Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (2007). Play online

Summary

When I first loaded Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords on my DS, I was surprised by how a simple tile‑matching board could feel like a full‑blown RPG. Each swap of coloured gems generates mana, skulls dish out damage, and special experience or gold tiles boost your stats instantly, letting you cast spells and gear up between battles.
The game’s map is a straightforward web of towns and roads, but every encounter forces you into that Bejeweled‑style combat where four‑in‑a‑row earns you an extra turn and the chance to chain powerful abilities. Defeating foes feeds experience and cash that you spend on helms, weapons, armour and even new mounts, while captured opponents teach you fresh spells.
Beyond the core campaign of more than 150 quests, the title grew with expansions like Revenge of the Plague Lord and Attack of the Golem Lord, adding classes, quests and monsters. The recent Immortal Edition remaster bundles all that content for modern consoles, proving the quirky hybrid still captivates anyone craving both puzzle thrills and role‑playing depth.

Storyline

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords drops you into the high‑fantasy world of Etheria, where the evil Lord Bane threatens the kingdom. You travel across the map, visiting marked locations to battle monsters and rival spell‑casters in one‑on‑one matches. Matching crystals fuels your inventory of spells, letting you outscore opponents and disrupt their combos.

At the start you pick one of four professions, each with its own combat ability, morale and magical affinity. As you win battles you gain experience, gold and treasure, and can equip companions and gear that modify your stats and even affect story outcomes. Side quests and main‑line quests both reward items and help you progress toward the final showdown with Bane.

The expansion Revenge of the Plague Lord adds a new arc featuring Antharg, the Plague Lord and brother of Bane, while the 2019 Switch re‑release, Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns, introduces an extra quest line called Attack of the Golem Lord.