While I may be a big fan of challenging games with plenty of action and chaos, I’ll also gladly admit that a well-made Match 3 puzzler can still keep me happy when I need to unwind. In theory Dialoop, which brings a version of that style of puzzle-based play together with some roguelike sensibilities, would then be a perfect pairing. Unfortunately, in execution it gets a bit muddled and lost though somewhere along the way.

One element that could be seen as a plus is the pretty lenient approach the game has to its Match 3 process. Rather than only being able to move a single gem one space in a given direction, here you’ll be able to hold down and scroll both the entire row and column if you’d like. I do appreciate how this allows you to experiment a little and look to maximize your potential matches. But at the same time I could see it as a downside, since it detracts from what I consider to be the core and perhaps more careless method I’m used to, simply doing my best to set myself up for success swiping at different gems and hoping to get chains one match at a time.

Where the disappointment kicks in for me is that I was expecting something more transformative out of the roguelike aspect. How that would work, I’m not certain, but for me the game doesn’t go far enough to put you in the position to set up game-breaking combinations of perks that you can build in better roguelikes in this general vein like Balatro in particular. The different characters you can unlock, and some of the silliness of things like the game’s story mode at least work to help the experience as a whole be more fun, but while on their own roguelikes and Match 3 titles can get me hooked pretty often, in this case I found myself feeling more indifferent.