Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns Review Switch

I don't know if it's something primal that's been instilled in all of us from the dawn of time, but matching things together is a surefire way to get the dopamine flowing. Whether it's a perfect block placement in Tetris, or getting a bunch of colored jewels to explode, it just feels good every time.

Do you know what else feels good? Fighting stuff! Hacking up skeletons, beating up thieves, and exterminating giant rats. And in exchange for your violence, you should be rewarded with all kinds of extra stuff to beat people up with, or money to spend on extra stuff to beat people up with. If only there was a way to combine my love of violence, with my other love of obsessively matching things...

Wait, what's this over here? Why it's Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns, a remaster of a game that somehow combines a match 3 puzzle game with a turn-based RPG, and the combination is better than peanut butter and chocolate, or an ice-cold beverage on a hot Christmas morning.

Match And Conquer

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is exactly what it says on the box (although it's a digital release, so it doesn't really have a box per se). It's a re-release of the classic puzzle game where your character does battle against an opponent by matching three or more colored jewels. There is a story, but it's pretty much your standard medieval times era, Lord Of The Rings-type of tale about a peaceful kingdom being besieged by the undead and roaming gangs of thieves.

The real draw is all this sweet puzzle action, and you'll get enough here to last you a good, long while. There's quests, and side quests, and repeating quests, and more puzzle-solving than you can shake a stick at.

How the game works is that each piece corresponds to either a form of magic or some other kind of RPG element. Matching red, blue, green, or yellow jewels give you either fire, water, earth, or air mana that you can use for special abilities or spells. You do damage to your enemies by matching skulls, you gain gold by matching coins, and you get experience by matching purple stars. You get more experience points once you win a battle, and you can then level up your character's stats to make them more effective in combat. You can also spend your gold on new equipment that can give you stat boosts or bonuses in fights, while recruiting companions who will be able to assist you in some way.

Dear God, I Can't Stop

This game is addictive. I found myself often saying, "OK, after this battle I'm putting the Switch away," only to then start up a new battle and say the exact same thing over and over. Even in the middle of writing this review, I loaded up my Switch and started playing. There's just something about this combo of genres that works so well, and the fact that it's now available on the Switch is a danger to my productivity.

Puzzle Quest also provides a fair amount of challenge, and while it doesn't necessarily become soul-crushingly difficult, you won't be able to steam-roll all of your opponents, either. Many times I found myself and my foe were neck-and-neck in terms of our hit points, and it came down to one final match or spell in order to succeed. I also can't quite tell if the A.I. is good, or if I'm dumb, because many times I'd laugh at a stupidly easy to spot match that my opponent had missed, only for them to find a stupidly easy to spot match that I had missed.

Here For The Puzzles, Not The Looks

Now, this is a remaster of a game from 2007, and unfortunately, it does look exactly like something from 12 years ago. There doesn't appear to be much work done on the visuals, although the character art is fine for what it is, and the jewels look like jewels, which is really all you need. The music also sounds like someone trying to replicate the soundtrack from Skyrim using Garageband, but it gets the job done.

In terms of extras, this release includes the Revenge Of The Plague Lord expansion, as well as a bunch of new classes, spells, items, and other goodies. So, if you like Puzzle Quest, you're going to be getting a whole heaping boatload of it here. There's also online multiplayer, which is pretty fun. Although that might be where the soul-crushing difficulty shows up, because apparently everyone else on the internet is a world-beating puzzle quester.

It's Like Digital Heroin

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns brings a lot of questing and a whole lot of fun. While you likely won't end up being engrossed in this generic fantasy world, you will likely be sucked into the super addicting puzzle fighting that lies within. The game was huge enough already, and this re-release throws in all the extra content you could ask for.

I offer a word of warning: If you have things to do, like paperwork, or chores, or children to look after, you may want to be cautious about picking this up because you may have a hard time putting it back down. The siren song of Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is as alluring as any game I've played, and considering that you can play it anywhere with your Switch, you may never be free of its tendrils again. Beware! Beware I say!