Puzzle Quest 3 arrives as a free-to-play game later this year

Though there have been several Puzzle Quest spinoffs in the past decade, we have to go all the way back to 2010 to find the last game in the mainline series. That's all changing this year, as 505 Games and its brand new subsidiary Infinity Plus Two (the developer of some Puzzle Quest games) have officially announced Puzzle Quest 3. We don't have a ton of details at the moment, but we do know that the game will be arriving at some point in 2021.

We also know that the game will be free-to-play, though what kind of monetization scheme it'll use is currently unknown. Puzzle Quest 3's free-to-play system will likely be a major point of interest among fans of the series – after all, considering that the first two Puzzle Quest games were paid titles, this is a pretty major shift for the franchise.

In any case, 505 Games did release a few details about what we can expect in Puzzle Quest 3. We're told that the game will "return to its origins, recalling the deep RPG mechanics and signature heroic storylines that made the original a standout hit within the Match-3 category." Puzzle Quest 3 will also take place 500 years after the events of the first game and put us back in the world of Etheria.

"Puzzle Quest 3 features an all-new adventure to become the ultimate hero, battling and building a legacy in thrilling head-to-head combat. The game includes an immersive battle system where players unleash torturous spells and paralyzing attacks through the power of gem-crushing in an enhanced turn-based system," today's announcement reads.

The game will release on mobile devices and PC later this year, with additional platforms to be announced at a later date. It seems we can probably expect the Switch to be among the supported platforms, as it was the sole console to receive Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns – a remaster of the original Puzzle Quest – in 2019. That's all we're getting for now, so stay tuned for more details.