Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Amusing tactical puzzle game with implied fantasy violence.
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Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns
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What’s It About?
PUZZLE QUEST: THE LEGEND RETURNS is a deluxe version of the popular 2007 handheld puzzle game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. It includes the original game, all downloadable content, and a variety of new quests, classes, spells, and items, and it's been remastered with high-definition graphics. Play is essentially broken into two parts: world exploration and puzzles. Players explore a world map, stopping at towns to talk to non-player characters, accept quests, and buy stuff while trekking across the countryside in pursuit of quest objectives such as enemies and bosses. Whenever they encounter an enemy, a puzzle grid packed with jewels fills the screen. Players must slide gems around to create horizontal or vertical matches of three or more identical jewels, which recharge equipped spells. Coins can also be matched to earn money, and purples squiggles can be matched to gain extra experience used to level up and increase magic powers. But the real objective is to match skulls, which cause damage to enemies. Keep in mind, though, that you take turns with your evil adversaries, and they want to drain your hit points just as much as you want to drain theirs. You don't want to leave a foe with an easy match, and you must also be mindful of enemy spells, which slowly charge as your enemy clears gems.
Is It Any Good?
Younger players might not believe it, but you used to be able to play a match-3 game without spending tons on microtransactions or waiting for lives to refill on hard levels. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns comes from this long forgotten era. It's designed to test the player's puzzle solving skills rather than the depth of their patience and pocketbook. Luck still plays a role -- sometimes the jewels just don't fall in your favor -- but strategic players will most often be rewarded for taking the time to make smart moves and choosing just the right moments to deploy powerful spells that, say, change the color of certain gems or clear entire rows. Should you happen to run across a particularly challenging boss, there's no need to worry about running out of lives and being forced to wait to keep playing because -- get this -- there's no end to your lives!
More than all this, the game provides purpose to the match-3 puzzle formula. Each battle helps progress the story, and each win comes with rewards of coins, experience, and sometimes even items and gear. The storytelling isn't on the same level as a great fantasy book or film, but character interactions are brief -- providing, if nothing else, a welcome break between lengthy puzzle battles. You'll also have the opportunity between fights to spend points on your magic abilities, forge and equip new gear, and even construct buildings that will open new crafting and information-gleaning possibilities. And while returning players might be disappointed that this is a remaster rather than a sequel, know that there's still plenty of new content -- including several original character classes and more than 100 new quests -- that meaningfully alters and augments the experience. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is an excellent match-3 puzzler that will remind players that such games weren't always designed to be an endless drain on your wallet.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in games. Is the impact of the violence in Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns affected by the fact that the game doesn't portray combat using visuals, but instead implies it based on context and dialogue? Why is the visual violence typically more disturbing than described or implied violence?
What does it mean to think strategically? What sorts of real-life situations are best handled by imagining various outcomes and using this creative exercise to inform your decision-making process?
Game Details
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: D3Publisher of America
- Release date: September 19, 2019
- Genre: Puzzle
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- ESRB rating: E10+ for Fantasy Violence
- Last updated: October 2, 2019
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