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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trine_2701.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: [[SquishyWizard Amadeus]], [[ClassyCatBurglar Zoya]] and [[BoisterousBruiser Pontius]]]]
3->''"By my trousers, I must escape!"''
4-->--'''Amadeus''', at the start of the game
5
6''Trine'' is a 2009 PuzzlePlatformer developed by Frozen Byte and published by Creator/{{Atlus}}. It features gameplay similar to the old classic ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings'' mixed with the physics challenges of ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'', with three characters who all have different powers and gameplay mechanics. The levels are mostly linear, but [[SidetrackBonus exploring them thoroughly will yield rewards]] in the form of treasure (which gives you special enhancements) and experience vials (which let you level up your skills).
7
8Three characters, opposed by an undead horde, each find themselves meeting face to face over an AncientArtifact called the Trine. Their souls are sucked into the device, and they become merged into one body (or up to three bodies in co-op play).
9
10* '''[[SquishyWizard Amadeus the Magnificent]]''': Amadeus is TheCasanova. He's also a pretty incompetent wizard. He can't even muster a basic fireball spell, although he can conjure metal boxes and platforms, and move objects around using {{telekinesis}}.
11* '''[[OnlyOneName Zoya]]''': Zoya is a ClassyCatBurglar. She's armed with a bow and a grappling hook, and can run faster than the other characters.
12* '''[[StoutStrength Pontius the Brave]]''': Pontius is a MightyGlacier - and a [[StoutStrength fat one]], to boot. He has a sword (and later, a hammer), an impenetrable shield and an arm capable of picking up objects and hurling them at other objects (this is changed to a shield that can suck objects in and shoot them back out in ''Enchanted Edition''). He's a bit of a [[BoisterousBruiser loud-mouth]], and he [[DumbMuscle has a hard time grasping exactly what's happening]], but he's absolutely loyal to his companions.
13
14The Game was followed by
15* ''Trine 2'' (2011): A sequel revolving around a new threat that the three heroes must unite together to face. The game received an expansion, ''Goblin Menace'', in early 2012.
16* ''Trine: Enchanted Edition'' (2014): A port of the original game to the sequel's engine and released as a free update for PC owners and on two eighth generation consoles, the UsefulNotes/WiiU and the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}}.
17* ''Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power'' (2015)
18* ''Nine Parchments'' (2017): A spin-off set in the same universe.
19* ''Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince'' (2019)
20* ''Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy'' (2023)
21
22Now with a [[Characters/{{Trine}} Characters page]], please add tropes regarding them there.
23----
24!This game provides examples of:
25* TwoAndAHalfD: 3D graphics, sidescrolling movement. This occasionally gets you an odd camera angle that lets you see something that should be BehindTheBlack. Averted in ''Trine 3'', which adopts full 3D movement, although with a fixed camera.
26* AcidPool: Present in some levels, full of aquamarine HollywoodAcid.
27* {{Acrofatic}}: Don't mind Pontius' stature fool you, he can be ''fast'' [[LightningBruiser and hurt large groups of enemies with his charge attack]]. The fourth game gives him a shield charge/shoulder check ability which is more like a FoeTossingCharge at FlashStep speed!
28* AntagonistTitle: Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
29* AntiVillain: The Prince from Trine 4 is mostly just a scared kid who can't control his magic. Even his antagonistic actions are mostly just him lashing out [[spoiler: because he doesn't want to be locked up in the Astral Academy's dungeons again]].
30* ApocalypticLog: In ''Trine 2'', the poems found in secret areas and the letters between Isabel and Rosabel. [[spoiler:The poems are written by Rosabel detailing her jealously of her sister during their youth, while the letters explain how she lured Isabel into being sealed away.]]
31* ArrowsOnFire: Zoya's alternate weapon. Upgrading them gives you an [[SpreadShot explosive shot]].
32* ArtificialStupidity: The skeletons in ''Trine'' have a habit of leaping to their deaths and/or climbing into the range of your weapons. Exploiting their simplistic behavior patterns makes them easier to take down in large groups. The goblins in ''Trine 2'' are faster (allowing them to usually get some hits in if you're not quick enough) and no longer jump to their deaths, but are just as quick to run themselves into Zoya's arrows or Pontius' blade or hammer as the skeletons were.
33* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: ''Trine 2'' has the heroes run through lands with a variety of larger-then-usual fauna, including giant frogs, snails and spiders, not to mention giant mushrooms to bounce off of. The characters believe that the water is likely the source of the huge wildlife.
34* BagOfSpilling:
35** In ''Trine 2'', with the exception of the knight's hammer, the heroes are conspicuously missing all the skills they learned, not to mention the items they used, from the original, and have to learn those skills all over again (the item system, on the other hand, was done away with in 2). {{Lampshaded}} by a conversation that takes place after the first time the characters swim in the sequel:
36--> '''Amadeus:''' Whatever happened to that magical talisman that allowed us to breathe underwater?\
37'''Zoya:''' [[HesitationEqualsDishonesty I...uh...]] [[OpinionFlipflop I think someone hocked it.]]
38** In ''Trine 3'', many of the old abilities are absent (no more hammer, planks, fire arrows, magnetism...) but no word is made about it.
39* BearyFriendly: One of the levels in Trine 4 has a huge bear that mostly exists to be adorable and occasionally help you out by knocking over a log. The end credits show Zoya riding around on its back, picking apples.
40* BehindTheBlack: Ninety percent of all treasure is hidden by the foreground.
41* BenevolentArchitecture: More or less omnipresent. For fun, try playing through a level without using the Wizard's object-summoning powers once. You may be surprised how far you can get with running and jumping alone.
42* BigBrotherBully: In Trine 4, [[spoiler:the Prince has brothers who bully him by hiding spiders in his bead and locking him outside the house after telling "tall tales" about wolves roaming the heath. Presumably, his parents never did anything to correct his brothers' behavior. This likely contributed to his nightmares conjuring up spiders and wolves whenever he gets frightened]].
43* {{Blackground}}: In ''Trine 2'', [[spoiler:the FinalBoss battle]] takes place in a dungeon with a pitch-black background, allowing it to be seen clearly.
44* BottomlessPits: In both games which will lead to an untimely demise to anything that fall in it.
45* BreakingTheFourthWall: Aside from the InsistentTerminology example below, the demo for the sequel features Amadeus commenting on the abilities available in the upgrade menu (which naturally, can't be used in the demo).
46* BuildingSwing: Technically not from buildings, but Zoya has a grappling hook that allows her to do this from anything made of wood, bypassing pits or swinging into foes for a OneHitKill in the first two games.
47* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:Isabel and Rosabel in the backstory for 2. Isabel was the heir to their father's kingdom, to Rosabel's chagrin. On their 18th birthday, Rosabel locked away her sister and usurped the kingdom for herself.]]
48* CastFromHitPoints: The first game has an item that lets you do this in the event you run out of magic points.
49* ClockPunk: About 75% of the levels feature gear powered mechanisms, and plenty of fast flowing water to power them. Some are just for show, others can be interacted with. In addition, all of Amadeus' objects have gears inside them.
50%%* ConvectionSchmonvection
51* CrateExpectations: They don't contain items, but they're common platforms. Amadeus's first spell allows him to summon them - possibly above enemies' heads, if you're feeling violent; ''Trine 3'' turns it into an outright ability, as you can make a summoned crate or another levitating object slam into the ground.
52* CutShort: With just seven main levels, a boss level and a few small single-character "sidequests", ''Trine 3'' closes with a cliffhanger what looks like only the first part of a longer story. After the release, Frozenbyte adamantly admitted they had run out of money to produce further content.
53* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: And a free teleport back to the last checkpoint, too, [[spoiler: unless it's the final or bonus levels of the original]]. For that matter, every time you touch a checkpoint stone, all dead characters are revived with 75% health and mana.
54** More so in the sequel, where characters are returned with full health, and mana was removed from the game entirely. Makes it entirely feasible to kill off a character to backtrack faster, or to grab items in dangerous positions without even bothering coming back up.
55** In 3, if a character dies his/her spirit goes to the last safe ground before death, and another character must stay near it a few seconds to revive the companion. Only if all three are dead the player is sent back to the latest checkpoint.
