Puzzle Quest 3, the third mainline entry in the hybrid role-playing / puzzle series, is being developed across multiple platforms, publisher 505 Games announced Thursday.
It is scheduled to be released in 2021, and it will be the first Puzzle Quest game since 505 Games bought the original developer of the franchise, Infinity Plus Two, earlier this month. Puzzle Quest 3 will also be the first full sequel in the series since 2010 Puzzle Quest 2; meanwhile, D3Publisher has released some spin-offs and a Nintendo Switch remaster of the original 2007 game.
Puzzle Quest 3‘s story takes place 500 years after the original Puzzle Quest. Infinity Plus Two and 505 Games offered some details in a news release, saying the game would feature ‘gem-crushing’, head-to-head puzzle fights and a twist on the traditional puzzle game.
In the Puzzle Quest series, players move in a 3D space, talk to characters and fight enemies. But instead of traditional RPG battles in turn, Puzzle Quest asks players to play a “match 3” game – as if Bejeweled had a fight. Players can match skull jewels to deal damage, or match other colored jewels to use skills. Despite being a puzzle, players can increase skill points and grow their characters.
Puzzle Quest 3 will be available this year “on a wide range of mobile devices and computers”, according to the news release. An entry field on the game’s website is also called ‘console’. Puzzle Quest 2 has been released on Nintendo DS, Windows PC and Xbox 360.