Here's a blast from the past. Impulse just added Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. I had to doublecheck the date just to make sure this wasn't an announcement for a sale, but it's true they just now added PQ to their library. It's on sale as well. You can pick it up here for $9.99.

Since their release of the original and very successful cross-platform puzzle-RPG hybrid Puzzle Quest in 2007, developer Infinite Interactive has produced several games along the same lines, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix and Puzzle Kingdoms among them, but never a true, straight up sequel. This is apparently about to be rectified, and an announcement for Puzzle Quest 2 is said to be in the works for January, 2010.

Gamepro provides a single screenshot and states:

If you looked closely at the picture of the cover of GamePro's January 2010 issue we posted last week, you may have noticed that a portion of the cover was blurred out. We can now tell you what we had to hide--the next Puzzle Quest is being revealed in the issue!

We can't reveal all the details right now, but we can provide the first image of Puzzle Quest 2. Be sure to pick up the issue on newsstands to see even more screens and find out the first hands-on details of this intriguing sequel, and keep it tuned to GamePro.com to learn more about the game in the coming weeks.

You can also get some amplification of the same info at Joystiq and Eurogamer.

Thanks, skavenhorde.

D3, publisher of Infinitive Interactive's multi-platform puzzle/rpg hybrid, PuzzleQuest:Challenge of the Warlords has announced the upcoming release of their expansion for XBox 360, Revenge of the Plague Lord:

D3Publisher today confirmed that expansion pack Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord, its latest Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 offering, will launch on Xbox Live Marketplace July 23, 2008. The expansion pack will be available for play as an addition to fan favorite game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and includes four new hero professions, scores of new spells to cast and items to collect, challenging new quests, monsters and bosses, and the introduction of a new archenemy. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord will be available on Xbox Live marketplace for 700 Microsoft Points.

No word on the I2 official site of when or if there will be a comparable release for any other platforms. 

 A somewhat belated review  of Infinitive Interactive's cross-platform puzzle/rpg hybrid, Puzzle Quest:Challenge of the Warlords, is up at computergames.ro, and it's both positive with a score of 83/100, and detailed at 3 pages of small print:

...Infinite interactive Studios started from the model introduced by Bejeweled, but they weren’t satisfied with an execution that wouldn’t get the maximum score, so they substantially changed the recipe, showing that if there's passion involved you can turn anything into gold. With Bejeweled, all you could do was form lines out of 3 or more stones of the same colour that disappeared when you aligned them together, from above other stones would fall and so on. At this point though, as if to give a meaning to this colourful drug that can clear up the head of any gamer, the producers wrapped it all up in a story with heroes, skills, abilities, princesses, runes, sieges and many, many more.

Publisher D3 has announced the winner of their title contest for the proposed add-on to Inifintive Interactive's XBox360 version of their puzzle/rpg success of last year, Puzzle Quest. Eurogamer has the details:

D3Publisher has announced the winning entry in its recent competition to name the first Puzzle Quest XBLA expansion.

More than 500 people came up with suggestions, but in the end D3 went for Revenge of the Plague Lord. Runner-ups were Sorceress of Malbec and The Scourge of Antharg...

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord will include new professions such as Bard, Rogue, Ranger and Warlock, 50 additional spells and 40 items, plus loads more monsters and bosses. The expansion is due out this spring.

No word as yet as to which other platforms, if any, will see the add-on, but the original game was supported on PC, as well as the DS and the PS3.

Gamasutra has put up a summary of a  talk given by Steve Fawkner, president of Infinitive Interactive, from the 2008 GDC on how the puzzle/rpg hybrid came to be developed and some of the challenges involved:

Steve Fawkner began by introducing Puzzle Quest as a project that Infinite Interactive had to start to get themselves out of trouble after a significant period of poor decisions and low-selling games.

The project had to fulfill several criteria: it had to be possible to execute with a small studio and it had to be possible to pull off in a short time with a reasonable number of staff. They examined trends in PC gaming and decided to look at where the industry was heading.

On some of the lessons learned:

* Time spent polishing is time well-spent. The extra time spent certainly resulted in additional sales. Focus and usability testing makes a difference.
* Good design is still important: A graphically simple game can still sell quite well.
* Focus groups are awesome: the title change, the addition of female avatars, and the shifting of the style to something a little more anime in execution all turned out to be great changes.
* Good QA teams are even better than focus groups: even though a few bugs slipped through, a solid QA team really helps.

