On first glance, nothing seems too innocuous about this remaster. The more I thought about its existence though, the more questions came to light. The good news is that they aren’t the kind of concerns anyone curious should worry about. In fact, the more intrigued you are the better.
The original Puzzle Quest dates to 2007 on PSP and DS, gaining a console release shortly after. It quickly reached its intended audience of anyone looking for a match-three puzzler without a hyperactive, sugar coated, exterior. Think of it as a stripped back RPG, only with jewel matching duels instead of typical turn-based battles – ignoring the fact that they’re still turn-based here.
Since then, Puzzle Quest has bounced around, last seen on the Switch in 2019 as a remaster known as Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns. This new edition appears to use that version as a framework, featuring all DLC and 4K remastered visuals, along with a new character class – although, oddly, this new class isn’t pointed out when making your initial selection. To the uninitiated, they’re just another face in the line-up of spellcasters and swordsmen.
Upon hearing of this remaster, I was left questioning if it needed one, bearing in mind the simple, static, 2D visuals. This isn’t something like the recent remaster of the Wii’s Epic Mickey, which was previously bound to a single console and in dire need of modernising. I also wondered if those who played the original would want to play through it again. See, this isn’t a typical epic, drama filled, action RPG – it’s a 40-50 hour succession of match-three battles, in which you gradually improve your character and journey across a fantasy realm, battling bosses and establishing new ties with royalty. Imagine asking a Candy Crush player if they’d consider deleting the app and start anew. Because chances are high that they’d guffaw at that question, I was curious if it could lure long-time fans.
So, Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition represents a way to experience it on modern consoles, clearly hoping to appeal to a new audience (remember, six years have passed since the Switch release) while potentially drawing back fans of the original who are up for dozens of hours of match-three puzzling. The £11.99 price point is unquestionably very reasonable, and while the visuals aren’t anything special, everything from the jewels to the character portraits are crisp and well-drawn. And of course, loading times are practically non-existent.
As anyone who played the original will testify, there’s more to Puzzle Quest than just matching three or more jewels of the same colour. After choosing a hero, it’s then a case of taking on quests and trekking around a top-down map, with enemies occasionally blocking your path. Each hero, or heroine, has their own array of attacks and defensive manoeuvres requiring coloured mana to perform. The same is also true for your opponent, who can be stalled from attacking if you shrewdly match jewels of their desired colour too. Levelling up occurs every few battles, allowing damage to be increased, while gradually unlocking new armour and weapons to purchase using gold gained throughout battle. If a boss fight is proving too difficult, you may need to repeat quests to level up and fill your coughers with cash.
What’s surprising about Puzzle Quest is that an easy victory is never a given. Whoever has the most cunning starts first and usually has the advantage. From thereon, it’s a case of thinking carefully about each move, especially when it comes to leaving a trio of skulls on the grid. If there’s an opportunity to attack, most of the time the AI will do so. This extends to thinking one step ahead to prevent skull icons from being potentially matched on the next turn. The AI will deal heavy blows in quick succession, draining the health bar significantly – right to the point where restarting a battle is the only smart choice. Indeed, it often feels like luck is on the AI’s side, particularly when a bunch of skulls cascade from above.
Perhaps I was imagining things, but it did seem that battles are tough on the first attempt – resulting in a defeat, or a close call win – and easier on the second, as if the AI has been programmed to be less aggressive when retrying a battle. In fewer words: I had to play a lot of battles twice. Learning and overcoming the AI’s devious ways does at least prevent this from being brainless, with each battle raising the stakes a little.
There are a few variations on the match-three theme, including limited move puzzle scenes to catch potential mounts, and an armour/weapon forging mini-game in which anvils must be destroyed by using surrounding skulls. The castle homebase can be expanded too, including a dungeon to capture foes to learn their attacks for your own use. These features may surprise those who’ve never played Puzzle Quest before, expecting something more akin to Bejewelled.
A remaster of Puzzle Quest was always going to be a difficult thing to mess up, so it doesn’t come as much surprise to find that nothing has gone awry. It offers dozens of hours of playtime at a low price point and should please anyone with a hankering for match-three puzzling, albeit while keeping in mind that battles don’t vary a great deal from one to the next. Sure, later enemies will hit harder and have longer health bars, but the same will be true for yourself.
Returning players will likely feel a pleasing sense of familiarity going in, followed by possible fatigue towards the end, and shouldn’t expect much in the way of changes outside of visuals improvements. How nostalgic you’ll find it I couldn’t possibly say. It’s perhaps a testament to Puzzle Quest’s evergreen and enduring nature that it doesn’t feel like it’s approaching twenty years old. Maybe this’ll be the version that lives forever.
Infinity Plus 2’s Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition is out now on all formats. Published by 505 Games.