Whenever evil decides to cause trouble, there’s always some goody-two-shoes hero willing to take up the mantle and kick their ass. While that is also the case in Oafmatch, the ‘how’ bit is, well, a bit different, as battlefields are… match-3 boards. Oh, and to make the experience more engaging, there’s a fair amount of RPG elements to manage, including loot, a party of four, traits, levelling – good stuff, all-round!
Oafmatch may not be the first game to attempt such a genre hybrid, but from what I’ve seen, at least it’s doing a solid job of it, ya know? I mean, for starters, with a campaign said to contain “over 30 hours of pain, death, and light-hearted dialogs”, it’s already more engaging than your average Bejeweled/RPG blend in that most of those… well, let’s just say they don’t do much in the story department.
Playing Oafmatch you will quickly discover that this is a game for match-three lovers and RPG-lovers alike. It is also a game for tinkerers, as beneath its friendly exterior lurks a very deep well of party-building and party-outfitting strategic gameplay.
Not thereby saying that its creator has forgotten about the gameplay though, as you’ll have to carefully manage the 8×8 gem board to emerge victorious, balancing a mana pool and the equipment of your little group, on top of representing as many colours as possible (trust me, it makes sense). Chances are it’ll get a tad grindy at some point, but eh, any excuse to match, match and match more – in the name of power! And to vanquish evil, wherever it may roam…
Oafmatch is available from Steam and directly, priced at $5.99.