I almost don’t want to call Meshchera a match-three game because I fear that it underestimates how gripping it is. But it’s a game that you play in a six-by-six grid, in which you have to group matching tiles into groups of three or more so that they can merge and become other tiles of higher value, so that’s the description we’re working with. However, the atmosphere is out of the ordinary, which I’m not used to finding in this type of game. It has beautifully detailed illustrations and background music that you can completely lose yourself in.
In Meshchera, you can choose to aim for the highest score or choose from several challenges that will dictate how you approach the round, such as “kill five monsters” or “guard 10 monsters for 10 rounds.” The game board is a dark swamp that will slowly be overgrown with vegetation and creatures unless you manage to stay ahead of the game by skillfully matching tiles to condense them into other things.
Grasses become flowers, which become trees, campfires, houses, churches, etc. This is a particularly complex matching game: you’re given almost no information about how the elements work or how the different elements on the board behave and interact, so you have to figure it out along the way and correct your course as you learn.
khvoshchI spent quite a bit of time playing Meshchera last week, but some things still escape me. Take on the “create and destroy a monster” challenge. I have absolutely no idea how to create a monster, and it’s not for lack of trying. But it gives me something to continue working on, even as my high scores keep climbing. The game currently includes 10 challenges, and the developer says more are coming soon. Meshchera is really good and looks like the kind of game you can revisit forever. It has already found its place in my must-have Playdate games folder.
Meshchera is not (yet?) available in the Playdate catalog, but don’t let that stop you from trying it. It’s on itch.io for now, and downloading games from Playdate is incredibly simple. Once you have the game file, you can simply drag and drop it into your library by logging in to your Playdate account and going to the Sideload tab. This can also be done via USB. Panic offers a detailed explanation of all the options if you need guidance.
