Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns

I may have expected a bit more polish from the remaster, but everything that’s important — namely, the simple and satisfying gameplay — remains intact.

More than a decade after its initial release, Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is a worthy upgrade of a solid match-three RPG. It adds new quests and new classes for both veterans and newcomers to enjoy, and manages to resist the 'freemium' business model that plagues a lot of games in the genre these days. It falls down a bit on graphics and presentation, with the artwork particularly showing its age, but if you're after a surprisingly deep puzzle adventure to get lost in, then look no further.

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns puts the classic 2007 puzzle-RPG on the Switch, with loads of content and some frankly baffling performance issues.

Does Puzzle Quest on Switch end up feeling like more of the same, or is that enough to satisfy a puzzle fiend?

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is still the same game but that isn't a bad thing. Bundling in all the DLC and adding some new classics, this match-3 RPG hybrid is just as addictive today as it was over a decade ago.

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is the RPG that I didn’t know how badly I needed it on Nintendo Switch until now. The match 3 gameplay mixed with RPG elements is superbly done and with the diversity among classes and skills, you really get to customize your character how you want to. Visually, the game looks fantastic and while some of the enemy designs do feel plain that doesn’t stop the rest of the game from looking gorgeous. The RNG elements along with the lengthy battles do hold Puzzle Quest back from being the perfect RPG, but nevertheless, this is definitely worth picking up for any RPG fans collection. There are hours upon hours of content here and I know I’ll be coming back to Puzzle Quest for quite some time.

Despite my issues with Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns, the game is still one heck of a great experience, twelve years later. Battles are as exciting as ever, while the new wealth of classes and quests ensures that even series veterans will be able to get lost in this world all over again.

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns manages to hold true to the things that made the original Puzzle Quest title so fun and addicting the first time around. That being said, on the whole it does feel just a bit less fresh and original given that this formula has been copied and tweaked many times over the last decade. That being said, Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns still gets a lot right that many of its spiritual successors don't and it is absolutely worth playing if you are a fan of this hybrid genre.

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns for the Nintendo Switch is a perfect match for the Switch's "get up and go" philosophy. While the core of the gameplay is still the time-honoured design of matching 3 tile,s Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns manages to add enough RPG elements to keep it fresh board by board. If your a "match 3" fan and enjoy fantasy settings then this one must go on your "want list"!

Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns might be a relic of a bygone time, but that isn't the same as being a bad game. Most of the modern match-three games owe something to the original, and it shows. It might not have Marvel characters or shiny graphics, but it's an accessible, enjoyable and fun puzzle game that is excellent to play for a few minutes at a time. For $15, you'll get more fun than you would in spending that same amount on microtransactions in other games.