No, the sequel to everyone’s favorite ultra-addictive puzzle RPG isn’t out yet—that won’t happen for another month. But there is an official Flash-based demo of the game’s puzzle component out right now. And you should try it, unless you needed some kind of support group to pry your hands off the first Puzzle Quest. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix looks like it will put you right back on that road to ruin.
Yes, this demo is just puzzle match-three puzzle battle, a single bout compared to the likely dozens of variation on the theme that we’ll see in the final game. And yet I played it six times, in rapid succession. Plug this into a space strategy framework, and, well, I hope it’s done properly. But I also hope it isn’t, because if it is it could well be the end of my productive life.
The existence of this game, and how interesting and polished it is, even in Flash demo format, is an interesting counter-point to the general thinking regarding casual games. Infinite Interactive, the creators of Puzzle Quest, seem to take the Popcap thinking to heart—that making casual games is hard, it’s at least as difficult as making a hardcore game, but it might be harder because there’s less fluff to hide behind.
Putting together something as addictive as a Puzzle Quest isn’t something that happens by accident—it probably took the full two years of development time to get right. Play the demo. It’s impressively easy to play, isn’t it? And yet there’s so much interplay between each of the mechanics. The gem types, and the resources they represent, play into your ship’s special weapons, and when they should be used. This in turn ties into the game’s shield and hull damage system (shields can be replenished, but hits to the ship are permanent), which fuels another primary metagame of offensive versus defensive play. And yet, all you’re doing to make any of this happen is moving some gems around. It’s a turn-based strategy game your grandma can play, which is really, really impressive.
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