Puzzle Quest 3, the third main entry in the hybrid RPG / puzzle game series, is in development across multiple platforms, publisher 505 Games announced on Thursday.
Scheduled to launch in 2021, this will be the first Puzzle Quest game since 505 Games purchased the franchise’s original developer, Infinity Plus Two, earlier this month. Puzzle Quest 3 will also be the first full sequel to the series since 2010 Puzzle Quest 2; in the meantime, D3Publisher released some spinoffs and a remastering of the Nintendo Switch from the original 2007 game.
Puzzle Quest 3The story takes place 500 years after the original Puzzle Quest. Infinity Plus Two and 505 Games offered little detail in addition to a press release, saying the game will feature “jewel-crushing” puzzle battles and “a twist on traditional puzzle gameplay”.
In the Puzzle Quest series, players move around in 3D space, talk to characters and fight enemies. But instead of traditional turn-based RPG battles, Puzzle Quest asks players to play a “match-3” game – as if Bejeweled had a match. Players can combine skull gems to cause damage or combine other colored gems to use their skills. Despite being a puzzle game at heart, players can level up and assign skill points to develop their characters.
Puzzle Quest 3 will be available this year “on a wide variety of mobile devices and PCs,” according to the press release. An information sign-up box on the game’s website mentions “console” as well. Puzzle Quest 2 was released on Nintendo DS, Windows PC and Xbox 360.