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Match Village is available for a nice price. It doesn’t offer a visually wowing experience, but it looks colourful and clean. Though placing the tiles is a strategic challenge, there is no deep puzzle gameplay mechanics to consider. Surprisingly, I found the gameplay very relaxing and rewarding. Just place the tiles in the best way you can and see how far you can progress. The sounds of plopping down a tile and getting new tiles as the structures combine are very satisfying. For this little game, made by a solo developer, the name Match Village is well chosen. Get to matching, and populate your islands in the process.

Match Village has an interesting match-3 concept, but doesn’t quite build upon that sufficiently. The lack of a tutorial gets things off to a bad start and that may put people off, which means they miss out on the more rewarding aspects. As fresh tiles enter the fray and new mechanics come into play, the fun factor increases. The stress levels rise too however, throwing any chance of relaxation out the window.

I suppose the idea is that you’ll continue to challenge yourself to do better and perhaps relax as you lay out your ideal islands just for satisfaction, but given the limited feedback the game provides there seems to be little more than that. Throw in the fact that I feel that I enjoyed the other implementation I’ve seen of this concept in Islanders more, which has nearly identical core mechanics, and I’m struggling a bit with this one. There’s a mild and generally pleasant experience here to be had, just not a very fulfilling one.

A laid back and casual mix of puzzle and strategy, but that’s also not terribly satisfying for long

The Match Village proposal is indeed interesting, but it could bring more basic features for players, such as presenting the nomenclature of each available building, even if it were in a guide menu; because confusing some similar houses can ruin a game for a while. The need to move the camera all the time is also a little frustrating, which can turn the mission of populating your village into something stressful.

When it comes to Match Village, here’s what I can say: it’s here, it’s cheap, it’s decent enough as an engagement piece and you can suggest it to anyone without the risk of offending them. Looking for something else to occupy your thumbs while you and a friend/loved one/forced roommate move through the latest season of Survivor? Then come make some cozy pairings with Match Village, and see how far you can move your island along before you decide to get up and move on from it.

For us, we’d definitely have used colour better to differentiate unit types.  We’d have made the objectives a lot clearer.  We’d have released the camera so that it helps rather than hinders.  And we’d have done something about the game’s main menu which is pretty poorly designed (it’s like a mobile game design but sort of nonsensical).  But, equally, we’re not games developers and couldn’t make something like this if we had ten years and our lives depended on it.  Still, it seems like most of the game’s issues could have been solved with stronger playtesting.  And, honestly, we feel like dicks for even complaining this much but a game’s either got it or it hasn’t and Match Village just hasn’t.