With so many remasters, remixes, and enhanced editions coming to consoles in the last generation, it has been a great time to be a fan of terrific games from the past. The double-edged sword to the phenomenon though, is that if the core content is the same as it was before, whether or not you’ll want or need to revisit it is up in the air if you’re already a fan. 

The Puzzle Quest series has always been a favorite of mine, mainly because I enjoy great Match 3 puzzle play, and applying that to RPG combat always felt like a smart idea. Using a combination of head-to-head Match 3 prowess, and smart use of the spells you’ll accumulate that use the various resources you’ll gather from the board, you can be quite formidable when you get on a roll. Unfortunately, you’ll also find that whether you make a huge mistake, or just get some bad breaks, your enemies won’t hesitate to put you in the ground either when the opportunity presents itself. The push and pull of looking for your own move, while ensuring you’re not opening the door to a nasty enemy counter-attack, is absolutely one of the areas where the game shines.

All that said, especially now that all of the content is together in the same general style of presentation, there’s no question that even though you’ll be on different quests with different storylines, things can begin to feel quite similar. While I do appreciate the attempt to tell a traditional RPG-esque story along the way, I’ll admit that the perils of the kingdom and its people were never what drew me to the series. With that in mind, if you have The Legend Returns, which had been released on Switch a few years ago, there may not be enough differentiation here to make it a worthwhile purchase, unless you’d simply love more Puzzle Quest action. That said, as this has retired The Legend Returns to be the exclusive Puzzle Quest title in the eShop, if you’re an old fan looking to be reunited with it, or a potential new fan looking to take the plunge, this is still a terrific package with a very fair price.