Before Candy Crush clones flooded the mobile market, one of the big match three giants was Puzzle Quest.  It played like Bejeweled but with RPG elements added.  It was a huge hit, and has had many versions, including one that featured Adventure Time characters from the cartoon that I reviewed a few years ago.  And now Puzzle Quest returns with new classes and quests, and is exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

The main single player mode is Story and you’ll first select your class, including new ones like Paladin and Monk.  You’ll have certain attacks depending on your class, and some classes are easier to use than others.  Then you’ll embark on a story driven adventure and travel across a map and gather quests along the way.  The game includes all the quests from the original game and expansions, as well as 100 new quests, too!  These quests usually involve you battling something, and that’s where the meat of the gameplay lies.

Battles take form of a match three puzzle game, and you and your opponent take turns moving pieces on the same board.  Certain blocks will fill up elemental meters when matched, and when you have enough, you can unleash certain attacks to whittle down your opponent’s health, heal your own, and more.  Other icons will give you more experience points or gold when matched.  Skulls will automatically damage your enemy when matched.  Since you take turns on the same board, some strategy ensues as you must think about how your move will affect your opponent.  Do you match pieces to prevent them from using them?  Or will matching pieces allow your enemy to use skulls?  When you defeat an enemy, you’ll gain experience points which you can use to divvy out for stronger skills and other things.

Aside from the main story, you can replay battles with enemies you’ve fought before, make a new hero if you get tired of yours, and even battle others online if you have a Switch Online account.  You can control the game in two ways.  If you are playing on a TV, you can only use the cursor.  But if you are playing in handheld mode, you can use the cursor or the touch screen.  But since the game is turn-based, using the touch screen is just as easy as the cursor.  Only problems I had with the game were minor, and include a slightly generic fantasy story, music, and art.  Plus the learning curve is pretty high, even on Easy classes.  But if you enjoy match three puzzlers and the Puzzle Quest series in general, then you’ll definitely want to download this if you have a Switch.

Kid Factor:

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  Most of the violence is just implied in the text.  When you attack opponents, it just shows lightning animations hit the pictures of you and them for damage, but that’s it.  Reading skill is needed for all the text, and younger gamers may find it a bit difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews