Nocturnarya Collector's Edition

a fun match-3 game with features not found in other match-3 games - there are puzzles in between the levels and there are also fun match-3 battles - you get to choose just the right difficulty to suit your mood relaxed/limited moves/timed - I was one of the testers for this game and had a really good time - so much so, that I wanted to replay it when it was launched at Steam

A different, yet relatively easy, M3 game. The object in most levels is to remove obstacles blocking the vampire talisman so it can reach the gold nuggets in the pathway. There are 36 hidden blood cartridges scattered within the first 90 levels. About every 10th level is a battle level. An assortment of minigames (HOS, swap-2 jigsaw puzzle variant, and a "bloody light" game which you rotate light beams until they shine on all the evil eyes). The pathways in the levels aren't that complex, and most of the challenge is clearing out all the wood boxes if you want a gold trophy. Most of the minigames are easy except for the jigsaws, and that's only because the jigsaws have repeated elements in their images. The CE extras are 60 more M3 levels, character biographies, wallpapers, and more minigames. There are extra HOS and swap-2 jigsaws, and a set of "Nocturne Gallery" minigames, in which the object is to match up the correct halves of items. This is harder than it looks. In between levels, you get to rebuild a destroyed vampire village, and there's a good storyline. The scene building is not the typical "click on things until all the items appear" many M3 games feature. Here, you use your gold from the M3 levels to design the scene completely to your liking, which I really liked. Building the village improves your battle skills, so isn't optional, particularly near the end of the game when the bosses get tough. While the controls in the scene building area are clunky, the buildings and details are pretty nice. After you rescue your "helper" in the story, you can also upgrade your helper's attire in the village scene to further improve your battle skills or to get extra gold in M3 levels. When you find the sword, the sword can also be upgraded in the village for extra help in battles and is a must for the last few battles. While the playing tiles look sort of cartoonish, I liked the game music and other details. Would have been nice to have a little more challenge in the M3 levels, but that's just me. Great game for Halloween or if you enjoy goth themes.