Infinitive Interactive  and D3 have announced an expansion for their multi-platform puzzle/rpg title Puzzle Quest:Challenge of the Warlords exclusive to the Xbox 360. A contest is underway at www.puzzle-quest.com to have fans name the pack, which includes 4 new hero types as well as other extended new content.

No word on whether this expansion will be translated to the other versions of the game is given as yet.

From the press release:

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--D3Publisher of America, Inc. (D3PA) today revealed a robust new expansion pack for critically acclaimed Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ for Xbox LIVE® Arcade. Code-named “Puzzle Quest: 1.5” internally to reflect its tremendous amount of content, the expansion pack includes four new Hero professions, scores of new spells to cast and items to collect, challenging new quests, monsters and bosses and much more including the introduction of a new archenemy, Antharg, the Lord of Plague. D3PA and Infinite Interactive ask the devoted fan base to leave their mark on the Puzzle Quest universe by submitting game title suggestions to www.puzzle-quest.com starting at noon PDT Monday, March 17 and ending at noon PDT, Friday, March 21. The winning game title and two runners-up will be announced on April 2. The soon-to-be-named expansion pack will be available for play as an addition to Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft in spring 2008.

GamersHell posts the news that Infinitive Interactive has released a Mac version of their popular cross-platform puzzle/rpg, Puzzle Quest. Details:

Priced $19.99

TransGaming has announced that Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, the game developed by Infinite Interactive, is now available on Mac. The game is available immediately to Mac gamers for purchase and download online from GameTree Online.

 

IGN presents their preview of the GDC 2008 viewing of Infinitive Interactive's Puzzle Quest follow-up, Puzzle Quest:Galactrix featuring a hands-on look at the gameplay:

Galactrix's puzzle mode is still a match three game, but now the gems are hexagonal. They can be swapped horizontally, vertically, and now diagonally. As the action has been moved from the countryside of Etheria to zero-gravity space, the direction from which new gems will fall into play changes based on which way you swap tiles. They can now replenish from any part of the playing field's circumference. D3 hopes this adds another level of strategy to gameplay as we plan our moves in anticipation of creating combos.

Gamasutra has posted an announcement from publisher D3, naming Infinitive Interactive's space-themed puzzle game Galactrix as thier follow-up to last year's extremely successful puzzle/RPG:

D3Publisher of America has officially announced that it will be bringing Puzzle Quest creator Infinite Interactive's new story-based puzzle game Galactrix to the Xbox 360, PC and DS in fall of 2008, now rebranded with the Puzzle Quest name.

In addition, Gamespot has done a preview based on the latest build at the GDC:

While Galactrix was already in development at the time of Puzzle Quest's release, it does share most of the latter game's mechanical trappings, wrapped up in a new sci-fi milieu that looks like it will provide the impetus for a quest much wider in scope.

There's also a short article at Worthplaying which includes a few screens: 

In Puzzle Quest: Galactrix...players will create a persistent pilot who gains skills, crafts items, maneuvers among the universe’s political factions, and upgrades the ultimate space fleet as they attempt to end the genocide. An innovative hexagonal puzzle board allows for a wide range of strategic depth as it heeds to gravity according to a player’s location in the game universe...

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is scheduled for release in Fall 2008. 

Another review is up for Infinitive Interactive's Puzzle Quest, this time at Gamebanshee, who give the game a thorough look and a final score of 8.3/10:

As matching games go, the one employed by Puzzle Quest isn’t very complicated (since it doesn’t evolve in any way). But fortunately, Puzzle Quest has a lot of things going on outside of the battles. For example, there is a world to explore, and as you visit different towns you pick up quests and companions, and between the quests and the ensuing battles, you gain experience and levels...

Conclusion:

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Puzzle Quest. It’s definitely a bargain-priced casual game -- it’s lacking enough variety to support its 40-hour campaign, it’s a little unbalanced (I went 284-9 in the battles), and it’s missing lots of bells and whistles like, oh, 3D graphics and voice acting -- but as long as those sorts of things don’t bother you, then the game can be a lot of fun. Puzzle Quest is definitely a cut above the other matching games that I’ve reviewed, and it has a great addictive drawing power that keeps you playing for one more quest and one more battle. Usually, hybrid games that combine basic elements of two genres don’t turn out very well, but Puzzle Quest is an exception to the rule, and it’s easily worth its $10-20 price. 

