Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is official and launching this "summer"

eurogamer.net:

After a bit of a leak earlier this year, developer FrozenByte has made it official; acclaimed physics-based co-op platformer Trine is returning for a fifth instalment — subtitled A Clockwork Conspiracy — sometime this «summer» on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.

First things first, Trine 5 once again adopts the series' classic 2.5D side-scrolling perspective after Trine 3's ambitious, but ultimately poorly received, foray into full 3D back in 2015. That's likely a reassurance for series fans, but also makes for a new instalment that perhaps doesn't particularly distinguish itself from its predecessors at first glance.

Not that more of the same is necessarily a bad thing; Trine has carved something of a niche for itself over the years, and its platform puzzling — built around using the unique abilities of the series' wizard, knight, and thief protagonists, from heavy lifting to block conjuring and hook grappling — remains as enjoyable today as it did when the series debuted almost 15 years ago.

Trine 5, then, which is said to be the longest Trine yet, will be immediately familiar to fans, with players once again taking control of the series' three returning heroes as they navigate obstacles and battle enemies across some gorgeous locations in an attempt to save the world of Trine — this time from a nefarious duo with an army of clockwork knights at their disposal.

There are new wrinkles to the formula this time around, of course, starting with new skills for all three characters. Amadeus the wizard, for instance, can now reverse gravity among other things, while Zoya the thief can use new ricochet arrows, and Pontius the knight gets a throwable sword to create makeshift ledges or to latch a rope onto, creating a handy