Mystika 3 : Awakening of the dragons

Fun game of strategy

I love this match 3 game with the different things to do every 5 levels. Makes it fun to change it up that way.

A fun match 3 game with occasional explosions and fights. Nice, but very repetitive, music. Irrelevant story.

Works fine on Linux with Proton.

This is a great game to play to forget the world around you . I like the idea that it is just me trying to improve my reflexes and keep my 70 year old mind alert!!!

My Experience

After playing and enjoying Day Repeat Day, I thought it might be fun to try playing a match-3 game or two instead of my usual +1/-1 solitaire while I'm listening to new music on Spotify. However, there was one main issue that kept me from really enjoying myself here.

In Mystika 3, it's quite easy to get stuck. Completing a level in the game typically means that you've made matches on top of all of the golden squares within the grid (see the third screenshot on the store page for reference). If one of these golden squares is left in the top corner of a column that is set aside from the rest of the grid, then the only way to remove it is to make a match downwards (with two identical symbols below it), and doing so is quite reliant on the game spawning certain symbols for you. Repeatedly during the game I would get stuck in this situation, making random matches over and over in irrelevant sections of the grid hoping that a random power-up would appear (one power-up removes all copies from the grid of the symbol you exchange it with). Although there are green and black bombs that can be created by making matches of 4-5 symbols at a time, these bombs appear at the location where the match was made (typically nowhere near the isolated corners or edges). Every time I got stuck like this, it was miserable.

When you get down to the a single odd card on the tableau in +1/-1 solitaire, you usually have access to a few abilities that you can activate on command to remove that last card from the board or alter the card on top of your deck. In Mystika 3, power-ups appear at seemingly-random intervals, and some of them (I'm looking at you, power-up that removes all symbols on the diagonal) aren't even very helpful. If, for instance, I had an inventory that held bombs (that I created with matches) or power-ups (that I had gained after a certain number of matches) that I could then deploy at will, the game would've been improved immeasurably for me.

Anyway, I'm not sure I can really recommend Mystika 3 - I'll likely soon return to +1/-1 solitaires as my casual games of choice. Also, I accidentally left the game running one day, so the playtime you see is quite a bit inflated - my actual playtime is likely closer to the 10 hours or so that you see with other reviewers of the game.

Played this game through twice- once for quick play between other games and once to three star it on every level. I might play it again in a year or two, it is that much fun.

Besides the standard match 3 bouts (straight up, boss fights, dig for items, and break out the captives variations) there are a few hidden object scenes (on the easy side of challenge) you must play to "solve" puzzles. You can choose between relaxed or timed modes to play.

The graphics are very, very pretty. There's a tiny story involving dragon eggs and the world in peril. (What a twist. Color me surprised, nah, shocked even. :3 ) The music is relaxing- think Lord of the Rings harps or maybe pianos? There's a lot of replay value, especially if you pick this one up on sale... which you should 'cuz are you made of money? You are?! Send me some... send me a lot. Do it now and I'll let you be my bestie. Fine, keep your money you meany. See if I care. :P

I enjoyed this one. It's not difficult, and there's not much story to be had, but sometimes I just want something that isn't overly complicated and this fit that bill quite nicely. I thought the music was nice.

Only a short way in, but this seems a pretty decent offering. I paid about two and a half bucks for this, and it feels like it was well worth it.
There are several aspects to the game, which is nice, mixing things up. A few hidden object portions so far, the standard match three levels, a versus-level which is match three, but with a more immediate goal of winning a battle, and one where your matches helped you dig thru the ground and find hidden objects.
None of them are difficult, but I like a relaxing game.
The match-3 portion is the core of things though, and while serviceable it is a bit lackluster. There are a handful of ways you can match more than three, I like a game that offers you variety in the power-up to match. This only has two. I am also a bit spoiled in that I have found another match-3 game refined to make things less luck-based, which I enjoyed, this game is more primitive in that way.
That said, it seems a decent enough presentation. The art is a mixed bag, some serious, some cartoony, sometimes in a way that clashes, but never a deal breaker. The voice work is good enough, and they spent a little time building the fluff, which I appreciate. It can add so much, and takes so little effort, never sure why some games do without it. Also the music is pleasant, and there are a few ways to spend money you can earn along the way.
Two hundred levels is the claim, and that is a lot of game, hard not to give this a thumbs up, as a silly, fun time waster.
ADDENDUM: 10.9 hours from start to finish, and I really liked it, though it has no replay value. I wish they had had more of the hidden object games, they were well put together.

I really like this Match 3 game--yes, it's older but still fun to play. I love the audio: the sounds are very satisfying (clicks, explosions and such) and the music is beautiful! A good game to lose yourself in.

Game Information

"Mystika: Awakening of the Dragons" is a mixture between Hidden Objects and Match 3 game. The game was developed by Unikgame and published by Unikware.

"Awakening of the Dragons" is the third episode of "Mystika." Previous episodes: "Mystika" and "Mystika 2."

The Game Review

Game Visuals

I want to mention that the visuals in the game are nicely done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu.

Game Audio

I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well.

Gameplay

There are two game modes to choose from: Untimed and Timed.

For the hidden object scene side of the game. They consist of the following: Traditional word lists.

For the match 3 side of the game, the objective is rather simple, you have to make matches of three or more of like tokens to clear them from the board. There are several different types of match 3 styles: "Swap;" "Chain" and "Group." The "Swap" style is where you have to switch two tokens either vertically or horizontally. The "Chain" style is where you have to link all the like tokens together that go in any direction. Such as "Up to Down;" "Left to Right" and "Diagonally." The "Group" style is where a bunch of similar tokens are cleared from the board in one move. The match 3 style that is used in this game is "Chain."

There are ten different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that need to be completed before they can be unlocked. These are in-game achievements only.

Miscellaneous

Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.

Not a bad game.
-The voice that translates sounds bad.
-Dragon to worship the person I do not think I would have believed if it was a unicorn.
-The levels with secrets are only five are very short.
-Many levels and at times it becomes annoying.
-They need to balance time on some levels.
-The choice between a relaxed game or time. It doesn't matter, you just can't see the clock.
-The game is more about luck than experience.
If there was an middle grade I would choose but no.
With a nice discount the game is nice .

This game took me about 10 hours to complete with all but one achievement gotten. 6/10 Not bad but not ranking with the best. The graphics are poor and one of the voices needs to work on her English accent (guardians pronouced "goo-ardians" instead of "gardians". Hey, it's not my fault there's a 'u' in there that is unpronounced!).

But before I get into all that let me give you the basics. This is a match 3 game with a very thin story (but who cares, right!) and a unique feature of match 3 battles every once in a while. The usual board is the typical "clear all the golden tiles" type of match 3. Unlike some in this genre, however, we are not given bonus helps on the side that we can activate at any time. Rather we must make them. Matching 4 gives you a potion that clear tiles in a cross pattern, but you can only use it where it falls, you can't pick it up and place it where it will do good. Matching 5 gives you a bomb with clears a huge portion of the board, but again you are stuck with where it falls. As you progress you can buy new helpful items with the gold you get for successfully clearing a board. However these new ones appear randomly as far as I can tell. There's one that clears everything in a line vertically and horizaontially where it is activated. Another does a diagonal clear.

Battle match 3! I assume these are wizards in league with the bad guy and trying to stop us completing our quest. We get a square match 3 board and each of the four icons builds power for their own spells when matched. For instance, the red icon powers a fireball. Green powers a healing potion. We have hearts that are our HP and if the bad guy depletes our hearts before we do his then...I don't know what happens because I never had it happen to me! In other words, if you are fast enough the battles are easy.

Another rare break from the norm is digging for statues. We get a board where the bottom is dirt and we can see the glint of where the statues are. Matching next to the dirt clears it and eventually you match enough to get all the statues. The only difficulty is time, do it fast and get 3 stars and the most gold.

All battles earn you gold. If you are fast enough to get 3 stars on a level you get 200 gold, if only 2 stars then 100 gold. With the gold you earn you buy things from signs that pop up, like 5000 gold for another heart during battles, or 50 gold every 3 days for 1500 gold. Once you buy the item the sign turns into a building so eventually you'll have a little village.

Once in a great while there are Hidden Object levels thrown in to break up the monotony.

The sound is okay, typical bling sounds when matching and stuff like that. Background music is blah and uninspiring.

As for the price, I'd say get it on sale. I don't remember if I bought this on Steam or got it in a bundle or somewhere else. It was an okay game, like I said at the top 6/10, just enough to warrant a positive. Get it if you are a real fan of the genre and have to have them all.

I really enjoyed this game. The puzzles can be challenging, although you can play them over again. I like how you have to earn your achievements...they aren't easy to get. I would play it over again.

I'm recommending "Mystika 3 : Awakening of the Dragons." It's a decent little casual Match 3 game (with just a few HOGs, too) with acceptable voice acting. It took me 22 hours to finish the 200 levels with 100% Achievements. That's about 6-1/2 minutes per level. But, that's including the time needed to replay a subset of the levels to complete them in the time required for three stars. Most of the levels can be done in about two or three minutes. So, as a set of casual puzzles, it works fine. My only significant complaint about the game is that when a "Match 4" or "Match 5" happens as a result of a cascade, you don't get any bonus items (you get those only if you make the matches manually). The rest of my issues are pretty minor:

- The story is silly.
- "Grapes" is mispelled as "graps" in one of the HOGs.
- Whether the timer is on or off makes no difference for the number of stars you get in a level (essentially, playing in "Relax" [sic] mode just removes the timer from the screen). The stars are still wholly time based.
- There's no difficulty progression through the levels. With some minor variations here and there, they're mostly very easy.
- As a result of the lack of difficulty progression, the ending is not very satisfying. You basically do the same thing you've done through the game and get a pat on the back.
- There really should be an Achievement for placing the final egg (i.e., finishing the game).
- After about the 3/4 point, you run out of things to spend your money on. I finished the game with around 16,000 excess and useless coins.