Another review of the PC version of Infinitive Interactive's cross-platform puzzle-rpg, Puzzle Quest is up, this time at GamesRadar, who give the game a very positive 9/10: 

First off, a Bejeweled ‘Match 3’ role-playing game shouldn’t work. The most casual and the least casual ends of the gaming spectrum shouldn’t be brought together and tied in a strange knot like this. However, anyone who played the Nintendo DS version of Puzzle Quest will know that, against reason, it does work - and that this is a finely-balanced and incredibly compulsive re-invention of the basic Bejeweled recipe that should rightfully have slipped into derided cliche.

Gamespy has posted a review of Infinitive Interactive's PC version of their popular puzzle/rpg hybrid, Puzzle Quest, giving it a 3.5/5:

...While the idea of splicing RPG elements into a match-three puzzle game seems pretty incongruous at first glance, it begins to make a lot more sense after you take a few minutes to play. After all, RPGs have always relied on random numbers to put their engines in motion, so in the end, does it really matter if it's a Bejeweled grid determining your fate instead of an imaginary 20-sided die? Everything about the game seems built expressly to nurture your addiction to it: if the RPG stats-twiddling doesn't get you, then the mesmerizing gem-matching game that enables the higher concept will.

And anyone who's played it will relate to this observation:

If you're too deliberate, however, you will ultimately end up tempting fate, 'cause in Puzzle Quest a lucky string of gem drops can dramatically alter the course of a match from one round to the next. Even worse, if there aren't any possible matches on the board, everything resets -- including your mana reserves. When you're facing an overmatched opponent that you've whittled down by playing it safe and hoarding mana, this is probably the worst possible eventuality. To be fair, it can work both ways -- it's not that uncommon to emerge victorious from a complete shutout after a lucky string. But sometimes it just feels like the computer is cheating with all the crazy streaks.

Conclusion:

Sure, its story and aesthetics are so hackneyed and earnest that they make you feel like the developers were joking when they conceived them, yet there's still something engrossing about Puzzle Quest. The minute-to-minute gameplay is tried and true, and when you factor in the long-tailed character progression, well, let's just say it's a wrap. Puzzle Quest's designers are certainly onto something here.

We've had some discussion on this in the forums ( Thanks, Lucky Day and Arma) but the verdict is out on what is meant by a press release spotted last week at various sites, including Kotaku and ShackNews, from Puzzle Quest publisher D3 that mentioned that a "follow-up" to Infinitive Interactive's cross platform puzzle-rpg was in the works for this year.

Trouble is, I-2 has two other puzzle-rpgs planned as well, Galactrix, and Deathbringer, which could possibly be termed follow-ups.

IGN has the short version:

Puzzle Quest to Continue This Year
But will it be called Galactrix?

Buried in a press release announcing D3Publisher of Europe has hired some dude we've never heard of as Managing Director is some news about a game we're rather fond of. Way at the bottom it says a follow up to Puzzle Quest is on the way for this year.

Now, D3 has already announced that it is working with Infinite Interactive, the developer of Puzzle Quest, on another puzzle/rpg hybrid called Galactrix. It is possible this is what it means by "follow up." Then again, Puzzle Quest was such a huge success the publisher will surely want to capitalize on that particular brand.

Look for D3 to make an official announcement about whatever this follow up is at GDC in a couple weeks.

Kotaku  has posted an interview with Steve Fawkner, CEO of Infinitive Interactive, about his experiences with Australian games development in general and Puzzle Quest in particular, including the next project in store for fans of the world of Etheria, a free web-based title called Warlords:Online:

 ...In this game, codenamed Warlords-Online for the moment, you create a Warlord character and play puzzles to gain gold. You then use that gold to help your character conquer the World of Etheria. All this takes place in an internet environment where other Warlords are trying to help their chosen races conquer the world too.Fawkner says it's a present to everyone who's supported Puzzle Quest and the Warlords series of games over the years. I have to say - it's a tasty sounding gift.

We also asked him a bunch of questions regarding Puzzle Quest, the Australian games development scene and balancing hardcore and casual gameplay....

Kotaku AU: How did you come up with the idea for Puzzle Quest? Did you intentionally set out to create a game that mixed hardcore and casual elements?
Steve Fawkner: I love Bejeweled and I love RPGs. It seemed kind of natural to experiment and put them together. I was really making the game for myself though - I wasn't aiming at a particular audience. I find that I do my best work when I'm creating something just because I want to play it...