56** The fourth game has possibly the least punishment for death of the whole series, with characters coming back to life just a few seconds after death if they aren't in combat. If they are in combat, it has the same "stay near the spot of their death" mechanic as 3.
57* DemBones: 95% of the enemies in the first game are of this variety.
58* TheDragon: In ''Trine 2'', [[spoiler:Rosabel has a literal one at her command.]]
59* DungeonBypass:
60** This trope is Amadeus' shtick. It's not terribly difficult to simply build a block staircase to the exit in every level. Or, if you have the touch, scooting Amadeus onto an object which he conjures or levitates into midair allows him to use it as a DoubleJump. Amadeus can't levitate an object he's standing on, but create another object on top of ''that'', jump on the upper object and carefully levitate the lower, [[SkySurfing and you can cheerfully sail past most puzzles]]. In ''3'' he cannot conjure more than one crate at a time, but the trick is still usable: just jump, and quickly move the crate while he's not touching it.
61** Pontius uses his sword and/or hammer to destroy obstacles in your path and, in the second game, by using his kitesail shield upgrade to glide over them. Zoya can also make things explode by shooting them with upgraded fire arrows and can bypass fights by sniping opponents behind obstacles or offscreen.
62* EasterEgg: In ''Trine 4'', there's a rather cheeky one to ''Trine 3'' after you collect all the knickknacks. [[spoiler: The hidden room that can be accessed by doing so contains an in-universe book detailing its events, but the dog inside had chewed up and drooled on all the pages past their adventures in the Redwood Forest, alluding to its unfinished story.]]
63* EldritchAbomination: There's a huge...''thing'' that inhabits the aptly named Eldritch Caverns in the second game. We don't see its entire body, just that it seems to have these huge eyes on stalks.
64* EliteMook: Armored skeletons with shields in the original, armored goblins and dual wielding fire sword goblins in the secpmd game, and the large nightmares in the fourth game.
65* ExcusePlot: The original: an ancient trinket unites three people into one body [[AWizardDidIt for whatever reason]], there's multiple levels and undead between you and where you need to be. Charge!
66* TheFaceless:
67** Zoya never removes her mask in the first game. She takes it off in the sequel.
68** Margaret, throughout ''Goblin Menace'', spends most of the expansion stuffed in a burlap sack. She's freed at the very end of the expansion, but the only glimpse the player gets to see of her is a shot of her back during the ending cutscene.
69* FighterMageThief: As the character lineup above shows, you get to play as all three of these classes.
70* FinalBossPreview:
71** [[spoiler:The Lich]] makes several appearances in the first game before the final confrontation with him. You also occasionally hear his EvilLaugh.
72** In ''Trine 2'', [[spoiler:the Dragon first appears at the end of Mosslight Marsh]].
73** Averted with the final boss of 3, which can be considered a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere.
74* FloatingPlatforms: Amadeus final spell is conjuring these. There's also a {{loophole|Abuse}}; he can't levitate a regular platform he's standing on, but he can levitate a platform with a box on top of it that he's standing on.
75* FungusHumongous: In both games. In the sequel, they serve as springboards for the characters to bounce off of.
76* FusionDance: Sort of. Each character retains their individual personality, and they can switch from one form to another at will.
77* GiantMook: Very large skeletons and troglodyte-esque creatures serve as boss monsters in the first two games (with the exception of [[spoiler:Rosabel's dragon]] in the sequel).
78* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: The Lich, the tower he lives in and any relevance either has to the ongoing plot pop up out of nowhere just before the ending levels.
79** The final boss of Trine 3 is a wild plant monster which appears with no foreshadowing, nor shows any connections to the BigBad.
80* GiantSpider: They crawl along walls and spit webbing at anyone who draws near. The sequel features ''even bigger'' spiders that shoot acid instead.
81* GoombaStomp: In the original, the portly Pontius can do this to any unfortunate skeleton below him - although he has to fall a significant distance first.
82* GrandTheftMe: In Trine 4, [[spoiler: The Prince's Shadow plans to do this to the prince.]]
83%%* HappilyEverAfter: The very last words uttered in the original.
84* {{Hobbits}}: In the fourth installment, you meet an anthropomorphic badger whose house is a sideways burrow in a hill with a sizeable kitchen and pantry.
