Puzzle Quest bewildered casual and hard-core gamers alike when it came out in 2007, tossing aside party lines in favor of a genre-busting hybrid that brought the best of both worlds.

The game mixed the fan-favorite, match-three mechanic of Bejeweled and its many clones with a full-blown, role-playing experience. The game sent players on an epic quest in which they vanquished foes and formed a party of heroes by way of puzzle-centric combat and mini-games. Now Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is set to do it all over again — in space!

Fans of the original Puzzle Quest will feel right at home, but Galactrix is no shameless retread. Completely revamped gameplay mechanics power this sprawling space adventure, resulting in an incredibly entertaining sequel that’s barely recognizable. Despite the casual-sounding moniker, this is a decidedly hard-core game: All but the hardiest puzzle fans might find themselves over-matched.

(Puzzle Quest: Galactrix will be released Tuesday for Nintendo DS and Windows. We reviewed the PC version.)

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