Azkend 2 is a causal match 3 -game. The artwork is top notch and the music is alright.

There is a clumsy attempt at a plot, but in the end this whole "spirit of adventure" thing is just a theme that works well with beautiful images. You don't get an "engaging storyline". The woman person just ends up shipwrecked and goes to places that don't make any sense. And the voice acting is kind of annoying.

The story mode constists of 68 levels. There are some nice special pieces and whatnot, but nothing spectacular. Nothing I wouldn't have seen before. The gameplay gets a little repetitve at the end and sadly the levels are all quite easy. There's also a time challenge mode, but after I was done with the storymode I thought there wasn't much replay value.

Do I recommend this game? I don't know. We need a "meh" button. The gameplay feels kinda mediocre, but the game is nice to look at. I'm not a great fan of the genre, anyway. I would buy it for a dollar, but not for the full price.

Oh, this game sucked!

Well, it sucked time out of my life at least. I read a review saying it was too easy-- dunno if they got great RNG but I've played and reviewed dozens of match-3 games on Steam, and this was by far the most challenging! I had to redo the final level over 10 times before I got lucky (also, hint: it works best with the final active powerup, the compass generator. You also need to be comfortable with matching multiple gem types with compasses in between.)

I really got angry at some of the levels, if only because of the uneven difficulty, but that's the thing with randomly-filled boards. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. Also, the tutorial didn't do a great job at telling us that some powerups are more suited towards some types of levels (e.g. the horizontal wind powerup is great for bug levels.)

What else can I say..?

Pros:
- One of the most 'original' (AFAIK) hidden object concepts, where they show you a rotated piece of the background and you have to click it. That alone was nearly worth the price of admission, although I fail to see what failing one of these mini-games would have done.
- Honest soundtrack. I've heard much better though.
- Excellent graphics. The backgrounds are for the most part exquisite.
- Very diverse gameplay-- many different powerups, several different types of levels, some involving strategy, others luck or skill.
- Overall the game is satisfying and I didn't have too many ragequit moments.

Cons:
- Timed levels can be very frustrating. Essentially the bug levels (and the final classic level in the game) will require you to be very quick. No ability to remove the timer at all.
- Uneven difficulty.
- Pretty short (main story can be finished in under 5 hours). Haven't played through the challenges yet.
- Story is completely silly (and terribly acted). Girl gets in a shipwreck, wakes up in a cave filled with beautiful remnants of an old forgotten civilization, but all she cares about is breaking everything apart to come back home. Also, kill a giant octopus which I'm sure most biologists would be very crossed to hear about. In the end she comes back home and all you get is a single screen with a 'congratulations' message. Worst ending I've been through since, uh... Monkey Island 3? And that was in the 90's... And it at least had a short video.
- I don't remember the game ever telling me I was able to choose my powerups before a level started. I only realized that halfway through the game. Maybe that's why it was so hard for me, I don't know. Generally speaking, the latest powerup is always the better one, but as I said, some powerups are better for some levels.
- Seriously, this isn't Heroes of Hellas. Hellas 2, 3 or 4 are all better than Azkend 2.

In conclusion: buy all of the Hellas games. If you have them already, and you're looking for more hex-grid match-3 games, then you can definitely try Azkend.

Game Information

"Azkend: The World Beneath" is a Match 3 game. The game was developed and published by 10tons Ltd.

"The World Beneath" is the second episode of "Azkend."

The Game Review

Game Visuals

I want to mention that the visuals in the game are nicely done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu.

Game Audio

I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well.

Gameplay

There are two game modes to choose from: Challenge and Adventure. Both modes do have a timer.

This is a match 3 game, the objective is rather simple, you have to make matches of three or more of like tokens to clear them from the board. There are several different types of match 3 styles: "Swap;" "Chain" and "Group." The "Swap" style is where you have to switch two tokens either vertically or horizontally. The "Chain" style is where you have to link all the like tokens together that go in any direction. Such as "Up to Down;" "Left to Right" and "Diagonally." The "Group" style is where a bunch of similar tokens are cleared from the board in one move. The match 3 style that is used in this game is "Chain."

There are sixteen different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that need to be completed before they can be unlocked. These are in-game achievements only.