85* HotWitch: Rosabel in ''Trine 2''.
86* InsistentTerminology: During the level-loading exposition for the first level of ''Trine 2'', Zoya actually [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall interrupts the narrator]] when he calls her a thief and insists on being called an "entrepreneur" instead.
87* KingMook: The Goblin King in ''2''.
88* InterfaceSpoiler: In ''Trine 3'', if all three characters (or the only character you have in some levels) die, a screen asking if you want to continue or go back to the map appears, with a very sinister face. It's the BigBad, so you may see him long before he's revealed.
89* LargeHam:
90** Done on purpose. The narration and dialogue is brilliantly over-the-top; the page quote is just the beginning. The sequel somehow is even more hammy and self-aware, as the Insistent Terminology example above shows.
91** The BigBad of 3 chews the scenery when he first reveals himself to the heroes.
92* LavaPit: Replace the BottomlessPits in the final levels of the first game.
93* LeftHanging: The plot of the third game is never resolved, with Trine 4 going on to show a totally unrelated story. This is lampshaded in 4, with there being an unlockable room on the main menu that has the story of how they managed to beat the antagonist of Trine 3, but all the pages detailing events after what is seen in Trine 3 have been torn to shreds by a dog.
94%%* LemonyNarrator
95* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Amadeus is definitely the one who profits the most from leveling up in the first game. Picking up new combat skills, multiple arrow shots, a FlamingSword? Nifty. The ability to summon more and more platforms in a physics-based platformer? ''Invaluable''.
96* LivingDream: Every enemy in Trine 4 is a living nightmare conjured by the Prince's uncontrolled magic.
97%%* LoveableRogue: Zoya, especially in ''2''.
98* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Pontius and [[EliteMooks the armored skeletons and goblins]]. Pontius' shield is indestructable, as is the goblins' - the skeletons are not so fortunate.
99* MaleMightFemaleFinesse: Pontius the MightyGlacier guy and Zoya the agile, sneaky thief woman.
100* MeaningfulName: A trine is a 120-degree angle; i.e., one-third of a circle.
101* {{Multishot}}: Zoya's upgraded basic attack in the first game. It's also a variety of SpreadShot.
102* NamelessNarrative: The main characters are given names on the inventory screen, but only in the very last minutes of the game is any character named in dialogue or narration (that character being [[spoiler:Margaret, Amadeus's wife.]]) Instead, they're referred to by their professions. Averted in Trine 2; the characters address each other by name, and the narrator refers to them by their names as well.
103* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In 3, after being spirited away by the Trine once more, the heroes admit being fed up with it and try to find a way to be free from it. [[spoiler:They end up involuntarily shattering it and releasing the evil it was made to contain.]]
104* NoArcInArchery: Averted in the first game, leading to, optionally, Zoya riddling with arrows foes who are stuck on the other side of a box or terrain.
105* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Pontius and Amadeus want to save the world, but Zoya just wants to [[KleptomaniacHero claim any available treasure]].
106* OneWordTitle: Trine is named for the artifact the protagonists were fighting over, and being "tri", Latin for 3, and you play as three protagonists.
107* OpeningNarration: Used to describe the backstory of the game. There is also a narration at the beginning of each level, as well as for each character that's introduced. For those interested in minor ScriptBreaking in the first game, Amadeus's introductory narration can play at the same time as the narration for when he arrives at the shrine, if the player is fast enough in the two rooms.
108* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The primary enemies the characters run into in the second game.
109* PartyInMyPocket: Technically, party [[FusionDance in my body]], but the same principle applies.
110* PermanentlyMissableContent: Averted; levels can be revisited in the "Choose level" option in the main menu, and puzzle progress is reset at each revisit, so you get additional opportunities to get into areas that you may have missed or were made inaccessible progressing during your first visit. Becomes a necessity in 3, since you need a certain number of trineangles to unlock further levels.
111* PietaPlagiarism: [[spoiler:In the ending of 2, Isabel is holding Rosabel's dead body in this way.]]
