Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Preview – So Many Way to Play

The art of Puyo Puyo Tetris is that it offers a little bit for everyone. With the blending of two versus puzzle titles, Puyo Puya and Tetris, you’d probably expect that to be enough for a straightforward game with a few generic modes. However, Sega has stepped outside the box with this series and even doubled down on unique modes in the release of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. No matter what type of fan you are, there’s most likely something that will hold your interest.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 features a main campaign where characters from the colorful Puyo Puyo Tetris universe interact for a brand new adventure. We are introduced to Ringo and Tee as they set out to stop something bad from happening, but they aren’t totally sure what that is. All they know is that it involves saving the world. The campaign has players play through rounds of Puyo Puyo or Tetris, but as much as gameplay is the focus, we get a lot of character interaction, which can be skipped if you want.

Still, if the campaign doesn’t hold your interest in returning elements such as Versus, Multiplayer, Swap, and Fusion modes, can be found. These give players a unique experience within the game’s offerings, with each of them allowing players to customize the modes with specific options for each. If you enjoyed these in the first release, I think they offer the same action here. It won’t completely sell fans of the original, but it is something familiar to find your bearings.

Skill battle is where I spent a lot of time in the early hours of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. It’s a strange mode at first as it focuses on hitting your opponent’s HP instead of simply overrunning their screen. The more unique elements centered around how you have to worry about speed and pay attention to your HP, which clearing blocks don’t explicitly help.

Characters have abilities that can heal and even power them up, but they come with a cool-down, which adds just the right amount of strategy to the mix. Furthermore, each group of characters has different abilities, so figuring the ones you like will go a long way with how far you can get. The characters can also level up, which helps improve their abilities.

Surprisingly, I played Puyo Puyo more in this mode, which I admittedly am not the best at. I’m doing my best to get better, though, so I see no better way than to throw myself to the wolves and focus on my weaknesses. I also casually enjoy Tetris, but I believe this is a game that everyone can wrap their head around, whereas Puyo Puyo requires a bit of planning as you set up combo drops.

After playing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 for a few hours, I’m really impressed with how the developer attempts to cater to every type of player. They don’t come up short in any mode, though, and seem to treat each of them with a balanced level of respect. Moving forward, I’m interested in unlockables and seeing just how entertaining late-game modes can be. Now, I’ll get back to practicing my Puyo Puyo game.

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Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch, on December 8, with a PlayStation 5 release planned for Holiday 2020 and a PC release scheduled for 2021.