Still, for what it is, the game is good. And, a $5 list price for 22 hours of gameplay is a good dollar/hour ratio. Recommended.

Pro's:
It's Match-3!
It's Hidden Object!
It's got some Combat!
There's stuff to buy!
Has Puzzles?!

Con's:
Limited power-ups from matching (additionals can be bought but they're random spawn)
Simplistic Design for Hidden Object (no real challenge)
Puzzles aren't so much puzzles as they are just something to break up the monotony.
System matches don't reward power-ups, only player matches do.

Game isn't balanced:
The game rewards specific monetary amounts per level/challenge, yet at the end you'll have $7k+ with nothing to buy.

You will complete ALL achievements before you reach the end of the game (yep, not even an end game achievement)

Game does not get anymore or less difficult as you progress (including combat) (could be a Pro too I suppose...)

At certain points, there are obstacles that block the way, but you just single click and it's cleared, kinda underminds the levels leading up to the challenges; seems like there was an opportunity to put a challenge or mini game there, that was missed.

No real replayability, after you complete the game it starts you over (with all unlocks) on board 1, (I really wasn't sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn't that).

Voice over is pretty poor as is the overall story, there's nothing that really makes you feel like you understand why you're doing what you're doing (other than to return the dragon eggs).

Suffice to say, this one felt like it was rushed to market before it was properly vetted...

This is a nice little match 3 game with a few hidden object puzzles thrown in for advancing to the next stage. There's about 200 levels altogether and if you like match 3 games, this is definitely one to check out.

I do wish that there were more combat levels thrown in, but you can always replay them if you wanted to.

I can't say if I recommend Mystika 3 : Awakening of the dragons or not.
I just wanted to say that I 've been misled by the tag "Hidden Object" and I want to warn those who could do the same mistake. Mystika 3 : Awakening of the dragons is a somewhat scenarized Match 3 game, not an H.O.G. There are like 3 or 4 Hidden Objects Scenes for 200 Match3 levels ! Probably a good game for those who like that kind of game.. But not for me !

While it's relatively simple and light, I don't see that as a bad thing. It's been quite satisfying just flicking away at the match 3 board. Sometimes I'm not looking for a game that is fast-paced or intense or requires a heavy degree of thought; sometimes I just want to be able to relax. This game is great for that, and for a couple bucks it's well worth the price.

A fine game but a tad short, would have liked to see maybe a few more hidden object puzzles in there, but overall a fun little game for the price.

Overall Rating 9/10 - Well Worth Full Price

Really pretty and well made Match 3 game. Fans of the genre really should have this game.

My first playthrough, on timed mode, took about 10 hours to complete, with 3 stars in each puzzle scene. Tested Casual mode as well for about 20 minutes, but did not play all the way through in that mode, as of this writing. I have very little bad to say about this game, but I'll do the Pros and Cons anyway.

Pros:

• Runs perfectly on a toaster, not a single stutter, lag, audio, or fps issue at all for me.
• Very nice art, a more "realistic" cartoon/comic book style. Quite pretty to look at.
• Pleasant music, repetitive, but just the right volume, and amount of "urgency" at times, with a very soothing feeling overall. Audio in the game overall is good, no complaints at all.
• Difficulty scaling from puzzle to puzzle is well done, very smooth increase in difficulty from one level to the next.
• Just enough challenge to give a sense of accomplishment. Not rage inducing (like Bejeweled could be...), but not so easy that you don't need to replay some puzzles to get 3 stars on every one. Quite satisfying.
• Nice little Hidden Object scenes and interesting mini-game Match 3 variations. The Hidden Object scenes were way too easy, but a nice "resting spot" between the 4 areas.
• Interesting and engaging "shop" for buffs and items, with buying/improving buildings on the map to purchase these.
• Combat puzzles- very nice. Match 3, with certain pieces needing to be matched to charge spells for attacks and healing. Next to impossible to lose, but a nice variation on Match 3.

[*]The opening voice dialog to give the story behing the game. In English, the voice was so heavily accented, that if there was no text to read, it would have been almost impossible for me to understand what was being said.

Now that I'm up to Level 85 I figured it was time to give this game a review.
This is a criminally underrated Match 3 game! Pleasant, polished, and extremely relaxing.
Highly recommended and well worth its price.