Combining tile matching videogames with RPG elements would normally sound like the most ridiculous idea ever. However, Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition proves that not only can the feature be accomplished, but that it might actually be a (tile)match made in heaven.
Weak puns aside, Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition is a remaster of the original game named Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, a game that was very well received at its time. Set in the fantasy world of Etheria (old school Warlords fans might recognize this name), you pick a hero who will embark on a quest to vanquish the dreaded Lord Bane, the king of the Undead, who threatens the living world.
Best part – you do that by matching colorful pebbles and skulls!
There are several classes that are available to you when you start the game. You have your archetypal Warrior, who uses only one type of resource in order to deal damage, the Wizard, who uses multiple resources in order to cast spells, or the Assassin, whose sole gameplay is to get past the enemy defenses in order to inflict critical damage at the expense of his own defense. Immortal Edition adds several new classes, like the Swordsman or the Priest, each with their own abilities. There’s even specialized classes with a complex gameplan, like the Blood Mage, should you want to have a fully blown strategy type of game.
The tutorial of Puzzle Quest is simple and to the point: You and your opponent fight on an 8×8 grid, inflicting damage and collecting resources by matching 3 or more tiles of the same kind. You can move a tile to an adjacent position, but not diagonally, and you can only do this move if you can automatically match at least 3 tiles. If there are no moves left, the map resets.
There are four kinds of colored gems, each representing a type of mana (fire, water, earth, air). The skulls inflict direct damage when matched and some special skulls destroy all the tiles around them when matched. Finally, the coins and the experience point stars are extra resources that you collect during matches in order to buy items and level up outside of battle.
The game is incredibly easy to learn; you need only one or two matches to fully grasp the mechanics. However, it’s not as easy to master, because the enemies can quickly become quite problematic early on. Simply matching three skulls in order to deal damage will quickly prove to be a weak strategy, so you will have to find new creative ways to string combos and deal more damage with your attacks.
Since this game is also an RPG, it contains a significant story portion. You start as a member of a prestigious knight clan and are tasked with investigating the sudden Undead resurrections throughout the land. From that point onwards you will get entangled into an adventure that involves knights, dwarves, orcs, angry skeletons that just won’t stay dead, a funny ogre and witches that summon golems. For those who know the lore and the old games, you’ll instantly recognize the map and the plot, but the game makes extra sure to properly explain the plot and world building elements for those who never interacted with the strategy series before.
During your travels, you will also have various sidequests to complete, being rewarded with money, experience and items as a result. Some sidequests, however, can reward you with companions, special NPCs that will join your party and offer specific buffs depending on their class and the enemies that you face. The companions’ sidequests are the most funny quests you could imagine – from a princess that wants to escape from an arranged marriage, to a blabbering dwarf who keeps searching for cogs of an unknown machine, a smelly gnoll who stole the Emperor’s crown jewels and an Ogre that wants to eat every single enemy and rock in the land of Etheria. By the end of the game you will be followed by a menagerie of weirdos, bringing extra charm to this game.
What surprised me the most is how tricky the enemies can be. While the first encounters are easy enough to not pose much problems – battling against enemies such as rats, bats or skeletons – by the time you reach your first Orc opponent you will quickly realize that the game doesn’t like to pull any punches. The enemies will take advantage of any combination that is available on the map, so you must make sure to never allow them to build out their resources.
The most obvious tactic is to match as many tiles in a row as you can in order to drain the opponent’s mana reserves and prevent them from casting spells of their own. Then, you must understand your own character’s strengths and weaknesses and take advantage of them. For instance, if you play as a warrior, you will notice that most of your spells and abilities use Red Mana, obtained from matching red tiles. Therefore, it would be best to keep your red mana bar permanently filled so you can damage your opponent at every turn.
Unfortunately during the latter half of the game, the AI has the bad habit of cheating, especially on higher difficulty levels. Even if you have the best thought out plan, the enemy could simply get the perfect tile layout during their turn and use that turn to one-shot your character. If you feel that the game gets extra cheap, there’s no shame to switching to Easy difficulty.
Puzzle Quest also has additional mechanics that I don’t think I saw in too many other RPGs. In order to even access these mechanics, however, you will have to build various structures in your capital, like a mage tower, a blacksmith, or a jail.
The first unique mechanic is the ability to capture an opponent; Once you defeated the same enemy type three times, you have the ability to capture and throw them in your jail. Once captured, you can then learn the enemy’s unique spell by solving a puzzle which involves cleaning all the tiles on the map. These puzzles have multiple solutions and some of them are actually devious, requiring multiple retries just because there’s that one unmatchable tile that refuses to disappear. The puzzles are intuitive enough, but for the more tricky ones, you can always find a solution online.
Another unique mechanic is the ability to mount some enemies. If you manage to capture a griffin, a unicorn or a rat, you can use it as a mount and access another of their abilities. While the abilities are fun, the most important function of a mount is the option to skip random encounters on the map. If your mount has a high enough level, you can skip any random encounter that is not linked to a sidequest. Since you will trek across the same areas several times, random encounters will become tiresome, so the ability to skip them is welcomed.
Finally, the Blacksmith. While you can find regular items either as quest rewards or by visiting shops, the best items by far are the ones you can forge yourself. During your travels, you will find various runes that you can grab from the enemies. Then, in your Capital’s blacksmith, you have the option to match three of these runes in order to create an item with various properties. The items can vary from normal to godlike in quality and each item difficulty has a puzzle linked to them.
Creating a godlike item is by far the biggest challenge in this game. You will have to match a number of special anvil tiles, on top of the already existing tiles in the game. The catch is, if there are no moves left on the board, no tiles to match, the minigame will be failed and you will have to start it all over again. The nasty part is that the anvils will spawn at random times and most of the time they’re in opposite corners of the map. This is the hardest part of the game in my opinion, since it’s purely RNG. Thankfully, the reward is worth the trouble, godlike items usually breaking the game with the right build.
Puzzle Quest Immortal Edition is not the game I expected to play in 2025, especially since this year is stacked with one of the best games of this decade. However, if you want a break and just want to relax with a unique tile matching game that has a surprisingly compelling story and gameplay, give this one a try! It might take you by surprise!
