Introduction

Picture this: a wizard who can conjure furniture on demand, a nimble thief who treats grappling hooks like personal fidget spinners, and a hulking knight whose primary response to problems is 'stab it or bash it.' Now imagine those three are bound together by a mysterious glowing MacGuffin called the Trine and forced to share inventory, health bars and emotional baggage. That's Trine 2 in a nutshell-a fairy-tale puzzle-platformer with a heart of ham and a brain of physics. On PS3, Trine 2 arrived like an indie gift for people who love pretty levels, cooperative shenanigans and puzzles that make you feel clever without making you cry. It's the sequel that polished the original's magic and added a whole lot more visual candy: lush forests, ruined castles, floating islands, and the occasional lava-filled cavern that insists you learn to respect gravity. The game keeps the trio's trademark character-switching at its core while refining the puzzles and combat. You play solo, switching between Amadeus, Zoya, and Pontius; or you can buddy up with one or two friends and turn every physics puzzle into an exercise in polite shouting: 'No, not that plank! The other way! Pull! Pull! For the love of the Trine!' Trine 2's tone is cheeky rather than grim. The story-courtesy of a narrator with a wink and a propensity for exposition-has you chasing a curse, two bickering princesses and, later, a goblin menace. It never aspires to be high fantasy tragedy; it wants to be whimsical, inventive and occasionally smug about how cleverly it hides cleverness inside glowing vials. If you want a platformer that rewards thinking with a side order of charm and the occasional pratfall, this is your potion.

Gameplay

Mechanically, Trine 2 is a love letter to cooperative puzzle design disguised as a fairytale. You control one character at a time in a 2.5D plane (basically gorgeous 2D with 3D depth), and each hero brings unique tools to the table. Amadeus the wizard conjures boxes and planks and can grab certain objects with his telekinetic glove. He is the ultimate Pinterest user of the group-'Oh you need a bridge? Let me craft a rustic plank-and-box centerpiece.' Zoya the thief shoots arrows, can use a grappling hook to swing like an under-equipped superhero, and generally helps you reach things that are otherwise rude and unreachable. Pontius the knight is the group's designated battering ram: melee powerhouse, shield-user, and professional block inspector. Puzzles in Trine 2 feel like your brain has been invited to a picnic and then had the agenda swapped for 'construct precarious contraptions.' Many challenges are physics-based, relying on weight, balance and the clever placement of boxes and planks. There are timed sequences, pressure plates, and environmental hazards that will test whether you are a careful planner or a 'wing it and hope the knight survives' kind of player. The game is generous enough to let you trade skill points between characters, and skill progression is unlocked by collecting shimmering vials scattered through the levels. Fifty vials equal one skill point, and the skill trees are satisfying-Amadeus can get cooler conjurations, Zoya gets better arrows and mobility, and Pontius becomes even more of a human bulldozer. Combat exists but never overstays its welcome. Pontius shines in fights-he can bash apart enemies and deflect projectiles-while Zoya's ranged attacks and trap skills make her the pragmatic choice for preserving everyone's life bar. Amadeus is more of a support combatant; stacking boxes onto evil goblins is less elegant than stabbing them, but it is often just as effective. Each character has an individual health meter, and if one falls, they're sidelined until the next checkpoint. Lose all three and you return to the last check. The game nudges you toward cooperative thinking: if you're playing with friends, each player takes one character and you quickly learn the joy of synergy-Pontius holds a fragile bridge while Amadeus builds it and Zoya grapples to the ceiling to pull a switch. That orchestra of competence is what the co-op mode sells best. Level variety is a real strength here. The world drifts from enchanted forests to icy ruins to desert temples and floating, dreamlike islands that shuffle your expectations about what a platformer can ask you to do. Story moments are delivered by a dry narrator (Terry Wilton) who threads the chapters together with both sincerity and sarcasm, and there are in-game collectibles-letters, poems and documents-that add optional depth if you want to learn more about the princesses, goblins and the occasional plot twist. For completionists, the game offers expansions and reworked editions, although some of that content was unevenly available across platforms. The Goblin Menace expansion adds new stages and puzzle mechanics (light, water, low gravity and magnetism get involved-basically more opportunities to overthink), and the Director's Cut and Complete Story editions bundled extra levels like the Dwarven Caverns for certain consoles. On PS3, availability of some post-launch content was limited because ports were a bit of a financial calculus for the developer, which is a reminder that in the real world even whimsical fantasy has a budget. Controls on PS3 are solidly mapped to the DualShock. Swapping characters feels natural, although some of Amadeus' manipulations require patient fiddling with the analog stick and a tad more precision than you'd expect. The grappling hook is immensely satisfying and Zoya's mobility often turns puzzles into acrobatic playgrounds. I did notice that a couple of physics puzzles could be temperamental-objects sometimes behaved like they'd been sipping enchanted cider-but these moments are rare and usually recoverable with a quick retry. The game's shared skill tree in multiplayer-based on the host's save-means teamwork requires some forethought. You can't just level up everyone into invincible gods; resources are finite enough to encourage conversation. When you're playing with friends, Trine 2 becomes as much about personalities as it is about puzzle-solving. That loud friend who always wants to be the knight will inevitably try to charge every fountain of doom. Let them. The game is more fun when mistakes are shared.

