the same idea?

Incredibly, Trine 4 has the answer. After the pushback against the move to a more 3D adventure for Trine 3, Trine 4 reverts back to the well-known and loved 2.5D gameplay of the first two games. And while it is a shame in a sense that Trine as a whole hasn’t been able to expand in the way the developers may have hoped, Trine 4 is evidence that the unique 3 player 2.5D puzzle platformer genre has life in it yet.

Trine 4 starts by bringing together the three familiar adventurers from the previous game, before sending them off on a quest to chase down a prince that has gone astray. You soon find him, but through his temper, immaturity and a good old dose of the forces of evil, the chase is longer (and more complicated) than it first appears.

To eventually get to the Prince and return him to safety, you must traverse a world full of puzzles designed to test your ever-growing list of skills and abilities. You control three distinct characters with individualised skills to help you do so – a wizard who can conjure up boxes, a thief who can shoot a rope to climb on, and a knight who has a great big swinging sword. At first the game will present you with some simple box puzzles, but as you gain more powers through the game the difficulty ramps up. I found the difficulty curve to be carefully considered, though at times I got a skill and didn’t really feel like I had enough time to test it and become familiar with it before the puzzles moved on at what seemed like random.

Fortunately there are multiple ways to finish each puzzle, and as long as you can get to the other side of the screen and move on there’s no penalty for coming up with the most harebrained-scheme type of solution. While there are collectibles to find and additional skill points to discover, neither are necessary at all to progress through the world and so simply moving left to right is all you need to focus on.

I’m sure that many of my “solutions” would have left the game’s developers sighing in disappointment that I didn’t do the “correct,” clever thing, but it speaks to the flexibility of the physics-driven system that it allowed me to seemingly-break the game with alternate ways of progressing. I will say though that one late-game skill fundamentally destroyed the complexity of almost all puzzles, allowing me to progress without actually considering or taking note of the puzzle on screen. I would say that this skill should only be accessed as a last resort, and if you want to preserve the game as it was intended to use it only sparingly.

Less impressive were the too-frequent combat sections that broke up the puzzles. These sections make you stop and button-mash your way to victory against only a small number of enemy types. It felt like filler, and an excuse to make up for the lack of the use of the knight in many of the puzzles themselves. Completing these sections never felt anything more than bashing my way through a wall that was preventing me from accessing the good stuff.

This drudgery can be made significantly easier with a co-operative partner, whose presence benefits the game as a whole. The puzzles do change based on whether you have a partner or two playing with you, which gives the game a bit more replayability value. On the small Switch screen it can be a bit difficult to see what’s going on with two people, so I recommend turning on the helpful character outline option to get a better idea where your character (which can change) is at any one time.

Trine 4 looks absolutely stunning on the Nintendo Switch. It’s seriously one of the most impressive games I’ve seen on the system, rivalling that of games from developers with much larger budgets. Detailed backgrounds burst with life, foliage sways and beautiful animation works makes Trine 4 a real treat to behold. The Trine series has always been known for its artistic vision, but I was especially impressed with how this held up on the less-than-powerful mobile chipset of the Nintendo Switch.

Trine 4 isn’t too long and doesn’t wear out it’s welcome. At about six hours you’re better served for your money picking up the entire Trine Collection for a little more and I’d recommend you buy that in lieu of just this game.

A worthy follow-up to a storied franchise, Trine 4 gives you some of the best puzzling of the entire series, wrapped in a gorgeous world that ran smoothly on my Nintendo Switch (original). The only real downside to this game is that it’s over just as your addiction to solving tricky puzzles is at its greatest, but it’s still a satisfying snack to pick at between other games, or, if you’re like me, to binge in just a couple of satisfying sittings.

The post Trine 4: Nightmare Prince (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

From Trine to outer Space.

Frozenbyte has revealed the first glimpses of Starbase, sci-fi MMO game based on hybrid voxel / vertex technology where every detail matters.

Fully destructible environment and a multitude of fine-detailed simulations allow the players the ultimate freedom to conquer space by unleashing their creativity to design spaceships, stations, factories, find and exploit flaws in others’ creations, and build their way to galactic supremacy.

Frozenbyte CEO Lauri Hyvärinen, teeming with excitement, commented on the announcement: “Starbase is our dream come true, a universe where almost anything is possible. You can build and design spaceships, team up with other pioneers or launch into the unknown with a curious mind to conquer space any way you want! Starbase is full of possibilities and players are free to explore and take part in shaping the universe. We’ve been working on the game in secret for years, and now we are finally ready to unveil the game and to start the incredible journey with the players. This is only a small glimpse of Starbase, and we can’t wait to show more in Early Access and beyond!”

Starbase is a massively multiplayer online game with gameplay focused on building and designing spaceships and stations, exploration, resource gathering, crafting, trading, and combat. Alternatively the game features a sandbox mode where players can explore the game alone or with selected friends in their own universe.

