Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (Switch) Review

It was surprising when Puyo Puyo Tetris was released, especially with how the Tetris rights bounced around. At first it was only released in Japan (unless imported), then it showed up translated to English on the Switch. The next surprise was that there was going to be a Puyo Puyo Tetris 2! The first game already had plenty to it, can a sequel build on this?

Adventure is where PPT2’s story resides. A follow up to the original, only the crew of the SS Tetra, Ringo and the Puyo Puyo gang don’t remember it. The two groups find themselves brought together again after the attempt to merge the two universes in the original. Both worlds are once again at risk of merging as everyone is brought back together, starting another grand Puyo Puyo Tetris adventure.

You’ll meet up with the Puyo and Tetris teams as you all solve your problems with battling. Just like the original the character interactions are silly yet charming conversations, accentuating the whole situation while playing to the characters established personalities over Puyo games. It’s also a pleasant return to the Tetris crew. The Adventure mode will throw you into a variety of different challenges, managing to keep it fresh as you play a lot of Puyo Puyo and Tetris depending on the stage. If you come across any stages you’re getting stuck on or just don’t want to play, you can skip to the next stage and just enjoy the amusing story.

Playing Puyo Puyo and Tetris are both still as fun as ever, whether it’s the sole game or managing both. From the Start screen you can go to the main menu for the bulk of the game, or you can leap into a quick Endless match of Puyo Puyo or a Marathon match of Tetris if you want a quick bout. If you’re new to either Puyo Puyo or Tetris (or both), lessons are included to help you learn the basics and the more advanced techniques. It pays to know enough about both options, given they play quite differently despite both being falling pieces that you have to clear.

The big new addition to the sequel is Skills Battle, adding another way to Puyo Puyo or Tetris in the Adventure or in multiplayer. Both sides have a health bar that quickly depletes when either side clears Puyos/Tetrominoes. if you’re not fast, a match could be over before you know it. When you start a match you get to choose which team of three characters you’ll use, determining whether you’re battling with Puyo or Tetrominoes. Each character on your team has a special ability you can use during the match. You can create a section that you can score an easy Tetris from, or recover some of your HP. As you participate in these Skill Battles you also earn XP for your team, levelling them up the more you use them. You collect cards to equip that enhance your team as well, these can be won as you win Skill Battles.

If you want to play multiplayer at home (or on the go), you can share a single screen with up to four players. You can also share a local connection across four screens. The options here are Versus, Swap, Party, Fusion, Big Bang and the new Skill Battle. If you played the original game, you’ll be familiar with all these modes besides Skill Battle. They’re all still fun modes to play. If you don’t have anyone close by you can also play these modes solo, including some extra challenge modes. 

Online play includes Puzzle League or Freeplay. Within the Puzzle League you can select Puzzle (which contains both Tetris and Puyo), Tetris League, Puyo League, or Skill Battle League. Playing within these leagues will impact your online ranking. You can also just play against a friend online, or have a Freeplay match without worrying about your ranking. 

After both Puyo Puyo Tetris and Puyo Puyo Champions you’d hope that the online would still run well, especially given the fast paced nature of the matches. Fortunately PPT2 holds up, even on a mobile hotspot I was able to have my butt brutally kicked against Puyo experts. At least any losing was entirely down to my ability or lack thereof, not the connection.

As you earn credits through playing the game, you can purchase from the in-game store – no real world cash needed. Here you can get extra skins for your Puyos or Tetrominoes, player pictures and voice swaps. If you absolutely have to unlock everything then you’ll have a lot of battles ahead of you, otherwise it shouldn’t take too long to unlock what you want. 

Fans of the original game are likely coming to this game wondering if there is enough new content there to justify getting another Puyo Puyo Tetris game. It all really depends on what you want from the game. If you enjoy the Adventure mode with its goofy dialogue then there’s definitely more of that here. The Skill Battle mode adds in a levelling system which could keep you busy as you earn XP for all the characters. It is also dependent on whether the player base moves from the original to the sequel, especially with the opportunity to climb the ranks in the leagues. I was on board for the new Adventure mode alone, but it was just as fun getting reacquainted with all the other modes I hadn’t played for a while. While you can play Puyo Puyo or Tetris in their own games, PPT2 has both with plenty of fun modes that combine the two. 

At the moment there isn’t any colourblind settings, this would mostly hurt the Puyo Puyo side of things. It’s a strange omission given that Puyo Puyo Champions had settings. Hopefully this means it will be easy for them to add in soon, just be aware for now the options aren’t there.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 might seem like there isn’t much you can add to a game that already had so much. Part of the charm of Puyo Puyo is the characters, and when you combine that with the personification of the Tetraminoes there is a lot to enjoy here. The Adventure mode is full of quirky and silly interactions with characters Puyo fans will be familiar with, along with any fondness for the characters PPT introduced. The new Skill Battle mode might not set the world on fire, but if you want more out of the game you could spend some time levelling up a team. On top of that, the game is just really fun to play, especially if you can join friends either in person or online. There is also more free content to be added into the game post-launch to look forward to as well! Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is a welcome return when the world can do with an enjoyable game to see out 2020.

Rating: 4/5