Trine Title Theme Animatic (2009, Frozenbyte)
3Music composed by Ari Pulkkinen.
Trine is a side-scrolling action platform and puzzle video game, developed by Frozenbyte, originally released in 2009, and is now available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and PlayStation Network. 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.
On December 7, 2011, Frozenbyte released a sequel titled Trine 2. A remake of Trine called Trine: Enchanted Edition, using Trine 2s engine and with online multiplayer, was released on July 24, 2014.
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 actually 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 originally created in some ruins immersed in a large forest, the home of the three guardians.
In the ruins, one of the guardians give the heroes visions of the past. These ruins were the resting place of the artifact of 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 are 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 gets married to a lady called Margaret, who gives birth to triplets that ironically master the fireball as infants.
Trine was originally started as a side-project by Jukka Kokkonen, Frozenbyte's senior programmer, while the rest of the team was working on another project. The other project ran into publisher and funding problems however, and the team decided to focus their efforts instead on developing Trine.