Miscellaneous

There are five different trading cards to collect. Only three of those trading cards are given out by the game. There are several ways to get the rest of the trading cards: Purchased from the Steam's Community Market; Trade with friends; Booster Packs and its Booster Pack Creator.

Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.

This title is really interesting, and has a fair bit of content to explore, between a 8-world campaign (should take between 6-10 hours) and an endless mode. There are loads of powerups, and its system allows you to pick an active and a passive so you can customize your experience. Story's about on par with similar games (which means not great but not terrible) but it lacks a bit of impact and a bit of conclusion. The main drawback of this title is its balance. This game has a very sharp rise in difficulty, as each couple of worlds introduce an extra color to match (and this gets messy quickly) and it also features many "win-more" mechanics (timers, and combos, and delayed hints, and positional powers and spreading hazards) along with some broken powerups and some really bad ones. This all combines to ensure you might have to go get a guide to finish the game, and its later worlds may feel a bit like a wall. So it's definitely not beginner-friendly. Past that, the game has few flaws; it features decent pacing (by giving achievements to increase challenges and by giving Hidden Object minigames to slow down its blitz rhythm) and great variety. Moment-to-moment gameplay is at its peak, though; board variety and piece generation ensure matches flow and even when the board is almost stuck, the only pressure is the timer, because matches are still relatively simple to find.

This is a match 3 game that I have a "love hate" relationship with. there are 3 modes, active several power ups and passive abilities. This gives the game-play some variety. There are two stage types, the first is a board that requires you to flip the tiles, this prompts and object (or medal in the second mode) to be placed on the board. You get this object/medal to the bottom of the board and "bob's your uncle." This is all done against a timer, so you have to be quick. Some of the later levels are difficult (more on this below).
The second mode is a "kill the bugs" mode. This requires you to sting the bugs as they make their way up the board. They have health and can take several combinations. Both of these modes can be played in the story then in the medal and timer modes. the story modes can be done with a bit of skill, the timer mode, I didn't enjoy and played very little of it. The medal mode, I wanted to complete and as of right now I give up. the last stage takes a massive jump in difficulty and a fairly pleasant puzzle game became my arch-enemy as it becomes the "Dark Souls" of puzzle games. I must have tried 100's of times to beat the last stage and it has continually "bent me over" and showed me whose boss. As I said I give up.
All that said, it was still a fun ride (not the bending over bit) and worth a few quid, if you are looking for a puzzle game to occupy the downtime between AAA releases.

7/10 Would squish bugs again.

This game has multiple different stuff to do. You have match 3, hidden objects, different levels where some are timed and you also get power ups. It took me just under 10 hours to complete the game, however some of the levels are really difficult to complete.

No amount of nice graphics makes up for having to fight against the mechanics to finish (or more likely fail and have to repeat again and again and again) a level. There's a difference between hard and frustrating. There are better games out there to spend my time on.

I played quite a bit of this game and previous one on mobile, quite good little relaxing game :)

Can not recommend:

Its basically a match 3 game with some story element to it. Now what I couldn't stand about this game is how outdated this looks and feel. It felt like playing one of those really old flash games made by 1 person.

But if you are a big match 3 game fan and graphics doesn't concern you then maybeee this would be a good casual game for you to pick up but only if it is on sale.

Below we have some details about this game:


The graphics are simple,but well detailed.All the arts,levels and everyting has been polished with care.


It's very good and calm to listen,combines well with the levels and it's not boring and repetitive.


Gameplay most part of time it's match-3,where you need to find some parts of objects that will help us on the history,when you find all that parts,you go to a finding level,where you need to find the indicated part on screen with a limited time.Also we have 2 more modes along the adventure mode,the time challenge mode,where you need to match the max of tiles you can in a short period of time,and the medals mode,where you replay the levels of adventure,but with a little more challenge to get the golden medal in each level.Also some achievements are really insane,and need the max of you for completing it.


This is a game for people that wants a polished match-3 game with much levels,variety of modes,good soundtrack and a great price,also very challenging and fun.

• Steam Trading Cards
  
• Steam Achievements

Pros:

• Polished graphics and soundtrack
  
• Variety of Powerups
  
• 3 Gameplay Modes
  
• Cheap Price
  
• Challeging but without being fun

Cons:

• None.