14 DAY TRIAL // More than 500 fans of the original Puzzle Quest have submitted proposals when D3, the publisher of the game, asked them to provide a name for the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade expansion pack. The name that the publisher finally settled on is Revenge of the Plague Lord. Other names considered were Sorceress of Malbec and The Scourge of Antharg.
It seems that D3 didn't want any hard-to-pronounce names in the new expansion and so went for the relative risk-free idea of a Revenge title (I myself would have proposed The Plaque Lord Strikes Back as a name, seeing how its sequel success would be assured).
The expansion will include some new professions like the Bard, the Rogue, the Ranger and the Warlock, which should add a lot of re-playability to the expansion and the original game. The player will also get 50 new and powerful spells to play with, while some 40 items will be introduced. The number of the new monsters wasn't specified, but a few more boss fights are set to make it harder for the player to complete the game.
The gameplay of the Puzzle Quest series is very easy and, at the same time, very engaging. It's centered on matching objects like various other puzzle games. It shines in adding an overall strategic and RPG feel to the entire object matching, by making the player a character on a quest that has to defeat his evil enemies by damaging them with matching skull heads while matching other colors and gems to get spells, life and other perks. Look out for Puzzle Quest - Revenge of the Plague Lord on XBLA, in late spring.
If a fantasy setting with warlocks and bards really isn't your thing but you find yourself addicted to the puzzle games available on the Internet, D3 is preparing a true blue sequel to the game that will make its way to gamers sometime in autumn. It ditches the fantasy setting for space, but keeps the same core gameplay that made the original Puzzle Quest really addictive.