| Marvel Puzzle Quest | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developers | Demiurge Studios WayForward Technologies (consoles) |
| Publisher | D3 Go! |
| Designers | Steve Fawkner Will Jennings-Hess |
| Series | Puzzle Quest |
| Platforms | iOS,Android,Windows,PlayStation 3,PlayStation 4,Xbox 360,Xbox One,Kindle |
| Release | iOS, Android October 3, 2013 Windows December 5, 2013 PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 October 16, 2015 Xbox One February 4, 2016 Kindle March 29, 2016 |
| Genre | Puzzle |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Marvel Puzzle Quest is apuzzle video game developed byDemiurge Studios and published byD3 Go! in 2013. The fourth installment in thePuzzle Quest series, it is a free-to-play,match-three battle game set in theMarvel universe. There are 358 playable characters.
Puzzle Quest was released foriOS,Android, andWindows (viaSteam).[1] A port byWayForward Technologies was released forPlayStation 3,PlayStation 4, andXbox 360 in 2015, andXbox One in 2016. AnAmazon Kindle version was released in 2016.
Players assemble a team of three Marvel characters, controlling the team against a team of up to three other superheroes or supervillains in match-three, turn-based battles.[2] Each color-coded match does damage to the player's opponent, while creating action points which can obtain special skills. Gems disappear and are replenished from above as they are matched.[3] When they are matched, the six colors of gems on the board grant energy that can be used to execute special moves.[4]
Players trade hits back and forth until one of them is downed. When all enemies are downed the fight is over revealing a reward for the winner: one of the in-game currencies, special boosts or a new character. This character can be added to the player's roster. If it is a duplicate, it becomes a level-up cover.[3] Players earn points by winning battles, and then apply the points to unlock new attacks and level up.[5] The board is highly tactical, with up to half a dozen potential considerations beyond the best match at any given point.[4]
There are two main modes: story and multiplayer, where the players can fight against other teams controlled byartificial intelligence.[4] The game is free, with opportunities to purchase level-ups or new characters.[4][3] New characters, a bundle of Iso-8, hero coins and other items can also be obtained by replaying old levels.[3] As a player's roster expands, the possibilities for team composition and skill selection also expand.[3]
A player collects in-game comic book covers to unlock new characters and improve existing ones.[6] Each character has a set of real comic book covers associated with them, which represent the character's abilities and allow the player to improve the character's abilities or level them up.[7] In July 2014, Team-Ups were introduced, allowing a player to battle with single-use abilities from characters that aren't part of the player's teams.[8]Characters are ranked in different tiers using stars. They range from one star characters which are the weakest to six star characters which are the strongest and most powerful.
The story involves a powerful new substance called Iso-8 andNorman Osborn's attempts to supplantS.H.I.E.L.D. There are five missions to stop Osborn on his worldwide terror spree.[4] The original story is based on the "Dark Reign" storyline and was written byFrank Tieri andAlex Irvine.[9] Irvine also wrote otherplayer versus environment events of the game, such as “Webbed Wonder,” whereSpider-Man teams up withHoward the Duck to find outAunt May's whereabouts.[10]
The game features an array of classic Marvel heroes and villains, includingSpider-Man,Captain America,Wolverine,Iron Man,Thor,Black Widow,Storm, andMagneto, along with lesser-known characters likeMoonstone.[5][6][7] In commemoration of the game's first anniversary, Thor: Goddess of Thunder, the female version of Thor, was added on October 17, 2014, makingMarvel Puzzle Quest the first video game to feature the character.Devil Dinosaur was also added as a playable character for the anniversary, via an anniversary pack and as a daily reward for those who had been playing for over a year.[1][11][12] Other characters that have been added since the game's inception includeBlade in October 2014[13] andCyclops in February 2015.[14]Kamala Khan, who was announced as a new Marvel character in November 2013 and is the firstMuslim superhero to lead a comic book series, was featured in the game.[15] The game has steadily received two new characters per month.[16] As of December 2024, there are 358 characters in the game including 8 one-star, 20 two-star, 74 three-star, 154 four-star and 102 five-star characters.[citation needed]
Nine variants of existing characters were created specially for the game: aPeggy Carter who became Captain America, and eventually got both a comics version as part of theExiles,[17] and an animated version in the showWhat If...?;[18] two more empowered Carters, an "Iron Carter" wearing a version of Iron Man's armor, and another who wieldedMjolnir and thus received all the powers ofThor;[19] Wolverine (SamuraiDaken), where Wolverine's son takes on his father's codename as an atonement for killing him;[20]Deadpool (Spirit of Vengeance), a Deadpool who became aGhost Rider;[21] Devpool, a Deadpool that was aneSports star in his universe only be transported to another world to work as a developer onMarvel Puzzle Quest;[22]Hit-Monkey (E.D.I. Suit), wearing a suit mimickingLoki's powers from a dead mercenary;[23]Omega Red (Horseman of Pestilence), who was recruited byApocalypse to join hisHorsemen;[24][25] andVulture (Armor Wars), wearing an armor built byJustin Hammer from reverse-engineeredStark tech.[26][27]
The firstPuzzle Quest game,Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, was conceived and designed by Australian game designerSteve Fawkner, the original designer of theWarlords computer game series, which he created in 1989. In creatingPuzzle Quest, Fawkner was inspired by his love of the tile-matching puzzle video gameBejeweled.[28]Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords was picked up byD3 Publisher and released on March 20, 2007, for theNintendo DS andPlayStation Portable.[28] It was an instant success, winning a 2008Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award forDownloadable Game of the Year. It was also nominated for Handheld Game of the Year.[28][29] Versions forXbox Live Arcade,Wii,Windows,PlayStation 2 and mobile followed later that year. It was released forPlayStation 3 andiOS in late 2008.[30][31]
Marvel Puzzle Quest was launched worldwide byD3 Publisher andMarvel Entertainment on October 3, 2013.[2][3] It was the second game developed internally byDemiurge Studios.[32] The game was originally titledMarvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign, before the subtitle "Dark Reign" was dropped following a July 2014 update. D3 Publisher stated that the revised title signified the beginning of the game's expansion beyond the "Dark Reign" storyline.[8]
On February 18, 2015,Sega Networks acquired Demiurge Studios, but the acquisition did not include the rights toMarvel Puzzle Quest.[32][33]
In early June 2022, it was announced that live operations ofMarvel Puzzle Quest had been passed over to Broken Circle Studios, who had at that point been working on the game for several months.[34] Soon after,505 Games would acquire D3 Go!.
IGN rated the game a 9.1 out of 10, writing, "Marvel Puzzle Quest has taken the idea of a puzzle game with a strategic/role-playing element overlay, and turned it into an intricately crafted, remarkably deep experience".IGN added that the game is "compelling at each level" with "constant challenges and goals to work toward".[4]Touch Arcade awarded it four out of five stars, calling it "compulsively, sickeningly playable" and writing that, in comparison to otherPuzzle Quest games,Marvel Puzzle Quest is more calculated and strategic, with a focus on team fighting rather than individual combat.[3] The game has received a rating of 74 onMetacritic.[35]MacLife said it "does a good job of spicing up the match-three genre for comic fans".[6]
Marvel Puzzle Quest is a 2014 Tabby Award Best Android Apps and Games winner in the Game: Puzzle, Cards & Family category.[36]
Peter Rubin,[37] Contributing Editor at Wired Magazine, wrote a feature length article about the game 7 years after release,Marvel Puzzle Quest Might Just Be My Forever Game[38]