Glyph Quest Chronicles Will Bewitch You With Magical Puzzles

Visually, Glyph Quest Chronicles features a super cartoonish art style that follows in the footsteps of the previous games. Some may consider it overly cute, or “kawaii,” but I’m a fan of it. Everything is rendered in 2-D, the colors are bold and vibrant, and the character designs are rather unique and fit well with their elements. The animations are smooth and fluid on my iPhone 7, with no issues of lag or choppiness on my device. The game also has a quirky and chipper medieval soundtrack that goes perfectly with the adventure.

Since Glyph Quest Chronicles is a match-three RPG, it’s entirely level-based. This means that the game is fairly linear, with players going through the stages one-at-a-time and in order. The beginning starts off a bit slow, but it’s more of a tutorial phase that teaches everyone the basics. Eventually, you’ll unlock the item shop (health and other useful potions), access your character’s equipment, bestiary for checking monster weaknesses, and spell upgrade shop. Utilizing all of these is crucial in terms of how well you do in battle, because things go from simple to tough in a snap.

Unlike the previous game, Super Glyph Quest, Chronicles is free so it goes by the freemium game system of energy (mana). Each level you play costs some mana (further stages demand more), and your mana bar refills over time. The goal of each stage is to cast spells by matching glyphs to defeat the waves of enemies. There are also boss fights, which are tougher than the standard enemy monsters.

Players are able to choose their character at the start of the game. There are several different spellcasters who specialize in different types of magic, and the spells you cast in levels is determined by who you pick. Each enemy has their own special attacks and they can even cause various status ailments, but also have weaknesses as well as resistances. This is when the Bestiary comes in handy to tell you those little bits of data to make battles easier.

If you’ve never played a Glyph Quest game before, don’t worry! The gameplay is match-three, except you draw a line connecting glyph pieces together, rather than swap them with adjacent pieces. Each glyph represents an element, and you’ll want to connect same elements together for a spell of that type. If you continue to match the same elements as before, you create a chain, and the longer the chain, the more damage the spells dish out. But if you do a match of the opposite element right after, the chain ends but spell hits harder, so it’s a good finishing strategy.

You can also combine elements to create hybrid spells, though they may be a bit weaker than a single element. But be careful about combining elements that are opposite of each other, because that will backfire, dealing damage to you instead, and those glyphs become unusable for a brief amount of time.

It’s important to experiment in Glyph Quest Chronicles, because there are many spell combinations to discover and unlock. Plus, you get experience points for finding new spells. After completing a round successfully, players acquire more experience points, gold, and maybe some loot. There’s also achievements that award players with gems once they’re finished. The gems are used to upgrade spells to make them stronger.

In the beginning, players can only match three glyphs at a time. However, once you make some progress in the game, you’ll be able to make longer matches, and these cast stronger spells. It’s also vital to purchase health potions and other items before going into battle, since you can access your backpack during levels. When you find loot, make sure to check out its stats in your inventory and equip it when it’s a valuable upgrade. Gear affects your character’s damage output.

Glyph Quest Chronicles is a unique match-three RPG experience. The gameplay is a bit different from the norm, but it proves to be a fun and challenging tactical experience. The graphics are also justly distinctive and appealing, and the music is fun to hear. Controls are simple since it involves only one finger, but the strategy involved gives the game a lot of depth. This game is definitely one that you’ll want to return to time and time again.

Unlike the previous installment, Chronicles is a freemium game. This can irk some players, and understandably so. The mana system is also annoying, because it’s easy to run out quickly, and then you’ll have to stop playing and wait for it to refill. There’s also ads that play every so often, which can get annoying. Plus, the game’s difficulty seems to push players towards buying in-app purchases, which I’m not a big fan of.

Honestly, I was hoping that Glyph Quest Chronicles was going to be a paid game, so I’m a bit disappointed that it went the freemium route. However, it’s still an enjoyable game, just a bit more grindy than I was expecting. The art style is cute and charming, the music is delightful, controls are intuitive, and the complex strategies involved make this game much more challenging than you’d originally think. The replay value is high, and I’ll be returning to this one for a while.

I recommend giving Glyph Quest Chronicles a try if you’re a fan of match-three RPG games. You can find Glyph Quest Chronicles on the App Store as a universal download on the iPhone and iPad for free. There’s in-app purchases, as well as an iMessage sticker pack.