Is Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign (Free) not enough Puzzle Quest for you? Well, good news: 505 Games has soft-launched Gems of War in New Zealand, a puzzle-RPG that draws a heavy influence from the series that launched a thousand match-3 RPGs, and for good reason: the game is developed by an Australian studio called Infinity Plus Two. The creative lead on Gems of War? Steve Fawkner, creator of the Warlords ($4.99) series, and founder of Infinite Interactive, where he helped create the original Puzzle Quest. Gems of War‘s matching systems are familiar: match skulls to do damage, match colored gems to charge up mana.
Where the game mixes things up from the original Puzzle Quest is in its implementation of social game elements. It’s possible to join a guild, and play others in an asynchronous PVP mode. And of course, there’s currencies to spend on items and upgrades for one’s character. Granted, there’s already a free-to-play Puzzle Quest game, but having the original creative lead (and no Marvel characters) promises to shake up the experience a bit. The game will come out worldwide on iOS, Android, and even Steam at some point in the future, but you can download it from New Zealand right now. If you’re a Kiwi by hook or by crook, join the conversation in our forum thread about the game.