Set in a universe of vast scale and detail, the fully-destructible environment and hybrid voxel / vertex-based game mechanics enable simulations in the game at immense depth; minor collisions may break a few outer plates from your spaceship, while fast-speed crashes can rip the ship apart. Thruster propellant pipe leaks may cause spaceships to stall, but the corrosive, leaking propellant might also melt the superstructure of the ship and cause a catastrophic failure. Damaged ship controls in a spaceship do not necessarily mean the journey is over, as manual values for the flight can be applied directly to the generator and thrusters from the engine room.

The scale and depth of the simulation in all aspects of the game gives players the ultimate freedom to exploit their innovativeness and creativity – the building blocks of success in Starbase. From constructing single spaceships with durable outer platings to creating massive automated factories and designing electricity and data networks, the players are free to do it their own way.

The release date for Starbase is still to be determined.

[Adsense-C]

The post Frozenbyte Reveals Starbase appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The Trine trio get the band back together for another adventure.

Pontius, Amadeus and Zoya are once again called upon by the mysterious artefact known as the Trine, a magical object that binds the three unlikely allies together.

As Amadeus, the Wizard is awoken after falling in to an exhausted sleep whilst practising his fireball spell, the Trine pays him a visit. But Amadeus protests, thinking of his irate wife and kids, however Pontius the warrior is more than ready, Zoya, the Thief sees the Trines call as an inconvenience – but optimistically muses that could also be an opportunity to hopefully find more treasure.

Their Kingdom is under peril once again and it is up to the three heroes to meld their skills in a whole new adventure.

Trine 2: Complete Story does follow on from the first game – however could just as easily be played as a standalone for those that never experienced the first Trine title from Frozenbyte.

The beautiful richly coloured fantastical Levels experienced in this game’s predecessor are a feast for our visual senses as you control all three characters who each have unique abilities – all of which you are going to need to get through a Level.

Amadeus has the ability to create magic boxes, which are used as platforms to reach higher areas, or weights to trigger switches. Pontius is always rough and ready with brawn and brute force wielding his shield and sword. Zoya is more refined than the other two, she is quiet and stealthy using her bow and arrow and a grapple to get through the many puzzles and obstacles (aswell as a varied amount of enemies) throughout the environments. Playing as all three at one given time or as required the mysterious story of Trine 2 slowly unfolds.

Having all three characters at your disposal in any given Level enables you to swap between the trio on the fly using either the Switches shoulder buttons, in-game. If one dies, you can generally continue, if two of the heroes are killed it could make the gameplay very tricky.

When playing a Trine game you need to always strategise and aim to keep all characters alive, as for the most part you will need the abilities of all three in any given environment. Some obstacles in Levels can be interacted with, manipulated, the Right Joystick moves a cursor around your on-screen area in order for you to either aim or move and item, depending on the character that you are playing as.

Trine 2: Complete Story also has online and co-op multiplayer, so spread the strategic joy among friends.

Now released on Nintendo Switch as a part of the ‘Trine Ultimate Collection’ which will eventually include the third instalment soon.

Trine 2 originally released on PC in 2013 this Switch adaption also includes the Goblin Menace DLC.

As with the first Trine, Trine 2: Complete Story is a beautiful real time physics rendered adventure that feels right at home on the Switch.

The post Trine 2: Complete Story (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Developer Frozenbyte and indie video game publisher Modus Games today confirm first gameplay details and reveal an official announcement trailer for the upcoming and highly anticipated Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, coming to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Steam, Discord and other PC platforms this autumn. Alongside the series’ new instalment, Modus will release Trine: Ultimate Collection.

Featuring an all-new story that reunites Amadeus, Pontius, and Zoya, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince returns to the magic of 2.5D with the puzzle-platforming gameplay that defined a genre in Trine 1 and 2. Play as the three iconic heroes in the most extensive Trine adventure yet, complete with stunning new environments and dynamic, physics-based puzzles that fans have grown to know and love.

After years apart, the Astral Academy has requested help from the three heroes to find Prince Selius, whose intensely dark nightmares have begun to slip into reality and wreak havoc on the waking world. Encounter more epic boss fights than ever before, solve fascinating puzzles, unlock new skills, explore lush, vibrant landscapes, and experience a hauntingly beautiful new soundtrack by the composer of Trine 1-3. Additionally, and for the first time ever, Trine adds four-player co-op to its feature list.

Packed with bonus content at retail, the bundle will include Trine: Enchanted Edition, Trine 2: Complete Story, Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power, and Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince and will be available on PS4, Xbox One and PC both physically and digitally.

The post Announcing Trine 4! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Frozenbyte is happy to announce that the Trine Series 1-3, developed by Frozenbyte and published by GameTrust, is coming out with all three games on one Nintendo Switch game card. Available for pre-order today exclusively at GameStop stores and online.

