There are four character classes available – Druid, Knight, Warrior and Wizard – each with his own set of spells and passive skills. Spells range from dealing direct damage to altering tiles on the board and even taking multiple turns at once. You unlock new spells by levelling up, but can only equip a maximum of six different spells. Choosing the right loadout of items and spells to counter your foe is of vital importance, and experimentation is encouraged.

Exploration is done through a 2D map with an appealing, painted art style. There you can visit towns, buy equipment, take quests and listen to rumours. The world is limited at first, but as you progress new areas are unlocked. Over time, enemies pop up and block routes, meaning you must either find an alternative way or fight them to progress.

The story itself is a little bit flat and your main motivation for the various missions is really just to gain XP and gold. There are four realms to visit, focusing on different factions, and these introduce new enemy types to fight or capture. Some quests offer you choices, and you can gain companions who provide handy support abilities, such as damaging an enemy as the battle begins.

The big appeal of Puzzle Quest is taking an already addictive puzzle game then adding depth and RPG elements to it. Later in the game you can capture monsters to use as mounts, learn spells from enemies, hunt treasures, craft your own magical equipment and even build siege weapons and conquer entire cities.

The formula became quite popular and led to a number of follow-up games, including Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (2009), which had a sci-fi setting and used hexagonal tiles – akin to Hexic – and Puzzle Quest 2 (2010), a direct sequel with similar mechanics but focused on dungeon-crawling.