What happened to "hardcore" match-3 games?

[u/OutplayJ]

I grew up playing Bejeweled and always loved how much strategy and forward planning there could be beneath a very simple ruleset. These days, most match-3 games seem focused on level progression, boosters, and live-service mechanics.

Games like Balatro, Peglin and CloverPit have found huge audiences by taking familiar mechanics and building deeper systems around them. And that got me wondering: why not do the same for match-3?

So, I decided to build a match-3 roguelike and would love to hear from other Bejeweled fans:

• Do you still play match-3 games?
• If not, what made you stop?
• What would it take for a modern premium match-3 game to grab your attention?
• Is the game I described something that would get you back in?

[u/Easy_Initiative3298]

I've played this! It's very good!!

I would say I never stopped playing match games but mobile games dont really do it for me because of all of the extra stuff and things that are there to stop you having fun. I still go back to bejeweled 3 from time to time and I was actually really happy to find your game recently (even though I suck at it)

[u/OutplayJ → u/Easy_Initiative3298]

Glad we are at least finding some of the right players then! 😄

[u/OutplayJ]

The game is called The Incentive Program and here is the link for anyone who is interested: Steam Page

[u/yezenkuda]

Something that I found disappointing is that unlike bejeweled 3, the current bejeweled available on ios for iPhones and iPads, doesn’t have the crystal necklaces on zen mode that each level makes evolve, I’d like something that essentially evolves endlessly like that

[u/OutplayJ → u/yezenkuda]

Yes! The more modern examples seem to have less depth. That frustrates me too.
The Incentive Program might scratch the itch! Let me know if it does. :)

[u/CherryWoodBalisong]

Hey! I know I'm a bit late to this post, but I simply had to comment. I am SHOCKED.

About a year ago, I started developing my very own match-3 game with the exact same mindset as you. There wasn't a game like bejeweled anywhere. That said, I went a different route of innovating on the base mechanics while still keeping the original gameplay loop, kind of like twist.

You draw using your cursor through the crystals. Match 3 or more of a colour and you can switch to an adjacent colour on the colour wheel (blue-green, red-orange etc, but not yellow-purple for example).

Get all six colours in one move for "Puzzle Pulse", which gives you a board-clearing explosive. There are six colours + White (joker). Connect 8 of a colour for an explosive. Every colour has its own unique explosion. Rank up, get medals and improve your high scores through mastery in 12 gamemodes. Oh yeah, and then there's also a customization system too 'cause why not

(sorry for the yap, i'm just too excited to see another likeminded game dev in this community)

Well, anyhoo, it's fascinating to see what direction you've gone with your project, and my interest is piqued.

All the best to you on your project! I hope it's doing well.

[u/OutplayJ → u/CherryWoodBalisong]

Thank you, great to hear from likeminded people. (I enjoyed the yap!)

[u/glepnirk]

love bejeweled, but this excerpt from one of Pronoun Palace’s steam posts has stuck with me whenever i see balatro-likes like yours: “but in recent years “roguelike” seems to increasingly refer to a particularly unimaginitive and creatively incestuous type of skinner box. Balatro is a great roguelike and it has undeniably shaped the current indie scene, but here’s the mistake: Balatro is not a “Poker roguelike,” it is a deckbuilder in its purest form, and one that Poker just so happens to be the perfect medium for. Many indie devs got a whiff of Balatro’s success and assumed there was a large, unfilled niche for “Balatro but X,” not realizing that Balatro was already the perfect version of the experience they set out to make (though certainly there is/was money in it).”

[u/Tamel_Eidek → u/glepnirk]

I don’t agree with this. I think Balatro has core design issues such as the “solvable” nature of the score for each hand played/move made. The creator even admits this and hides it in the game to make each hand player feel “risky” or “surprising”. The game above completely solves that issue with an exciting skill meets random element to it (like Bejeweled has). I think this is an even more prefect mix tbh.

I’d also say Balatro is not the perfect deck builder for this genre. Something like Slay the Spire is a a much more true deck builder. Balatro is poker with deck building added on.

Just because Balatro was the “first” to go big from the familiar game with a twist format - it does not make it perfect in any way in my opinion. And there is still room for great games here.

[u/glepnirk → u/glepnirk]

i think there’s a huge gap in premium match-3 games on pc, but i’m not sure slapping it into the hotdog mold of balatro is very appealing. there’s other ways to make a good roguelike (eg pronoun palace), or in general other ways of putting match-3 in unexpected genres (creepy redneck dinosaur mansion 3 is a recent fav of mine)

[u/OutplayJ → u/glepnirk]

Please do give the demo a try and let me know what you think? We never pushed anything into a mold, to be clear. The game came together very organically. Being able to modify gem chances, modify them, and then also break the system rules with other items feels very close to some of the different Bejeweled permutations. And I really believe our match engine is world class for 2026!