Puzzle Quest returns after a ten-year absence. Puzzle Quest 3 will once again combine match-3 mechanics and role-playing games alongside original designer Steve Fawkner at the helm, but this time it will be (possible uh-oh) free to play.
There’s not much to follow based on this trailer or press release, which vaguely promises “a twist on the traditional puzzle game” and “an intense 1-on-1 battle system performed in a 3D gaming world.” .
Match-3 has a bad rap, but there’s little more satisfying in the games than matching a bunch of gems of the same color. In Puzzle Quest, different types of games gave your hero different resources that they could spend on attacks against various fantasy monsters. There was a pattern quickly identified in your pattern matching, but it was more extreme.
I would unequivocally love the Puzzle Quest 3 ad, if it weren’t free. There are many fantastic examples of F2P games at this time, but I haven’t seen any model for match 3 games that wouldn’t harm the gaming experience. I play match 3 games to relax, but it’s hard to relax when there are limited lives or a dwindling energy resource, which will end my game session or ask me to cough up coins to continue.
John wrote us a review of Puzzle Quest 2 in 2010, which he was forced to keep playing even though he repeated it.
It’s ridiculous that after playing it for days, repeating the same actions over and over again, that I know that as soon as I’ve finished writing this, I’ll play it again and play something more. I’m pretty sure what it offers can’t justify the interest I have in playing it. But I will not stop. I don’t want to stop. I want to repeat this action. And repeat that action. And repeat that action. And I’m almost disinterested in case the context changes.
It seems that Puzzle Quest 2 is not available for purchase anywhere from PC, as its publisher has removed it from Steam, but the original Puzzle Quest is still available. Puzzle Quest 3 has an official site where you can register for updates.