Kotaku AU: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from Puzzle Quest?
Steve Fawkner: The biggest lesson for me from Puzzle Quest is that design can still win out over graphics. Ideally you want to produce a game that has both, but Puzzle Quest is a graphically simple game, and it's still been quite successful. That's very heartening for a designer to see.

Kotaku AU: Of the platforms you’ve developed for, which do you feel is the easiest to work with? The hardest?
Steve Fawkner: PC will always be the easiest platform to work on, because the tools and development pipeline are the easiest to manage. Of the console platforms, Xbox 360 is an absolute delight to develop on because of its similarities to PC. The hardest would certainly be the Nintendo DS - it's a great platform with great games - but its difficulties stem from the fact that it is very low-spec machine and a lot of compromises have to be made to get a game to work...

Kotaku AU: At Game Connect last year, you mentioned that Infinite was working on a free web-based game to tie in with Puzzle Quest and the developer’s future titles. I don’t suppose you could provide some more information regarding this project and what stage it’s at right now?

Steve Fawkner: We have a free web-based game in development - mainly as a thank-you to all of the fans who've been so good to us with both Puzzle Quest and Warlords over the years.

It is planned that it will eventually link to Puzzle Quest, as well as to a number of older Warlords games.

The initial version will be stand-alone, however the link to Puzzle Quest will be provided a little later.

 Thanks to Alrik Fassbauer for posting the link in the forums.

Infinitive Interactive has very promptly released a patch for the digital download PC version of PuzzleQuest made available on Gamers Gate. This fixes some of the crash and install problems users were reporting. The patch is availabe here.

Thanks to Dark Savant for pointing this out in the forums. 

Eurogamer has posted the news that the formerly PSP- and DS-only puzzle/rpg hybrid from Infinite Interactive, PuzzleQuest:Challenge of the Warlords, has finally been released for PC and is available for digital download at GamersGate:

A PC version of Puzzle Quest is now available to buy from digital distributor GamersGate.

Priced EUR 19.99, the PC version is much the same as the Xbox Live Arcade version released on Wednesday for 1200 Microsoft points.

As everyone knows by now because we keep saying so, Puzzle Quest is a mix of puzzle and RPG elements - harnessing the addictive qualities of Bejeweled to fuel a compulsive new RPG battle system.

Eurogamer also has a review of the XBL version:

The idea is to drain your opponent's health points by doing lines of skulls, or using some of the magic spells that you can put into play when you have collected enough gems. You also have defensive spells, spells that force your enemy to miss a go, and so on. You can also make sure you get two turns in a row by creating lines of four or five tiles...

Taken in isolation, this idea would be as exciting for the Bejeweled "genre" as Super Puzzle Fighter was for falling blocks, but developer Infinite Interactive has gone further - Puzzle Quest is a proper RPG, where you journey between castles, forts and towns doing missions for queens, dwarves, minotaurs and all sorts, most of which involve having a fight.

There is also an XBL review at Gamespot:

Originally released earlier this year on the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS, Puzzle Quest was a revelation. By taking some of the most compelling properties of role-playing and puzzle games, Infinite Interactive created something that was more than the sum of its parts. It's both an RPG that can be played in short bursts, as well as a puzzle game that begs to be played in long stretches.

and another at IGN.

It wouldn't be much of an RPG if you couldn't improve your character's stats and outfit him or her with all sorts of stylish gear. Along with all the gems and skulls on the puzzlefield are gold pieces and experience stars. As you travel about the world map, each town has a shop selling weapons and armor. Some items require you to reach a certain level before use, however, which is where the experience stars come in handy. While you initially receive the same amount of mana/experience/gold as gems you clear (three to five pieces), leveling up your character's stats will result in bonuses in each of those areas.

Thanks to Icefire, for pointing out this news in the forums yesterday!

Puzzle Quest is arguably outside our core RPG mandate but I know a number of members have enjoyed it and Infinite Interactive is a developer we've supported before.  So, THQ have grabbed the publishing rights for a bunch of platforms, including PC:

D3Publisher of America Announces Fan Favorite Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ to Debut on Wii™, PlayStation®2, PC and Mobile

Rights for PC and Mobile Awarded to THQ Inc.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--D3Publisher of America (D3PA), a publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software, is slated to release its wildly popular game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ for Wii™, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Windows PC this fall along with a mobile version in early 2008, opening the experience up to an entirely new audience of fans who have been clamoring for additional platform releases since the game’s debut on handheld consoles. Puzzle Quest—the #1 selling puzzle game for Nintendo DS™ in 2007 according to NPD—will also become available in the coming months on the Xbox LIVE^® Arcade for the Xbox 360^™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, as previously announced.

