Gyromancer
It feels a bit weird not recommending a game I’ve put so many hours into. If you just want to pour a bunch of relatively mindless hours into a game, with maybe two or three periods of “OMG I’m never going to beat this particular monster,” Gyromancer might be for you. However, it has some serious weaknesses.
Its main problem is that it’s badly designed. When I first started playing, it was incredibly difficult. It seems like the enemy beasts were way overpowered, and I struggled to live long enough to gain the experience points necessary to level up. After a bit of grinding, the game became much easier. Because I’d tried playing Gyromancer a few years back, I knew that grinding was a very important, so I spent some time getting each stage’s in-game achievements (there are no Steam achievements) before moving on. This leveled me up enough that, usually, the next stage didn’t instantly kick my butt. So far so good.
– Real player with 38.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Match 3 Singleplayer Games.
Not sure why i’ve decided to buy this game after i have tried a demo many years ago. Maybe i thought it would have more things later in the game. But the game is more of the same stuff and it gets too repetitive and boring fast. Also the vague story telling doesn’t help to improve impressions. Dialogs are often weird, story twists are silly and confusing. Hero controls on the global map are annoying. Connecting 3 items (or more) in a row by rotating a square of 4 items clockwise is a bit of too much. One has to have a very good spacial imagination to quickly see combinations. Enemies don’t have to do that, so this is a bit unfare. They use your combinations for resources for their attacks. Also you don’t just have to make your attacks, but proactively remove enemies attacks from the board. It quickly becomes very frustrating as game starts to introduce more blocks (locking certain items, making enemies' attacks to trigger faster, punishing for idle rotating of items, etc.). And the attacks your monsters have don’t matter much. Yes, some trigger faster and do less damage, but you still just connect lines of items all the time without keeping much attention to them and the attacks trigger automatically. Puzzle Quest is way better in this regard, where you have to select what attacks to equip, when to trigger them and it actually matters what colors you connect. This game also has steep difficulty curve. You run easily through one stage and then stumble on another because monsters are much harder. Some challenges are based on simple luck (you have to make a cascade of 7 subsequent combinations, and you can’t really prepare the board for that, because the board is too small and you have to rotate 4 items at a time, so you just sit their and mindlessly rotate them hoping to get that challenge..).
– Real player with 29.8 hrs in game
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
Puzzle Quest Galactrix (PQG) definitely has its strengths and weaknesses, but for people who enjoy puzzle games it works out to the good.
On the positive side: the core puzzle game has easily-grasped rules that allow you to become more effective as you learn how to plan multiple moves ahead. The head-to-head puzzles have a few variations (the most annoying of which is the time-pressure variant, but more on that in a moment). There is a very lightweight story wrapped around it, nothing movie-worthy or anything like that, but it does give context. The soundtrack is also better than one might think; generic adventure-orchestra, but well done for that. I also find it to be stable for a game of its age, with a crash happening maybe once per 30 game hours. It frequently auto-saves, so even if it does go boom you don’t lose more than a few minutes of progress. You also can retry any engagement that you lose without penalty, so even if you lose a given game, no big deal.
– Real player with 84.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Match 3 Sci-fi Games.
Developed by Infinite Interactive and published by D3Publisher Of America Inc., Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is yet another puzzle roleplaying game in Infinites steadily growing stable of quality match 3 titles. The wonderful thing about this game, however, that sets it apart from the other Puzzle Quest titles is that this one does not take place in a fantasy setting. No dragons, no swords and no magic. Galactrix instead is set far into the future and deals with aliens, lasers and technology. You take on the role of a rogue M.R.I. pilot scouring the galaxy in your spaceship trying to uncover clues in an intergalactic mystery that will affect the fate of the entire universe.
– Real player with 47.9 hrs in game
Spandex Force: Champion Rising
Long ago it was a good game very funny. And it suddenly stopped working for everyone. Recently the error was fixed and the launcher worked again ( see discussion page). But it is not the same game, it was replaced with a very bad one.