Combining puzzle, platforming and action gameplay set in a beautiful fantasy world, the three part award-winning series is finally getting a physical release. The game card includes Trine Enchanted Edition, which launched for Nintendo Switch eShop on November the 9th, 2018, Trine 2: Complete Story, coming to Nintendo Switch eShop on February the 18th, 2019, as well as Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power.

The Trine games feature three playable heroes, each with their own skills and playstyle, Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight, and Zoya the Thief, who’ve been granted powers by a mysterious artifact called Trine.

The post Trine 2 Coming to Nintendo Switch appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

What do a thief, a knight and a wizard have in common?

They are as one.

In 2009 when the first Trine game released their souls intertwined thanks to a mysterious artifact called the Trine.

When the King of a ruined land dies without leaving a hier the world in which Zoya (Thief), Pontius (the Knight) and Amadeus (the Wizard) all see an opportunity as the world in which they live in plunges in to dark chaos, the undead rise up out of nowhere, seemingly, and the throne is vacant.

Each one of the trio of characters goes straight to the Academy of Magic, but with thier own motive.

Zoya thinking there will be some goodies ripe for plundering, Pontius on a self directed mission to protect the Academy and Amadeus already within the Academy after a sleeping potion backfired is trying to escape.

As all three approach a shrine to the magical treasure that is the Trine their souls become fused together.

The three strangers, who had no intention of being so close with eachother, let alone friends must now work together to undo the magic that binds them together and save what remains of the Kingdom along their adventures.

A 2.5D side scroll, the original Trine exploded with PC gamers due to its richly detailed and ethereal world.

Utilising real-world physics like we had never seen before, each Level consists of puzzles where you will need to use all three characters and their abilities to get through.

Zoya has a bow and arrow and rope with a dagger which will allow her to swing across great caverns, Amadeus can cast spells and produce objects out of thin air, handy if that next platform is just out of reach. Pontius, well he is like a bull in a China shop, but has excellent defense with his shield and a brutal undead slayer with his sword.

Throughout the game you will be changing characters on the fly to progress. If one character is low on health, generally with you being able to switch characters will save you from death. That said, if one or two of your characters dies, there’s a cool off period, or until you find a health potion.

The first Trine title set the developers; Frozenbyte as magical wizards themselves in a game that we all couldn’t get enough of.

So, it wasn’t too long (2012) before we revisted our soul-bonded trio again in Trine 2.

Again the three need to band together in similar gameplay mechanics, retaining that astounding real-world physics which both accented and at times added to the difficulty of gameplay.

In Trine 2 the Kingdom has been restored at the conclusion of the first Trine and there were a few years of peace… until the Goblins arrived. The Trine once again works its magic and throws our band of unlikely heroes in to a world they had not experienced before.

Trine 2 had an RPG element by way of earning skill points where you can upgrade the characters via a skill tree.

Again, Frozenbyte really upped their game with Trine 2.

Then, only a couple of years back (2015) Trine 3: Artifacts of Power was released on PC and console (stereoscopic 3D on PlayStation 4).

Yup, our misfitted trio of Zoya, Pontius and Amadeus return but not so much to a magical realm – instead they are once again bonded together throughout brutal medieval lands.

Each Trine title is narrated as the adventure is played out – this gives us, the enchanted players, more backstory and clues as to what we are meant to do – there are times where a puzzle may not be so obvious.

Trine 3 follows the same mechanics as Trine and Trine 2, but unlike the prior two, Trine 3 was significantly shorter in it’s play through.

The Trine series really made it’s impression on gamers due to it’s art style and the aforementioned environmental real-world physics.

A game that is not only challenging and rewarding to play through, but a beauty and wonder for the visual senses.

For now, Trine: Enchanted Edition is available with the rest of the trilogy set to release soon for Nintendo Switch (Trine 2 and Trine: Artifacts of Power).

Being on a portable platform there has been no noticeable compromise. Frozenbyte wielded their own magic to bring us the delight that is Trine on to one small cartridge.

Trine: Enchanted Edition is MUST for any Switch owner. Do not overlook this one.

It is not so much a quick play game, as Levels can be frustratingly challenging at times – but there are over 60+ hours of play time to be had with all three and Levels have differing lengths of play-through time. There is also multi / co-op player where friends can drop in and out of the adventures. Being on Switch, each player can partake with one of the Joy-Cons.

Trine has always been a game that keeps on giving and I’m hoping that Frozenbyte release a fourth (hopefully with a more indepth skill tree mechanic).

Fuse your soul with your Switch and take on Trine: Enchanted Edition for the first time, or pick it up all over again, releasing the magic to save the land and yourselves, wherever you are.

The post Trine: Enchanted Edition (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Frozenbyte, together with GameTrust announced today that the beautiful puzzle-platforming Trine games are coming to Nintendo Switch.

