The puzzle game genre encompasses such a wide variety of video games, from first person mind bending narrative experiences to Picross detective games. Despite this though, when I hear “puzzle game” my brain immediately locks onto Tetris. This isn’t exactly surprising I suppose, since Tetris is to puzzle games what Mario is to platformers. I’m sure almost everyone has memories of clearing blocks with a selection of Tetrominos, whether it was on the original GameBoy or the most modern of consoles. Even the Nintendo Switch 2 has launched with a Tetris game, in the form of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S.
If you haven’t played a Puyo Puyo Tetris game before you’re in for a treat, because instead of featuring one traditional puzzle game it features two. In Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S you’ll compete in battles against other players or the AI, by playing either Tetris or Puyo Puyo. When puzzle battling though you don’t have to be playing the same game, and can choose to use either blobs or blocks to try and survive longer than your opponents. When you clear your board effectively you’ll send hazards to the other players, and it all gets frantic rather quickly. It’s a simple concept but an immediately entertaining one, which will cause many shrieks of delight and frustration in the heat of battle.
I likely don’t need to explain how Tetris works, but not everyone will be as familiar with Puyo Puyo. In Puyo Puyo games you’ll be given sets of two coloured blobs that will drop down onto your board, and these will be cleared if four or more of the same colour are touching. If you stack them just right (which is so much easier said than done) you’ll be able to create chain reactions and score massive points, which will also ensure you send way more hazards to your opponents. You may have played a Puyo Puyo game without knowing it too, in the form of Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine or Kirby’s Ghost Trap. It’s a classic puzzle experience that has been around for as long as many people have been alive, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
However you want to play these classic puzzle games, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S has you covered. If you want to play alone you’ll probably jump into the Adventure Mode first, which features a full on story about dimension hopping characters. The charming anime style cast are trying to work out why their puzzle based worlds have collided, and the only way to do so turns out to be by having a lot of puzzle battles. With loads of different AI opponents to take on and optional objectives to complete it’s the perfect way to start your puzzling journey, and will introduce you to a whole heap of battle styles.
Back before Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S had the S at the end of its name, the new and exciting way to play was in a Skill Battle. In these you’ll select three characters, who all have various special abilities you can activate. You do this by clearing blobs or blocks of course, and they have exciting effects like changing the colour of the bottom two rows of your board to clear them instantly. As you clear your board you’ll also deal damage to the opponents health bar, which is how you win the match. It’s a very different way to take on your friends, but many will appreciate the depth it features.
This is but one of many ways to fight for puzzling supremacy, and some of them are rather wacky. Swap mode will switch you from playing Puyo Puyo to Tetris every thirty seconds, which if you’re anything like me will throw you off your game and upset you greatly. Party mode features Mario Kart style power ups to collect on your board, which you’ll fire across to your opponent to ruin their day for extra chaos. Fusion mode is my favourite though, which as you can imagine combines both Tetris Blocks and Puyo Puyo blobs onto one board with messy results. Pure puzzle fans might prefer the more straight laced puzzling that Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 offers, but for the rest of us sickos the variety of weird modes are a real treat.
All of these modes were present in the 2020 release of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 though, so let’s talk about what’s new in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S. The fact you can use Game Share to play with a friend is definitely a nice bonus, and will make multiplayer a breeze for many. Also newly added is doubles mode, where two players drop bricks or blobs down at the same time and on the same field against a duo of opponents. You’ll get stuck on each other, your partner will place blocks in places you don’t want them, and it’s a beautiful marriage of frustration and chaos that really works.
As you’d expect there’s a variety of modes you can play with friends, both online and locally. The online is incredibly smooth and a lot of fun, although I must admit most opponents I faced outclassed me somewhat. Locally is where I got most of my enjoyment, and since the Switch 2 has two Joy-Cons ready at any time you can battle your buds in a flash.
As good as Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is, it’s a little hard to justify a new purchase for one new game mode. If you haven’t played Puyo Puyo Tetris before you’ll have a great time though, because there’s a lot of puzzling content here. The only other issue the game really has is related to Skill Battles, which with different unlockable characters can be rather unbalanced. It’s not a huge deal if you’re playing with friends, but can be frustrating otherwise.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S brings classic puzzling to the Switch 2 with a bang. It doesn’t add a whole lot extra compared to the original release, but that’s still a staggering amount of puzzle battling content for those who desire it. Having a puzzle game you can dip into for five minutes is perfect for a handheld too, and I’m glad it’ll be sat on my Switch 2 home screen for the entire console lifecycle.
