Bringing back the match-3 classic Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition is neat, but it’s nothing more than nostalgia.
I remember playing Puzzle Quest on the Nintendo DS years ago, and having a reasonably fun time with it. I never did finish it though, getting quickly frustrated with the way the computer always seemed to get absolutely brutal combos out of nowhere and end a lengthy battle all of a sudden. The devs back then promised the AI wasn’t cheating, but anyone that played it back then had the same feelings. Well, the game is back and remastered in the form of Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition, and aside from a bit of visual polish and some content that I hadn’t played before, there’s very little that’s changed.
One of the selling points of Puzzle Quest was that it was a match-3 puzzle game with an RPG style plot, and whilst it certainly has that, it’s pretty standard fantasy fare with you having to save the kingdom from an evil lord and their forces of darkness. It’s told well enough, and there’s more lore than I would expect from a game that is more heavily gameplay driven than story focused, but for the most part you can just get on with the playing and navigate the map based on the quests you’re given.
At the start of the game you get to choose your class, and there are a lot to choose from. They don’t significantly change the gameplay itself, but they do have different special abilities that have to be utilised in the correct way to maximise your chance of success. Obvious ones like wizards have spells based on elements, but others like the monk use Ki points to allow them to cast spells and gain extra turns. It’s nice to play with a few different classes to see what they have to offer, but considering the length of Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition, you’ll likely stick with your first choice for quite a while.
Enemies are also varied and have their own abilities, some of which are all about damaging you, whilst others are utterly infuriating like healing significant portions of their health or stunning you for multiple turns. Yes, you have powers, but often the ones enemies utilise feel more like they’re elongating a scrap rather than trying to effectively defeat you. I found myself actively trying to avoid certain fights due to them being irritating rather than threatening.
Battles themselves work in a standard match-3 formula, with lining up three, four, or five matching tiles to gain mana of that colour or attack your enemy directly. Earning enough mana will allow you to activate one of your spells to try and sway the combat in your favour. In addition to these, you can line up gold and experience points to make use of between fights, but they’re rarely what you’re focusing on. Your abilities are fairly varied by the time you’ve levelled up a bit, ranging from direct damage to stunning your opponent, stealing their mana, or manipulating the board somehow. It’s fairly impressive how there are quite so many different ones. Enemies also get abilities, so finding ways to limit their mana to prevent them from activating infuriating heals or stuns is an appropriate way to play.
And this is where things fell apart back then and still fall apart for Puzzle Quest now. Ultimately, you’re completely beholden to the whims of fate as to whether or not you get a board that benefits you, and even with board manipulating skills and empowering items, you’re only a handful of unlucky turns away from restarting the combat. Far too often you find yourself starved of mana to make use of any of your skills, meaning fights descend into trudging back and forths as you and your opponent gather resources that you don’t need in the hopes the board will become more interesting. When the stars align and you get a series of powerful abilities off in succession, things feel good, but this happens far too infrequently and feels more like chance than skill.
Then there’s the computer turns that feel utterly unfair at times. You’ll play many combats in which your opponent seemingly gets cascade after cascade of powerful attacks, extra turns, and mana generation that absolutely floors you with little chance to respond. I remember the discourse at the time of the original release, with players complaining that the computer was cheating and the devs being adamant that it wasn’t. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether or not the computer is cheating, but if it feels like it is then that’s a failure in the design. Perhaps it’s my own bias, as you do occasionally get a lucky few turns yourself, but if that’s the case then you might as well just roll a die at the beginning of each combat to determine a winner. Regardless, it meant that battles, the main element of the whole game, were something I wouldn’t look forward to and would try to avoid where possible.
Still, there are some nice elements. The updated visuals are nice, although not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, and the sound is pleasant. I like how the music changes based on how a battle is going, becoming more triumphant as you close in on a victory. There are plenty of features too, with a castle for you to spend money on to learn new abilities and acquire mounts, as well as plenty of items to buy and equip to alter your playstyle somewhat.
A simple summary of this is that if you liked Puzzle Quest, you’ll like Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition as it’s the same game with a little polish and all previously released content included. Beyond that though, it’s an interesting time capsule of sorts, as this is a game that allows you to look at what match-3 games were before the likes of Candy Crush and its ilk turned the genre into a microtransaction riddled hellscape. Just be prepared for frustration to set in fairly quickly once you start to feel like the game isn’t being fair.
Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition is available now on PC, Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch.
