We need to tighten up the graphics a bit.

I never outright said that Trine 2 demonstrated an ignorance of the original game's design shortcomings, and an inordinate focus on shiny graphical effects; I just thought it, very loudly. Catching up to Trine 3, though, I don't think it even needs to be said -- the game gives itself away.

The sky is shiny, the water is shiny, the foliage is shiny, ... everything is shiny. But in moving from 2D side-scrolling levels to a fixed-camera 3D format, with depth, one wonders if Frozenbyte learned anything from 1990s beat-em-ups: when the camera is fixed to the side, z-axis movement doesn't make the game more interesting; just more difficult to understand.

User reviews further indicate that this iteration of Trine loses character progression, i.e. developing advanced skills in later levels, and that the level count overall is shockingly low.

The promise of a new The Lost Vikings I saw in the first Trine feels like a mirage, now. Even the developers' self-reflection and the now-released sequel don't dissuade me from the conviction that these guys, great as they may be at making a super-shiny physics-based engine, aren't really interested in making a puzzle-platform game.

Progress: Finished the first level.