The upcoming expansion coming to Trine 2 is just around the corner (September 6th for Steam, soon after for Mac App Store users), and we’ve had a sneak peak into what Frozenbyte has lined up for our three heroes next.
The Goblin Menace starts soon after where the main game ends. The Wizard, Thief and Knight have saved the princess and returned home. But before the Knight is even able to down a pint, the town is besieged by goblins, and the trio is sucked back into another whirlwind quest taking you to the far reaches of the magical kingdom.
During my time playing the new expansion, I found the eye-candy has only been improved upon from the main campaign. Environments have even more depth to them, and are brought alive by running people or lurking monsters, giving a sense of your characters being a part of something bigger. One particular scene during the introductory battle against the goblins really gets across the immensity of the conflict, on a scale unlike anything that’s been seen before in the Trine series.
The basic combat remains unchanged, and the good news is that all of your progress from the main campaign is saved. This means your heroes retain the same skills, but also means that you must have completed the campaign before playing the expansion. Otherwise you will find some puzzles almost impossible to accomplish.
I also got to try out some of the new abilities in The Goblin Menace, and was impressed by their originality, and how they played so well with the existing skills. The Thief can now fire a new type of arrow which places a large blue bubble into the environment. This effectively slows down anything within it which is great for delaying enemy attacks and environmental triggers. One of the Wizard’s new tricks is that he can magnetise his blocks and planks, making them stick to metallic objects and to themselves. The Knight’s shield can now also act as a parachute, allowing the Knight to harmlessly float around a level and even kick enemies off their perches. All of these new skills are unlocked as you play the game using skill points, so you don’t have the option to use them all from the off.
The Goblin Menace is certainly looking like a very promising offering for fans of the Trine series. There are a few problems; audio glitches and miss-spellings, but we can expect these to be ironed out before the release. As it stands, The Goblin Menace not only looks to expand on Trine 2, but improve upon it with even more varied environments, enemies and abilities.
The expansion will arrive September 6th on Steam, with a Mac App Store release not too long after. The Goblin Menace will be purchasable right in the Trine 2 application (for MAS users), and will cost $7.99/£5.49. Wait for our full review once the expansion releases.
