It’s no secret I am a fan of Match-3 games. They are my go to comfort genre more often than not. So I jumped at the chance to play The Forgotten Land on Nintendo Switch.
The Forgotten Land is actually a weird one to review as it sits somewhere between cheap trash and well polished goodness. It takes elements of games such as Puzzle Quest with light RPG and battle mechanics, but also throws in some Candy Crush style levels for good measure.
My initial thoughts were that The Forgotten Land would be a bit of a mess with too many elements to keep it coherent enough to enjoy. Yet credit to developers rokaplay for managing to bring it together in a way that works.
If you’ve played any Match-3 type game before, then the core gameplay will be familiar with nothing to make it standout. I mean, we’ve got to a stage with these where they need to be familiar, much in the same way you expect certain things with how a FPS plays. It is comforting knowing you don’t need to learn some new mechanics for the sake of adding a twist to the genre.
Considering there is some RPG Light elements to the game, it is very linear. As you progress you earn ways to upgrade you character for doing more damage, gain different abilities and more. You can build your camp and get more bonuses to aid in your journey.
The Forgotten Land isn’t taxing at all and it is more than possible to almost shut off and run through it. There were only a handful of times I failed a level and had to repeat it. Yet that only then reminded me I hadn’t spent some upgrade points, which made going back easier. There is no unfair AI that you can find in other games… I am looking at you Puzzle Quest!
I really enjoyed the variants though and my initial worries that those would confuse matter somewhat were soon gone. It broke up the game well and stopped it becoming monotonous.
Look, overall The Forgotten Land isn’t a must have by any stretch of the imagination and I could do a huge list of games in the genre that are better. However if you are a fan of the genre like me, you’ve likely played most, if not all of then already, so another to the catalogue is always welcome.
