Puzzle Quest is a unique hybrid of match three and RPG genres. Initially it is quite engaging but the repetitive nature of the gameplay does get boring and the out-side of combat interactions are not fleshed out enough to carry. The graphics are function over form though the music is really good but only a few tracks. I would recommend this game on portable but not PC.

Story

You start the game by making your own character, where you select class and a portrait. I’m not sure if all classes have the same start, but I think they don’t. I picked a knight and I started as a student/squire at a castle, which would feel a little strange as a rogue say. Regardless you start doing fairly menial tasks like carrying letters around, however the story ramps up quickly and you are giving more important quests. The game has an overarching narrative that links the different chapters, though the main focus is on the stories within the chapters. Overall the narrative here is standard fantasy affair. You do have some companions that you collect on your journey that have their own stories you can explore which is a nice touch. I did not feel engaged by the story and it seems to serve as little more than a backdrop.

Gameplay

Puzzle Quest is a hybrid between RPG and match three bejeweled style gameplay. Battles are a match three against the enemy where you match skulls to deal direct damage, mana tokens to build up mana for spells, coins for gold and purple stars for experience points. You get an extra turn for matching more than three and there are randomly spawning wild-card tokens or mega skulls that explode dealing extra damage and gaining the effect of tokens around it. You also have access to several abilities or magics that you can spend your mana on, there a lot of variance here beyond simple “deal X damage” abilities and customising your ability loadout and building synergies is quite fun.

The RPG elements are more strongly featured outside of combat. I was surprised at how extensive the RPG aspect is. I should probably clarify this though, you don’t really rollplay that much in that you aren’t given dialogue choices or much freedom to explore but you do occasionally get a choice for an outcome in a sidequest. The RPG elements I was surprised by was the equipment, abilities, stats, mounts and stronghold features. There is a lot of equipment and ability customisation and trying to synergise all these elements to enhance your effectiveness in combat. There are several stats that you allocate points into as you level up, such as focus on a specific mana type to increase how much you gather or giving a random chance to get an extra turn when you match a specific type of tile. These skills provide a lot of benefits each though there are only seven or so to choose from. You can collect mounts which usually provide a passive increase to stats and an active ability, I had a spider mount which allowed me to use its web ability stunning the enemy for a few turns. You also have a stronghold which you develop throughout the game to give you additional options for enhancing your character though I didn’t make much use of this.

The outside of combat gameplay has you travelling from certain locations on fairly large overworld map. You collect quests from towns that have you venturing to other towns or more remote locations. Quests are generally go to location and defeat monster, which does get a bit boring and the lack of dialogue or engagement options does hurt the game. The map is large, but there is no reason to go to locations if you don’t have a quest objective there, except if you are hunting a monster to capture it as a mount but that’s pretty rare.

Presentation

Eh. The game does look and feel like a flash game, so the expectations were low here. It uses a cartoon artstyle and the designs of the enemies and characters is pretty decent if a little basic. The overworld is well detailed and there is a lot of diversity in the areas you travel to. The UI and ability effects are very basic and the battle screen is quite dull but very functional. The music is really good, has a high fantasy Warcraft or Lord of the Rings vibe, though there are only a couple of tracks and you do get very used to them. The game is about 10 years old at this point so it must be forgiven a little, though the presentation was overall quite dull.