Azkend 2: The World Beneath

Azkend 2 has a threadbare story that basically gives context for going from one puzzle to the next, and it definitely won’t be the reason anyone picks this game up. The events are narrated by the female protagonist whose voice was more akin to that of a children’s TV presenter. The wonderful artwork fuses well with the game’s musical score, both of which set a suitably mysterious and adventurous tone.

Azkend 2: The World Beneath does everything it can to spice up the 'match 3' puzzle genre, boasting a narrative thread, power ups to collect and different objectives at every turn. As derivative and repetitive as the core gameplay is, it does a decent job of maintaining your engagement and does reward your efforts. Overall, it should be commended for its sprawling take on a tried and tested genre. The variety of dynamic scenarios that genuinely affect the gameplay and an overarching story with varied exotic locations make it stand out from its competition. If you're looking for a 'match 3' with more variety, challenge and narrative meat to chew on, this is a good place to drop anchor.

Puzzle games for handheld devices have been a staple since Tetris on the original Game Boy, and while Nintendo Switch is hardly lacking in them, especially with Lumines Remastered hitting recently, it's always good to have more, especially when they do anything to stand out against their competition, like Azkend 2: The World Beneath does. The story mode and equippable tiles give something unique, while the extra modes give the same type of replayability that makes these types of puzzle titles so popular.

All together, Azkend 2 is a perfectly workable and enjoyable match-3 game. If you’ve played quite a few of these in the past then you’re probably going to question whether you need even more of them, but then again, this is the first match-3 game of its kind on the Switch to date, so perhaps there’s an audience for it. It’s not going to be your game of the year, but you might just get a lot of play out of it.

Azkend 2: The World Beneath has an interesting concept but executes it in a way that causes more stress than fun. Still, its a unique take on the match-3 genre, with a clever story mode and rich presentation helping it stand out among the pack. It’s worth a try for puzzle fans, but not every adventurer will appreciate this journey.