Trine 2 is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2009's Trine. Set in a fantasy world,  Trine 2 puts players in the shoes of three archetypes: a thief, a Knight and a Wizard, as they set out to free the land of goblins. To do this, players are tasked with using the abilities of all three cooperatively; this can either be done solo (switching characters at the press of a button) or in multiplayer mode (up to three players play as one of the characters available simultaneously).  

Trine 2's basic gameplay comes from the different abilities of each character and when to use them. The Wizard can create boxes to stand on and manipulate objects far away with magic, the thief can grapple surfaces from afar and shoot arrows, and the knight can break walls with his hammer and fight with a sword / shield combo. Being more of a puzzle-platformer,  Trine 2 does a good job of letting players use the characters to solve puzzles in a number of ways. I encountered two plants shooting fireballs under a gap missing a bridge, and I was able to either block their projectiles with metal boxes, or pull a log down to cross over them; and these were just the solutions available with the Wizard!

Throughout the levels are collectable vials, and gathering 50 of these will allow the player to upgrade character abilities from a skill tree, allowing things such as the Wizard finally being able to attack enemies. These collectables are where the game gets a lot of its replay value from: levels seem pretty simple at first, when just going through them, but usually the vials are out of reach of the player through normal means, so you'll have to try to figure out how to reach them. It is here that players see the extent of what the characters can do.

Trine 2's controls are pretty simple, intuitive, and work well on both controller and keyboard, so it definitely depends on player preference. On PC and Mac, the mouse takes place of the second joystick to do things such as increasing the size of boxes created, but in turn, aiming with the thief feels better on the controller. The game looks excellent, with a lot of bright, vibrant colors and environments.  The levels all seem to link to one another, giving the game a sense of one long journey.

Trine 2 is a good game from a genre not explored too much these days. Its open ended gameplay fits well with many play styles. Those who would like to go through the game as quick as possible are able to, but there is the option to explore every nook and cranny of the game if the player desires. The only downfall with this play style is that there are sections where players can get lost due to the game not giving many hints. Trine 2 is definitely worth trying out.

GameDynamo's Score for Trine 2 (PC)

	Score	Description
Graphics	83	Nice and vibrant fantasy world. The bright colors stick out especially.
Sound	80	The game has a significant amount of voice acting, and music and sound fit the aesthetic well.
Gameplay	87	Classic puzzle-platformer gameplay, at the same time modernized.
Play Value	90	Between finding different solutions to challenges, and the fact that single-player and multiplayer modes are different from each other entirely, there is no shortage of things to do.
Final Score	88	A great game that is sure to surprise with its depth.

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