The pictures in the store page are not even the right one, they are from the old version.
So you don’t get what you see and what you pay for. How do you call this commercial practice ?
DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.
I don’t think the original one will be available again or they would have put it instead of this garbage. So you can forget Spandex Force: Champion Rising. Too bad
– Real player with 19.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Match 3 Comedy Games.
Only played because a review stated Windows 10 latest builds do not work. Not only does the game work on Windows 10 but it kind of grabs you though repetitive.
Premise is create a super-hero, exercise your super powers by playing match 3 battles and unlocking mini games. Some strategy is involved when going against more powerful enemies. One of the mini games was a pain and I felt the game could of been more lenient in this regard. The last mini game I’ve unlocked to this point was a bubble bobble clone giving me an impetus to move forward to see what else the game offers.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
Cards & Crystals
This is a little gem of a game (a gaem?)… the match-3 slash card game mechanics are seamlessly executed and the pixel art is really charming and cute. The humor is on point and it seems to be a lot of lore sprinkled through the cards description. All in all it’s noticeable this is a game made of love and really really fun.
– Real player with 71.0 hrs in game
Cheerful card game with a rather brutal streak ( Heck, the AI admits it’s cheating in one conversation… . ) a few bugs, but some of them are pretty fun. For example, re-drawing the same card from your deck. Which is absolutely hilarious when it’s a damage buff.
Plenty of cards to unlock, heroes with different skills, and plenty of interesting challenges. ( What happens when your opponent is using your deck? Why, fill it with garbage or cards to help you, and laugh. )
However, it’s not for the easily frustrated, as the AI will shamelessly bust out a row of huge chains on a whim and squash you like a bug.
– Real player with 47.8 hrs in game
Gunspell - Steam Edition
pros:
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Played like puzzle quest series, so if you like puzzle quest you’ll love this game
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while there are some f2p element leftover from it’s mobile counterpart, it has been tone down substantially and you can easily acquire gold, the premium currency with a little bit of grinding ..
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graphic is ok for a mobile port, personally i don’t care about graphic for this type of game
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I personally love the music .. it’s kind of diablo’ish gothic kind of theme which suit the story ..
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Easy to play and once you got hang of it, you’ll be addicted for sure .. while the gameplay seem too easy in the beginning, you’ll see at later stage you’ll need to strategize when fighting certain enemy .. being good at match 3 puzzle game doesn’t guarantee success, but it’s about your equipment, magic and a bit of luck .. also grinding ..
– Real player with 33.9 hrs in game
I paid $2 for Gunspell as part of a bundle, and it took me around 28 hours to finish the game once. This is gonna be a long one, so strap in. CTRL+F “don’t recommend” if you want to fast-forward.
Have you played Puzzle Quest? This game should come off as familiar, and I’ll be mentioning it often enough. Match-3 gameplay, taking turns with the enemy in order to be the last one standing, matching skulls to deal damage, matching gems to power up special attacks, getting EXP and money through matches…it’s familiar, but Gunspell does things kinda differently.
– Real player with 28.1 hrs in game
Gunspell 2 – Match 3 Puzzle RPG
Great idea, not well executed. Pvp pitched battles against enemies frequently a higher level than you. Responses that feel robotic and automatic, not personal, makes me wonder quite often if I am fighting a hman at all. To grow you chars or team takes a long time, but every time you achieve a growth, your pitched against better players than yourself. The losinf really takes its toll. The time for each abttle is also too long. In this day and age, why would anyone need so long to make a move? It becomes a ‘bore your opponant out’ move' effectively cheating to win. I’ve played a lot of hours and discovered that my percentage of going first in matches is equal to 30%. The whole game is sisded against you , imo to make you spend money to improve. Instead, just let people enjoy the experience/ Please, make some changes, make it fairer. Otherwise I have to recommend people play ‘Gems of War’ which is a much better game and a far happier experience. At least you can pick the level of your pvp challenge, rather than face an anwinable waste of time.