Graphics

If Trine 2 were a tapestry, it would be that one your artsy aunt insists is both 'haunting' and 'eclectic.' The graphics are the game's loudest feature without actually being loud. Environments are hand-crafted, richly lit and full of parallax depth, giving the illusion that you're navigating dioramas painted by someone who drinks strong tea and whispers to lighting engines. The Storm3D engine does a lovely job: water shimmers like it actually wants to be touched, leaves flutter with personality, and fog rolls in like dramatic orchestral swells. The 2.5D approach-mechanics depend on a 2D plane, but the world has 3D geometry-lets the designers create playgrounds that are both pretty and mechanically interesting. Effects like light, water and later expansion mechanics-magnetism, low gravity-are introduced not just for eye candy but to evolve puzzles in satisfying ways. Character design is whimsical and readable. Amadeus looks like a man who misplaces his tea and accidentally conjures a bridge; Zoya is the very definition of 'I will not be in the same room as your plans unless I have a grappling hook'; Pontius is essentially a medieval heating appliance with a sword. Animations are expressive enough to make deaths and triumphs feel meaningful: a knight's roar at an enemy, a thief's disappointed shrug, a wizard's apologetic cough after collapsing a contraption-these little bits add charm. Technical notes: the PS3 version holds up well, but it's not a modern GPU flex. Expect a silky presentation for the era-no photorealism, just masterful art direction. On some platforms the Director's Cut and Complete Story editions added extra polish and exclusive levels; PS3 players got the main experience and reviews indicate it was warmly received on PlayStation Network (Metacritic around 85/100 for PS3). The soundtrack by Ari Pulkkinen deserves a shout-out too; it swells and calms at the right moments, and the narrator's voice sells the story beats cleverly. Occasionally physics can be a hair unpredictable: boxes jitter, ropes behave unexpectedly, and you may find yourself cursing a plank like it's personally let you down. But those are mostly personality quirks, not dealbreakers. If scenery were dessert, Trine 2's would be a layered cake-pretty to look at, substantial, and occasionally crumbly in a satisfying way.

Conclusion

Trine 2 on PS3 is a cozy, clever puzzle-platformer that wraps smart level design and physics-based puzzles in an irresistible visual package. It knows what it is: a storybook romp where cooperation, timing and the occasional creative misuse of a box get you through the day. The three-character system gives the game a nice variety of playstyles-conjuring, grappling and tanking-and the puzzles are mostly inventive without spiraling into frustration. Co-op elevates the experience into hilarious chaos; solo play keeps it thoughtful and methodical. There are a few speed bumps: occasional physics wonkiness, limited expansion availability on some consoles, and the kind of moments where the game expects you to be both clever and patient. Still, when the forest glows, the narrator smirks, and your trio of mismatched heroes finally solves that stubborn lever-boulder trap, Trine 2 rewards you with genuine delight. If you own a PS3 and you like games that let you feel smart without making you toil for hours, pick it up. It's prettier than a tapestry you'd actually hang, more cooperative than a group project where everyone did their homework, and broadly delightful. Score-wise, critics loved it (IGN gave it a 9/10; Metacritic hovers in the mid-80s on PS3), and I'd slot it a solid 8.5 out of 10: an enchanting package of puzzles, personality and visual flair that still manages to feel like play instead of work. Final verdict: bring a friend, a controller, and a sense of whimsy. The Trine will do the rest.

See Latest Prices for Trine 2 on PS3 on Amazon

See Prices for Trine 2 on PS3 on Ebay