112* PlayingWithFire: Amadeus begins the game trying and failing to learn how to do this - it's apparently one of the most basic spells available to wizards. [[spoiler:In the end he gives up trying to learn it - and instead, the kids he has with his wife learn it instead.]] He's revealed to still be studying to get it right as the second game starts, and in 3 one of the single-character sidequests has him desperately looking for a fireball spell in a dream.
113* PuzzleBoss:
114** [[spoiler:The dragon]] at the end of ''Trine 2''.
115** There's a snake near the beginning that you can't defeat on your own. [[spoiler:You have to damage the ceiling by attacking the supports or by tricking the snake into doing so, causing it to collapse on the snake.]]
116** The Seal's Nightmare and the witch from Amadeus's nightmares in Trine 4.
117* PuzzlePan: Used to avoid LeapOfFaith gameplay.
118* RainOfArrows: With the right upgrades and items, Zoya is capable of this.
119%%* RiseToTheChallenge: The last level, and the bonus level of the original.
120* RobeAndWizardHat: Amadeus is clad in this.
121* SealedEvilInACan: In ''Trine 3'' [[spoiler:it's revealed that the Trine and the other two similar artifacts were made to contain a powerful evil wizard.]]
122* SceneryPorn: This is one of the two calling cards of the series, along with [[WreakingHavok the physics-focused gameplay]].
123* SelectiveMagnetism: In ''Goblin Menace'', Amadeus can gain the ability to make any metallic object stick to other metal objects. Trine 4 also lets you unlock this ability for Pontius's Dream Shield.
124* ShieldBearingMook: Skeletons later in the game might hold shields, which allow them to absorb a few more hits before they go down.
125* ShiftingSandLand: The second level in ''Goblin Menace''.
126* ShoutOut: In the Eldritch Caverns of ''Trine 2'', there are many statues in the background of a [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos tentacle-faced being]]
127* SiegeEngines: [[spoiler:The final boss of ''Goblin Menace''. It's loudly stated to bring down ''cities'' and the heroes of Trine fight it ''on foot'' and they win.]]
128* TheSoulless: [[spoiler:Mind, body, and soul are normally kept in harmony by three artifacts, creating life in the region. Now that the soul artifact is gone, the undead are being created instead, as they have minds and bodies but no souls.]]
129* SpikeBallsOfDoom: Some pressure plates release balls instead of unlocking something.
130* SpikesOfDoom: An integral part of level design; you can stick boxes onto them and use them as platforms.
131%%* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings''.
132* SuccessionCrisis: The backdrop of the original game. This is not unrelated to why the undead rise...
133* SuperDrowningSkills: The undead suffer from this. Ditto the goblins in the sequel.
134* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Your characters can hold their breath for an impressive amount of time; what's more, you can switch between characters to save on oxygen for the whole group. The original game even has an equipable item that allows one (and only one) of the heroes to swim underwater indefinitely.
135* SwapFighter: In single player, [[FighterMageThief Amadeus, Zoya, and Pontius]] are [[FusionDance merged into one body]], with the ability to switch between who is active at will.
136* SweetSeal: A seal shows up in a level of Trine 4, and is as friendly as it is adorable.
137%%* SwissArmyHero
138* UpdatedRerelease: ''Trine: Enchanted Edition'', a port of the original game to ''Trine 2'''s engine, giving it mid-level saving, Internet play and other features from the sequel.
139* WallJump: Available in the sequel, but very short--about half the height of one character.
140* WeakButSkilled: Amadeus has almost no combat abilities. That said, his skills are necessary for puzzle solving.
141* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The first game's ending. [[spoiler: Pontius becomes the ale provider for the new king, Zoya is named the protector of the forest the trio visited during the game, and Amadeus gets married and [[BabiesEverAfter becomes the father of triplets]] who, at age one, learn the fireball spell he could never master.]] The sequel reveals that this situation didn't last long.
142* WickedWitch: One of the bosses from Trine 4 is a witch from a recurring nightmare Amadeus used to have, and she fits many of the trope requirements. Her face apparently bears an uncanny resemblance to his wife.
143%%* WombLevel: The third level in ''Goblin Menace''.
144* WreakingHavok: A big selling point of the original was the physics-based puzzles. The sequels continue this, making some experience collectibles only available by playing around with the game's physics.

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