The quest begins with Trine Enchanted Edition, available on Nintendo eShop today in North America and Europe.

Trine 2: Complete Story and Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power are coming to Nintendo Switch soon after, with exact release dates still to be announced.

All the Trine trilogy conversions are being worked on by the experienced Barcelona-based studio BlitWorks.

Trine Enchanted Edition is the origin story for the three unlikely heroes of Trine – Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight, and Zoya the Thief.

Spellbound by the magical object Trine, the heroes must join forces to overcome obstacles and puzzles in a fully interactive physics-based world, battle the undead and their minions, and restore balance to the kingdom!

Start your journey in to the magical and mystical realms of Trine on Switch right now!

The post Trine Games 1-3 Coming to Nintendo Switch appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

There are some games out there that are so good, that you can overlook every quirk, and every bug, other games get dragged down into the mud because of them.

And then there are games like Nine Parchments, that has so many things to love about it, but boy it will test your patience.

Take my first experiences with the game. When I first launched the game, getting through the opening screens, showing Frostbyte etc, took 5 minutes because it was chugging along. After a lot of testing I isolated it to the game, then after about an hour of playing around, for no reason it started working again.

I couldn’t replicate this issue again, so I was going to chalk it up to a freak incident, especially after the next few hours captivated me.

Nine Parchments is like many other twin-stick isometric shooters, yet so different. The obvious variance is that instead of shooting, it is based around magic. You choose a magician who goes venturing to power themselves up. Their adventure consists of killing a lot of monsters and finding collectables through a series of gorgeous linear Levels.

You learn new spells throughout the game and can assign them to your spell wheel. Switching between spells on the fly is easy and fun. This is when the game is at its best, when you are switching between spells to keep your attacks going as you slaughter hordes of enemies. Whether you are firing is beams, icicles, or thunder blasts, it is fluent, simple and fun like many other twin-stick games.

The biggest problem is the game is built around playing with others, whether local or online, the idea is you play with up to 4 players. With only one controller I could only play the game locally solo, and this was fine for many enjoyable hours. The problem came about half way in when after an hour of dying I gave up on the boss that was slaughtering me. Even on easy.

Not being able to get a partner to play locally, I thought I would try online. Big mistake.

The first game I jumped into, threw me into a Level late in the game with someone else. We died and had to start again, and that’s when the game decided to start testing me again. We got stuck in the Level, unable to advance the way we knew it should.

After some struggles I left the game and tried joining another one. Nine Parchments doesn’t let you just join any online match, you need to specify some things like difficulty, so if you just want to play you may need to bounce between these options depending on wait times. I got in the queue and it told me I had an estimated 8-minute wait, which would have been fine, if the next 10 minutes didn’t consist of slowly watching that wait time climb slowly up to 13 minutes.

Giving up, I thought I’d try another difficulty, and proceeded to have the same experience, multiple times. After failing that I tried a few nights at different times, and consistently had this experience.

It’s frustrating that these bugs exist, but even more so because the game itself is so fun and so beautiful. Enemy designs are intricate and amazing, and the environments are gorgeous. Especially stages with running water, with beautiful colours under the surface.

Coupled with its genuinely fun gameplay, the game is a treat, until you hit the difficulty spike.

If the online issues get fixed, or if you have a local co-op partner, Nine Parchments is worthy of a look. But if you want to do it solo, I would wait for some updates, as it is tough as nails, and online will test your patience.

The post Nine Parchments (Xbox One) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Frozenbyte (Trine series) has recently told us here at StG that their co-operative blast’em up game Nine Parchments is coming to Nintendo Switch!

Frozenbyte CEO Lauri Hyvärinen commented on the announcement: “We love Nintendo Switch! We’ve been ecstatic about the success of our roguelike action game Has-Been Heroes, and we love all the improvements made to the development environment, it’s a great platform! Nine Parchments is a wonderful co-op game and feels like a perfect fit for the system. We can’t wait to unleash the wizard mayhem later this year!”

Nine Parchments sees a group of drop-out wizard apprentices decide to skip their training for a quick path to the Nine Parchments. As the wannabe wizards rapidly discover powerful new spells and ignore all safety aspects, it’s natural that their hasty progress results in lots of unwanted deaths…

Players will wield the power of the elements and master a diverse and ever-changing arsenal of spells while unlocking new playable characters, wizard hats and magical staves and more.

With an RPG feel, you will level up and train your characters in the magical arts, but choose your path wisely! Battle strange creatures & mighty bosses in a breathtakingly beautiful world, set in the Trine universe.

Nine Parchments will also feature multiplayer with online and local co-op with 1-4 players and is set to release on the Nintendo Switch aswell as PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC this year (2017).

The post Nine Parchments Coming to Nintendo Switch! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.