Match Village Review

Game: Match Village
Genre: Puzzle, Board Game
System: Nintendo Switch (Also available on Steam (Windows), PS and Xbox)
Developers|Publishers: Rising Moon Games | QUByte Interactive
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $4.99| UK £4.49 | EU €4,99
Release Date: March 14th, 2024

A review code was used, with many thanks to QUByte Interactive

Hexagon-tiled puzzle games seem to be popular these days, and I’ve even had the pleasure of reviewing a couple of them lately. Seeing Match Village, I felt it looked similar, with hexagonal tiles and city buildings and all. But when you dive in deeper, it has a different kind of gameplay at its core and I can say Match Village is aptly named. Let’s take a closer look!

Form Pairs of 3

Starting Match Village, the 2048 mechanic comes to mind: 3 of the same make a bigger one, 3 of those bigger ones an even bigger one and so on. You get a stack of tiles and a blank canvas representing an island. You see a few sparse trees here and there, but you can simply place over them. The tiles show a house, a field, a piece of grassland and so on. You put the card tiles on the island, one after another. Three of the same type of tiles placed next to each other will combine in a bigger icon of your original form. In this way, you build up your island, but more importantly, you get points. In Match Village it’s less about growing a forest, building an entire town or marshland.

For each tile placed, you get points and more tiles to place. Placing them next to one item could give bonus points or some deducted points as well. So it’s not only about placing three together; it’s also about placing the tiles strategically and combining them with other structures. On the right-hand side of the screen, you see an outline of a structure form filling up, and once it’s full, you can go on to another island. You start over with a different formed island and maybe a different climate.

Although the game isn’t very difficult, I did miss a little instruction in Match Village. A little guidance would have been welcome. To be honest, I still don’t know why the obelisk with one building form projecting from it is there!

Minimalistic with Satisfying Plopping Sounds

Match Village is a minimalistic puzzle and strategy experience that looks colourful and crisp. The buildings start out as a wooden hut and level up to a thatched roofed house, a church building, a watermill and so on. The structures that are formed looked detailed when you zoom in, there is no action to them, they are static.

There is no soundtrack; instead, you hear the sounds that fit the island and the climate. Placing your tiles and seeing them fold into one another when you form three gives nice noises. The controls on the Switch work well, being able to zoom and rotate. I really missed being able to tilt the camera, though, as I often wanted to take a closer look but couldn’t.

Conclusion for Match Village

Match Village is available for a nice price. It doesn’t offer a visually wowing experience, but it looks colourful and clean. Though placing the tiles is a strategic challenge, there is no deep puzzle gameplay mechanics to consider. Surprisingly, I found the gameplay very relaxing and rewarding. Just place the tiles in the best way you can and see how far you can progress. The sounds of plopping down a tile and getting new tiles as the structures combine are very satisfying.