Game: Empires and Puzzles

Genre: Casual, RPG

Platforms: Android, iOS

It is fun to see how different genres in games merge and combine to create unique experiences. Empires and Puzzles is one such blend that combines the puzzle aspect of Match 3 games, the strategy as well as base building aspects of role playing games.

The main gameplay in empires and puzzles is simple but fun. You go in with five characters, each belonging to different colours of the Match 3 board. Your opponents will be demons and monsters that you can attack by making matches on the board. For instance, if you make matches of yellow tiles, then yellow troops will attack the enemies. Your troops and your enemies have an element attached to them and it makes them stronger or weaker against other elements. There is a simple rock-paper-scissors mechanism at play here. Apart from making matches, you can also attack your enemies by using your character’s special powers.

The story is the usual good vs evil kind where monsters are released into the world and you and your team have to defeat them. The world is divided into multiple areas and each area has quests to complete. Every fight is rife with new enemies and bosses. The difficulty increases with every fight and you will have to resort to upgrading your troops.

An important aspect is the deck building. Here lies the major strategy in the game. The deck is the group of characters that you take into battle. You can build a deck using characters of every colour or you can opt for the most powerful ones that you have. One can obtain these characters through a free summon everyday or by paying.

This system behaves like a lucky draw and most of the times you get characters with low strength. However, even these characters can be used to level up your existing characters.

The other important aspect of the game is base building. Here, you can build up your castle and buildings around it. These will give you additional items for upgrading your characters. These buildings themselves can also be upgraded. This part of the game functions like the standard base-building games where you become progressively powerful with every building you make.

As you level up and build your team, you can also fight other players through the PvP feature. This means that others can also attack you and try to steal your resources. This makes for a constant need to rebuild your team and keep on innovating with it.

Empires and Puzzles looks like a simple Match 3 game at first glance but at its core, it is an RPG game. That means that it does have its fair share of timers and difficulty spikes and it can be difficult to completely understand the strategies. But for those who want a unique RPG and puzzle experience, Empires and Puzzles is a great game.