“The lightning quick acceptance and praise we received from fans and press for the fun, deeply immersive gaming experience we created by mixing RPG elements with puzzle gameplay were a dream come true when Puzzle Quest launched,” said Steve Fawkner, lead designer and chief executive officer of Infinite Interactive Pty. Ltd., creators of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. “The gaming community has offered such warm support and we are elated to open the game up to more fans by offering new ways to play.”

D3PA’s recently acquired development studio, Vicious Cycle Software, co-developer of Puzzle Quest for the PSP system, will develop Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for PlayStation 2 and Wii consoles, while the PC and mobile publishing and distribution rights were awarded by the publisher to THQ Inc.’s ValuSoft and THQ Wireless divisions.

“It has been tremendously exciting for us to see Puzzle Quest find such a wide-ranging audience,” said Yoji Takenaka, executive vice president and chief operating officer, D3PA. “We look forward to growing the fanbase even further through what we are confident will be successful relationships with such highly regarded allies as Infinite Interactive, THQ and Vicious Cycle.”

Designed specifically to entertain both casual and hardcore gamers with its deep immersion, five to fifteen minute play sessions and turn-based play style, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords incorporates strategy, role-playing elements and a persistent storyline in a puzzle board setting. Set in the Warlords universe, the game challenges players to create, develop and customize the ultimate hero in order to save the land of Etheria from evil Lord Bane. To advance their character, players battle in turn-based, head-to-head “match-three” style puzzle games in one of three distinct gameplay modes: Single-player allows gamers to battle against the AI as they embark on over 150 challenging quests, Instant Action allows gamers to jump in and immediately play continuous battles to level-up characters without participating in quests, and Multiplayer allows gamers to battle live opponents. Victory will advance the player’s hero, magical arsenal, creature companions and more—ultimately rewarding gamers at nearly every turn and providing endless hours of replayability.

Bill Harris spent some time with Puzzle Quest. He seem to be quite impressed. Here´s a snippet:

I complain on a regular basis that games are designed poorly and that many developers don't even try to make a great game because it's more important to ship it on time.

This weekend, though, thanks to the QT3 forums, I tried the demo of an upcoming game called Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords.

It is, in a word, terrific.

It's also one of the oddest combinations of genres I've ever seen, an RPG with a very strong strategic element and combat that is puzzle-based.

What?

Well, it's an RPG in the sense that there are different character classes, you gain experience, you level up, and you gain skill points that can be allocated as you see fit. You adventure on a 2D overhead map set in the Warlords universe.

That's right--the Warlords universe.

You can find the other half on his blog Dubious Quality . 

The guys behind the Warlords / Warlords Battlecry franchise - Infinite Interactive - will ship their new game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords tomorrow. It will be published on handheld consoles in North America by D3P.
Puzzle Quest seems to be a weird genre mix with significant RPG elements. Here´s a quote from Feature Overview on the official site .

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is a brand new, genre-bending title that ups the ante on traditional puzzle games by incorporating strategy, role-playing elements and a persistent storyline. Set in the Warlords universe, the game challenges players to save the land of Etheria from evil Lord Bane as gamers engage in battles fought by means of competitive, head-to-head "match-three" style puzzle games in one of three gameplay modes: Single-player, Instant Action or Multiplayer. Victory will advance a player's customisable hero, magical arsenal, creature companions and more—ultimately rewarding gamers at nearly every turn and deepening their immersion into the richly diverse world. The game's remarkable mix of classic puzzle gameplay and an abundant suite of characters, customisations, spells, companions, tameable monsters and more provides a fresh take on the puzzle genre that offers endless hours of replayability. Designed specifically for handheld gaming systems, Puzzle Quest can be enjoyed in long or short doses, cultivating a casual but deeply satisfying and compelling gameplay experience.

Infinite Interactive released a demo for the PC in preparation for their  upcoming genre mix on NDS & PSP. The small download -only 34 MB- can be found at GameDaily .