Trine 1 + 2 + 3 + 4: Ultimate Collection (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.3 Update

Trine 1 + 2 + 3 + 4: Ultimate Collection is a side-scrolling, action-platform-puzzle video game developed by Frozenbyte and published by Nobilis. The game was originally released for Microsoft Windows in 2009 and has since been ported to Linux, OS X, and game consoles. The game takes place in a medieval fantasy setting and allows players to take control of three separate characters who can battle enemies and solve environmental puzzles.

A sequel, titled Trine 2, was released in 2011. A remake of Trine, titled Trine: Enchanted Edition, was released in 2014. The enchanted edition uses Trine 2’s updated engine and includes online multiplayer. The third installment in the series, Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power, was released on August 20, 2015. A fourth installment, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, was released on October 8, 2019. A fifth installment, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy, was released on August 31, 2023.

GAMEPLAY

The player controls and switches between three different characters (a thief, a knight, and a wizard) to try to complete levels. There is also a cooperative play feature, whereby multiple players can join in at any time to control different characters simultaneously. Each character has their own health and energy meter. Energy is used for certain weapons and abilities and is replenished by blue-colored bottles found throughout levels. Health is replenished by collecting heart-shaped containers, which result from destroying certain enemies.

The player also has a single experience rating that is shared among all characters and is incremented by acquiring green-colored bottles found throughout levels and by defeating enemies. For every 50 experience points, each character is given one point towards the purchase of upgrades to their abilities. Treasure chests are also spread throughout levels, each containing a charm that offers the bearing character new or upgraded abilities. The player can transfer these objects between characters, though some will only affect certain characters.

Checkpoints are spread throughout levels, in the form of silver orbs on pedestals. Upon crossing a checkpoint, any deceased characters are brought back to life, and any characters below a certain amount of health and energy are replenished up to that amount. The amount of energy and health replenished is dependent upon the difficulty setting chosen by the player. When a character dies, the player must choose another living character to continue playing the level. If all three characters die, the player is sent back to the last checkpoint crossed, and all three characters are resurrected.

Enemies primarily include walking skeletons, spiders, and bats, along with boss characters, like giant skeletons and other large creatures. Some skeletons are armed with swords, others with bows and arrows, some spitfire, and some have shields. Skeletons are capable of scaling walls. Other dangers include lava, fireballs, giant sharp pendulums, and various other booby traps.

PLOT

Trine takes place in a forsaken and ruined kingdom. After enjoying a period of great peace, the king died without leaving an heir, plunging the kingdom into political instability. Taking advantage of the chaos, an undead army suddenly appeared and attacked, forcing the inhabitants to abandon the realm, save for those few souls brave enough to face the perils that had now befallen it.

The game’s story is primarily told by an all-knowing narrator voiced by Terry Wilton. Speaking after the fact, he fills in plot details in between the levels, as well as introducing and concluding the game.

After some time, the Astral Academy, an institution of magical studies, is evacuated due to the undead menace; Zoya the Thief sees this as an opportunity to search the academy for treasure. Unknown to her, Amadeus the Wizard is just waking up after sleeping for a fortnight due to a backfired potion he prepared while trying to learn the fireball spell; he realizes he must escape immediately. Finally, Pontius the Knight had also arrived, convinced that it was his duty to protect the academy. The three meet at the shrine of ancient treasure and, touching a magical object at the same time, disappear. The Wizard recalls that the treasure is an artifact called the Trine, which has the power to bind souls. This results in only one of them being able to physically exist, with the other two being forced to remain inside the Trine. Amadeus also remembers that the Trine was connected to the legend of a guardian, whose tomb could be found under the Astral Academy.

Searching for a way to free themselves of the Trine’s effect, the three heroes explore the catacombs under the academy, finding the guardian’s tomb. The Wizard deciphers some of the inscriptions inscribed on it and discovers that there were once three artifacts: one for the soul, one for the mind, and one for the body, each protected by a guardian. The guardians used the three objects to maintain peace throughout the kingdom. Amadeus believes that reuniting the three artifacts might undo the spell binding their souls. The inscriptions also suggest that the artifact of the mind was guarded in the castle of the old king. The trio searches the castle; while they do not find the artifact, they learn from the king’s journal that the three relics were created in some ruins immersed in a large forest, the home of the three guardians.

In the ruins, one of the guardians gives the heroes visions of the past. These ruins were the resting place of the artifact body, but an earthquake left its shrine vulnerable and it was stolen. It was then somehow paired with the artifact of the mind. Without the Trine, the artifact of souls, the other two became tainted and gave birth to an evil tower and the undead, creatures with a physical body and capable of thought, but devoid of purpose and righteousness. The trio ascends the tower, avoiding the obstacles created by the tormented soul of the old king, and combines the Trine with the two lost artifacts, unbinding their souls. The undead is cleansed through the kingdom, allowing it to eventually recover, with the Wizard, the Thief, and the Knight proclaimed as its heroes. The game ends with the narrator describing what happens to the three heroes; Pontius gives in to his true passion and becomes the new king’s royal ale provider, Zoya is given reign over the forest ruins, and Amadeus marries a lady called Margaret, who gives birth to triplets that master the fireball as infants.