Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign takes flight on October 3

Puzzle Quest is coming back on Thursday with a new Marvel take. Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign will feature Marvel's finest on iOS and Android.

Ozzie Mejia

October 2, 2013 6:20 PM

Puzzle Quest is ready to make a comeback, thanks to Marvel Comics and Boston-based developer Demiurge Studios (Shoot Many Robots). The first iteration of the franchise since 2010 will feature Marvel's vast roster of superheroes and villains in Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign, which arrives tomorrow on iOS and Android.

The news comes from Marvel Digital Media's Ryan Penagos (via Game Informer) and likely refers to the comic giant's 2009 "Dark Reign" storyline. Dark Reign followed the Secret Invasion event and saw Norman Osborn (a.k.a. The Green Goblin) take charge of the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D., while also creating his own Avengers team and gathering a cabal of supervillains on the side.

Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign will feature the franchise's unique combination of RPG questing and match-3 puzzles. No word on whether players will control a single hero or a roster of Marvel's finest. There is no price given for the game, though Penagos tells Shacknews that it will likely be a free-to-play title.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

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October 2, 2013 6:20 PM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign takes flight on October 3.

Puzzle Quest is coming back on Thursday with a new Marvel take. Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign will feature Marvel's finest on iOS and Android.
- Arcanum
  
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  October 2, 2013 6:23 PM
  
  The Puzzle Quest games haven't been right since the first one. The first one had a broader game that used the Bejeweled matching mechanic as the basis for skill contests and whatnot. Each subsequent iteration seemed to reduce the broader game, making the overall game shallower and less compelling.
  - GreggD
    
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    October 2, 2013 7:12 PM
    
    Did you play PQ2? It was very faithful to the original, especially when it came to the skills. On topic though, this post blew my mind!
    - Arcanum
      
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      October 2, 2013 7:21 PM
      
      I played some. It appeared to remove the entire overworld map, the castle development stuff, the crafting stuff, etc., unless I just didn't play it long enough. As far as I could tell, it was just a straight-up dungeon crawl.
      - GreggD
        
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        October 2, 2013 8:26 PM
        
        There was crafting, just not direct crafting. You have to collect the items you need to create a better item, and then give it to a shopkeep who builds it for you, as long as you have enough money for the job. No castle, and no overworld. Though to be fair, you're getting the same experience regardless of the map. There are still sidequests and the like, but yeah, it's more directly a dungeon crawler than anything else. Honestly, I guess I just never cared for the siege gameplay. There are other mini-games to replace that, and they are more plentiful, like when you open a chest, the better your matching skills, the better your random loot will be.
  - dantastic
    
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    October 3, 2013 4:57 AM
    
    PQ2 was pretty good. The space one was terrible
    - Vincent Grayson
      
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      October 3, 2013 5:03 AM
      
      PQ2 was still a lot weaker than the first. Too much tedious crap involved in moving around areas and dealing with pointless animations and such.
      - dantastic
        
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        October 3, 2013 5:28 AM
        
        I thought it was more interesting and more of a game I guess. Broke out of its casualness a bit with the dungeon crawling aspect.
      - Deathlove
        
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        October 3, 2013 5:41 AM
        
        I agree, it felt like EVERYTHING was a battle in it. Open chest, battle. Open door, battle. Enemy, batle.
- Degenerate
  
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  October 2, 2013 7:00 PM
  
  Oh damn, sold!
- [deleted] 2072322614
  
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  October 2, 2013 9:10 PM
  
  [deleted]
- mwasher
  
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  October 2, 2013 9:34 PM
  
  https://itunes.apple.com/ph/app/marvel-puzzle-quest-dark-reign/id618349779?mt=8
- mwasher
  
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  October 2, 2013 9:45 PM
  
  Just tried it out. Seems nothing like puzzle quest other than the match 3
  - mittense
    
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    October 3, 2013 5:56 AM
    
    yeah, i'm super disappointed by this. it's a really, really rough cash-in
  - lpearl
    
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    October 3, 2013 6:09 AM
    
    It's like those Sword and Dragon games, more than Puzzle Quest. It was OK, not great.
  - loke662
    
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    October 3, 2013 9:47 AM
    
    try Puzzle And Dragons :)
- daggot
  
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  October 3, 2013 6:27 AM
  
  Yeah, I don't see how this could be equal to the original PQ since this has micro transactions. But, I'll give it a try tonight. If it captures the feel of either the comics or an animated series, I might play it a while.
  - daggot
    
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    October 3, 2013 6:52 PM
    
    Played it for a bit. So not as good as the original PQ. But, part of that was that I hit the pay wall pretty fast. Maybe the sound effects could have been more epic, or even added some voice actors (maybe from last years animated series).
- [deleted] 2072322614
  
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  October 3, 2013 1:27 PM
  
  [deleted]