Gunspell - Steam Edition

The story is dull, and the mechanics leading to the puzzles are silly, but the puzzles themselves are enjoyable. If you like match 3 puzzles you could do worse for a time-killer. Catch it on sale.

If you ever sat down to play Puzzle Quest and thought, "There just aren't enough evil abominations to blow away with shotguns," then I have a game for you. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, giant ants, and skeletal monstrosities that make you wonder if you were playing an H. P. Lovecraft game abound. Use weapons such as sidearms, laser guns, and flamethrowers. Ah, yes, nothing like the smell of crispy giant spider to start the day off right.

This is a solid Match-3 battle type game with RPG elements - good for quick gaming fix or a needed break from your AAA titles. Mobile port or not, the graphics and the match- 3 mechanics are very satisfying. However; I picked it up in sale for less than $3 bucks so perhaps I was easy to please.
As for it being too easy, it does start out that way, but amps up after about 3 hours. I am about 7 or 8 hours in, nowhere near completion and get my butt kicked regularly, but it doesn't seem impossible or overly grindy like some similar Match 3's.
Use resourses gained from the easy start to unlock inventory slots - try to spend resources not gold. Make matches for experience rather than damage to weak enemies, and don't spend your hard earned gold on crappy early game gear. Hint: Silver does not convert to Gold but remains a separate and easier to come by commodity than gold.

This game could have really been awesome.......
All of the elements are there. It looks good and the mechanics are compelling.......
The problem is that this game was made with the intention of being freemium.
The freemium aspect was removed, but all the garbage that freemium games are made of are still there, there is just no way to buy your way thru it......
I really wanted to like this, because it is the kind of thing I generally really like........
This "game" is total garbage and you'd be better off donating 2 bucks to some YouTube gamers patreon.

2/10 actually runs as promised
I picked this up as part of a bundle, and dutifully played a while.
It's not strictly awful merely tedious, unchallenging and unengaging. The writing is bad but not too bad to be detracting and the hexagonal match 3 is at least a little different from other mobile ports.
That's all the good I can muster. Look at that stupid price tag. £10!
That's enough to buy Portal! Or any number of other great games which are available.

I don't really know what to say that hasn't already been said. Games too easy and I'm a few hours in. The enemy AI has made it too where I can't lose even though I tried (12 attempts). I would say look at it at least if you ever see it for $.10-$.20.

Nice story line and one of my favorite Match 3 games. When you mix Match 3 with RPG it can be a lot of fun. Also got some pretty fun cosplay ideas too :D

A nice game, but better not to get started.

The problem with this game isn't that it's bad, the problem is that it isn't explained. Maybe there was some tutorial at the beginning, but if so, I've long since forgotten most of what they said.

There is no in-game help to explain how the details work - for example the damage mechanic. Obviously it depends on how many skulls you combine, but what else? Enemy armor probably, and some sort of multiplier? Sometimes it seems that the enemy is healing me and then attacking at the same time.


I'd like to say "give it a try" if you see it cheap, but I don't think it's worth it. It does have addictive qualities, and one wants to continue - but every time I start the game, I get frustrated within minutes.

Also, and this is a minor nitpick, it seems they only have ONE track for combat music. It's nice music, very eerie and fitting. But hearing it constantly is getting old fast.


If you want a nice match-3 game, try Gems of War instead. No story to speak of, but it's free.

Could of been good, if it would not be pay to win, and if the text would have been corrected. Also some vareity in the gameplay would have been cool, maybe some survival ala Neo Scavanger.

I like it ............... It's a puzzle/chance/rpj . It stimulates both sides of the brain and sometimes screws you over . A two player local dueling mode would be a cool addition . Anyways, I'm going to send an e-mail with a clip of this games page to a barback I worked with who likes puzzle games .

Get it for free on your phone. No reason to spend money on this game as it is badly translated and overly simple for what it is.

This game is so bad, and not in a fun or funny way. You're a cop, looking for his missing sister in norml, every day city. But now you're in some strange realm fighting fantasy type creatures? I have no idea what this game is supposed to be.

Terrible writing.
Random. So, so random. Makes zero sense.
Bad music.

I'll be deleting this one from my desktop asap.

TL;DR
In short, the plot is strange/incomprehensible, it seems to have been translated by someone with an 8th grade grasp of English, and it wasnt ported to be used w/a mouse at *all*. The graphics and music are worthwhile and nice. Get it on the Android and play it with a touchscreen, which is obviously how it was meant to be played. Youd probably pay a lot less too. Itd be a great Android game. PC, not so much, especially at the price they're asking. If you're really hard up for a Match3 *and* its at least 50% off , pick it up.

EDIT: Something that annoys me the longer I play. EVERY time you switch screens theres an (admittedly only a second or so - thank god) loading screen. Want to look in your inventory? Loading screen. Meditate? Loading screen. Char sheet? Loading screen. Fight? You get the point... This is completely annoying and unneeded. Maybe the Android needed the constant loading, but this should have been one of those things that was upgraded for the PC port. Especially for $15.
___________________________________________________________
Ever since I saw Puzzle Quest back in the day, Ive been a fan of match3 RPGs. I have yet to find one as good as the original PQ....and I'm still looking.
This one wouldnt be that bad, if it wasn't for some major flaws. For starters, it OBVIOUSLY was built for mobile, and there was no attempt made to port it for people who will most likely be using a mouse, at all!

