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Preview: Trine 5 takes you on the series’ longest adventure on PS5, PS4
The Trine series has been around for nearly 15 years, releasing four beautiful puzzle platformers of varying quality in that time. The third game attempted to bring the beloved character-swapping action to a 3D plane. When that didn’t work, the follow-up reverted to the side-scrolling action beloved by fans, and all was right with the world. Today, developer Frozenbyte has announced the next installment, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy, and it looks to deliver more of that comfortingly familiar gameplay.
Telling a new story, our usual band of heroes — Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight, and Zoya the Thief — are under threat from an army of Clockwork Knights built to eliminate the trio. A malevolent queen wants to undo her chivalry once and for all, and it’s up to you – and, optionally, some supportive friends – to stop that from happening. Of course, the story is mostly background to allow for a more awesome, physics-based adventure, and Trine 5 has that in spades.
The games are side-scrolling puzzle platformers, emphasizing interactions between three player characters. Each of them has their own abilities, and you’ll need to switch them in and out to deal with difficult obstacles in your path. There’s also some light combat where, again, each hero has their own strengths and weaknesses. Trine 5, which the developer says will be “the longest Trine ever,” looks to be mostly the same, but with a new wrinkle or two to keep things fresh.
For starters, each character has a few new tricks up their sleeves; An example is Pontius’ new ability to attach his sword to walls, creating a makeshift platform you can bounce on, while Zoya can attach her ropes to its hilt. Using new and old abilities, you’ll hot-swap between three characters to solve each puzzle, often requiring all of them for different stages. Freezing things in place with Zoya’s ice arrows, shining a beam of light with Pontius, or summoning boxes and platforms with Amadeus, all three heroes have their uses.
It’s playable solo or in local and online co-op, and depending on the number of players, some of the challenges will change. The same goes for difficulty — the puzzles will basically adapt to your preferences, adding extra steps if you play on a difficulty setting, or simplifying things if you want an easier time. The Trine 5 seems more flexible, giving you more options for how you want to play, which is always nice. There are also two options for co-op – a traditional, three-player mode where each player controls one of the heroes, or a four-player mode in which all players can freely choose between heroes.
Alongside the main mission, you’ll be able to play skill quests – specific side objectives for each character. With XP earned in these (and in the main adventure), you’ll be able to unlock and upgrade new skills. You’ll need to be at your best, as the game will also feature large boss encounters that will require all three characters to work together to defeat.
As we said, Trine 5 doesn’t appear to push the envelope, instead providing a reliable physics puzzler that fans can be comfortable with. With beautiful visuals, as always, and a heavy emphasis on co-op, it looks like you’ll be in very safe hands with this next entry.
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is coming to PS5 and PS4 in summer 2023. Will you be playing this puzzle platformer? Let us know in the comments section below.
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