– Real player with 143.1 hrs in game
a really well done game and really nice improvements over the first gunspell game like more characters and epic heroes to play with more smooth and intense combat animations nicer grapchics too i really hope for a gunspell 3 in the future cause boy i am hook with this series :D
– Real player with 32.0 hrs in game
Last Joy
Last Joy is a hand painted story-driven RPG with a unique combat system. The setting of the game represents the Early Middle Ages period, magic is in charge of all spheres of life and people in this world are immortal. They do not grow old and die of their own free will.
The game takes place in the city of Last Joy, located at the entrance to the afterworld. People go there to dissipate the last money they have and end their lives. The city atmosphere is pretty dark and grim. Gangs, brothels, taverns, almost absolute anarchy.
While developing the game we have been inspired by the depth of classic RPG worlds. This game tells about the reasons why people, even in difficult situations, hold on to life or, on the contrary, give up too early. It raises questions about the purpose of existence of each individual.
Features
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2D scroller for PC/mobile platforms
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Hand-painted (watercolor) assets
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Branching Dialogue and Quest systems
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Various skills and parameters
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Complex Match3 combat
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Dynamic Events
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Interactive environment and items
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Nonlinear story and different endings
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Puzzles and riddles
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Multiple companions with their own story arcs
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Deep lore
MARVEL Puzzle Quest
If you like Match 3 games, you will adore this one! Marvel Puzzle Quest really is the best I have ever played. If you are not into Match 3, I think you should still give this one a try, as it might just change your mind.
While the micro-transactions do make for a pay-to-win situation, you can still get there through ordinary grinding.
Highly recommended.
– Real player with 1493.2 hrs in game
I’ve enjoyed this game and didn’t mind making in game purchases early on.
I had the account wiped after a patch once. I contacted customer service about it and they fixed it in 1 day.
It always runs smoothly on my PC.
I guess it is slow at first but after 2 years, I’ve got a great roster and many of my heros are maxxed so I can play as long as I want and don’t ever see the need to make another in game purchase.
– Real player with 993.2 hrs in game
Troll Patrol
This is a game that is very heavily inspired by the mobile game “Dungeon Raid” (my personal favorite of all time tbh, rip 32-bit support), so if you know what I’m talking about you already know if you’ll like the game or not.
For complete newcomers (aka most of you), the game has a simple premise: match tiles and collect loot/do damage. It isn’t the Bejeweled type of matching however; you draw a line between similar types of tiles and collect every tile the line goes through. You can continue the line in any direction as long as there’s another tile that can be matched with it. It’s not a very “puzzle-y” type of match 3, but a strangely compelling type. In terms of what your brain has to do, you can’t completely zone out, but you can play effectively while paying attention to a movie or something on the side. Of course, you can focus entirely on the game as well, and that can lead to clever plays that make/break the run.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
It’s a pretty good game to kill some time without turning off your brain completely.
Works great on Linux too. Thumbs up!
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Block Legend DX
An interesting mix of rogue-like and puzzle game, you take a character on a quest fighting monsters and bosses and earning stars to unlock more stuff. This is a great and well-thought out, simple game that is incredibly addictive. This game is small and will run on just about anything.
And for all of those people who are complaining about how the game isn’t engaging and all that other nonsense….it’s a casual puzzle game. It’s not meant to be played for hours and hours on end (even though I sometimes do that as a distraction to other thigns). It’s a short and simple game, meant to be picked up, enjoyed, and put down before moving on to other things. I don’t really understand why this is such a hard thing for people to understand.
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
Normally, I’m a sucker for match-3 games. This one, though, gets a couple of things wrong that push it into unplayable territory.
Firstly, it’s very, very clearly a mobile port. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But to play using items costs “Starbucks” or whatever, which you earn by doing quests. Absent in the steam version is presumably the microtransaction store where you can buy more Canadough to unlock them.
Secondly, it’s not terribly deep. After playing vastly more strategic match-3s like HuniePop (which isn’t very deep, but vastly more engaging than this), this is simplistic, at best. The strategy boils down to “match lots of hearts and shields”.
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game