For instance, it refers to "tapping" and "swiping" in the help files where it should say "clicking and "dragging". Ok, fine. Thats annoying, but its not that big of a deal.

The issue is that there was NO attempt to fix things that may not work on a mouse as easy as a touchscreen. The meditation stands out. You meditate to recover stamina, great.

Ok, so the way it works is theres 4 large circles on the bottom of the screen, two on the left and two on the right. Little colored balls fall down the screen, and when they hit this shining band on the lower part of the screen, you click on the circle on the bottom which matches the color. That would work great on a phone/tablet you were holding. Mouse, not so much at all. Basically, pick a side, and only click on those two corresponding balls. My mouse is set to very fast, and I couldnt go back and forth from side to side fast enough.

I paid 15$ for a game where its probably 3-4$ on mobile, if that. And the devs were too damn lazy to change the mechanics to work with a mouse?? Sorry, its a pet peeve of mine. If youre going to charge those prices, dont make me think "god, I could have got this on Android, paid less and used the mechanics the game was designed for".

The graphics are awesome, the puzzles are standard match3, but the plot....

Ok, so it throws you right into it. Youre a cop. You go to search your sisters house. She is missing, and her house is ransacked. You are attacked, and then the basic match 3 mechanics are explained, you find a card ledaing to a "shaman store" called strong in spirit. Which turns out to be a gun store where your sister worked. You are given a "magic gun", and then all the sudden youre attacked again, some more mechanics explained (not enough!) and are on a hex grid with skeletons(loot) and weird fantasy enemies. At this point youre on your own.

Wha??? I even looked up to make sure this wasnt some manga or anime where this plot would make sense for someone following the series. As far as I can tell, it isnt. I have no idea what the hells is going on. My character seems uniquely unconcerned about being given a magic gun and having strange enemies attack him. Or that his sister worked in a magic gun store.

The writing is incredibly stilted, seems translated. The graphics, puzzles and music are awesome, and hopefully will override the headscratching plot and failure to even make an attempt to port the game for a mouse. Might be fun if you had one of those touchscreen laptops, but they are asking way too much. I'd go $5-$8 at the most, maybe $10, if they were going to offer sales.

As it stands at this price and with the lack of porting for mouse, I cant recommend it for the PC.

This game is being a bit unfairly judged, while it does not have the polish of a Puzzle Quest this game does get far more challenging as you play.

The first 2-3 hours is quite easy and you can easily progress without any challenge, once you get around level 7-8 or higher quite a few enemies will hit you extremely hard, and you can die quite easily.

If you like the Puzzle Quest style of gameplay this is a decent pickup.

If you like puzzle games, this is pretty fun. 1 thing to note. The creatures you fight get more challenging after you get to level 7 or so. They start to hit harder, have more hit points, and use items more often.

So while I wouldn't say this is the best game ever, it is still a pretty fun and entertaining game.

If you are looking for a mind numbing match game with a hint of rpg, lots of bad grammar, and lack of options as far as sound (has a few bugs too) then this is a game for you, not bad for a 2-5 dollar pickup but not worth the full price.

It's an alright game. The puzzle aspect is pretty much what you'd expect from this kind of game.

Cons
- Extremely repetitive, even for this type of game.
- WAY too easy, you pretty much can't lose. (I'm talking about enemies hitting for 5-10 damage, I have 700 HP, even 'hard' enemies.)
- Inventory is tiny, costs a lot to upgrade, but you don't really need it.

Pros
- Lots of equipment to choose from
- Variety of ways to damage enemies, spells, weapons, artifacts, etc.

Overall, I'd say it's not worth the money. It's for sure a mobile port, and you can tell it used to have micro transaction (this version does NOT). Unless you are a super hardcore puzzle fan, and want to play all the puzzle games you can, I'd suggest you steer clear.

I myself will play for awhile longer, since I already bought it, and I'm wondering if it gets better (if it does, I'll come back and change this).

My first review on steam, just to warn you guys:

Its the worst game i ever bought. A very, very bad mobile-port. There is absolutely no challenge in this game. It dosent matter which blocks you move. You will always win by luck even if you try to lose! Because 90% of the enemies do 10-20 dmg on my 500 hp pool and i do about 180 dmg on their 100 hp pool with one simple move. In about 70% of the "epic fights" this happens at the first turn! So you just jump from one loading screen to next, clicking buttons - its nothing more than clicking buttons. Non-existent gameplay value.

It feels like its done for 5 year old kids. I highly recommend TO NOT BUY!
(I can recommend "puzzle quest" if you are looking for a rpgish puzzle game.)

Edit:
And there is also this horrible stamina mechanic, which forces you to play an idiotic "click the buttons when the buttons flash up" game and it takes AGES to fill up the stamina bar. Stamina is clearly an mobile-device-mechanic used to limit the play time so you have to wait or spend money to go on. And there are so many other issues... cant believe it... its so far away from being polished, challenging and fun.

Unimaginative and repetitive. I am a fan of puzzle rpgs and i have probably played every one available on pc. I didnt enjoy this one sorry

Overall: It's fun and enjoyable if you like these gem games mixed with RPG elements.

I'd put it on par with Galactrix, except it doesn't feel as monotonous as Galaxtrix. Gunspell is a bit more linear, and a lot more customability. I wouldn't have minded other character choices, but the story is based on the character you are. So, that's fine.