Puzzle Quest is returning after an absence of ten years. Puzzle Quest 3 will again combine match-3 and RPG mechanics with original designer Steve Fawkner at the helm, but this time it will be – possibly uh-oh – free-to-play.
There is not much to say based on that trailer, or the press release, which vaguely promises “a turnaround in traditional puzzle gameplay” and “an intense 1 on 1 battle system performed in a 3D game world”.
Match-3 has a bad reputation, but there is little more satisfying in games than matching a bunch of jewels 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 that was quickly identified in your pattern matching, but it was more extreme.
I would be very excited about the announcement of Puzzle Quest 3, if it wasn’t free. There are many excellent examples of F2P games these days, but I haven’t seen a model for match-3 games that doesn’t detract from the gaming experience. I play match-3 games to relax, but it’s hard to relax when there are limited lives or a diminishing energy resource that will end my game session or ask me to cough up coins to continue.
John wrote a review of Puzzle Quest 2 for us in 2010, feeling compelled to keep playing, although he thinks it’s repetitive.
It is ridiculous that after playing it for days, just repeating the same actions over and over, I know that as soon as I finish writing this I will go back and play some more. I am sure that what he offers does not justify my interest in playing it. But I will not stop. I do not want to stop. I want to repeat this action. And repeat this action. And repeat this action. And I’m almost uninterested in whether the context changes.
Puzzle Quest 2 does not appear to be available for purchase anywhere on the PC, having been removed from Steam by its editor, but the original Puzzle Quest is still available. Puzzle Quest 3 has an official website where you can sign up for updates.