By Don Robbins
Caves and Castles: Underworld for the Nintendo Switch is a one-person match-three puzzle game that incorporates adventure elements. It’s a mixture of two genres that are adequate but don’t really inspire excitement as either a puzzle or quest.
I’ll say right away that I’m a huge fan of match-three games and have played a multitude of them that I really enjoy. However, I feel that in this title, the mechanics of the match-three elements are a bit rough and not as refined as others I have played.
A definite highlight of the game is the beautiful, vibrant, hand-drawn artwork that greatly pleases the eye. The sound that accompanies Caves and Castles: Underground is quite appropriately relaxing for a puzzle game, but for some reason sounds also boring and repetitive.
Similarly, the adventure portions which begin the game and follow throughout are attractively rendered but a bit forgettable. In addition, the method of progressing throughout the adventure by pressing buttons is clunky and not particularly refined. I give the publisher ChiliDog credit for attempting to meld two genres. However, this Switch title feels more like a mobile game than a console one. I did enjoy the concept of matching gems to take away obstacles blocking my path as that adds an intriguing aspect to the gameplay. Taking its pros and cons into consideration, Caves and Castles: Underworld gets a 6.6 on the rating scale.
Thank you to publisher/developer ChiliDog Interactive for the review code.
