Check out Meshchera, an atmospheric match-three game for Playdate set in a haunted marsh

• Gaming

Spiders? Skeletons? Bad omens? My kind of party.

I almost don't want to call Meshchera a match-three game because I fear that kind of undersells how captivating it is. But, it is a game you play within a six by six grid, in which you have to group matching tiles in clusters of three or more so they may merge and become other, higher value tiles, so that's the description we're working with. The atmosphere is off the charts, though, which isn't something I'm used to finding in these types of games. It has gorgeously detailed artwork and background music that you can get completely lost in.

In Meshchera, you can choose to go for the high score or pick from several challenges that will dictate how you approach the round, like "kill five monsters" or "keep 10 monsters for 10 turns." The gameboard is a dark marsh that will slowly become overrun with vegetation and creatures, unless you can stay ahead of creep by skillfully matching tiles to condense them into other things. Grasses become flowers, which become trees, campfires, houses, churches, etc. It is a uniquely complex matching game — you're given next to no information about how the items work or how different elements on the board behave and interact, so you have to figure it out along the way and course-correct as you learn.

I've spent quite a bit of time playing Meshchera over the last week, but certain things still elude me. Take the "create and destroy a Monster" challenge. I have absolutely no idea how to create a monster, and that's not for lack of trying. But, this gives me something to keep working toward even as my high scores nudge higher and higher. The game includes 10 challenges right now, and the developer says more are coming soon. Meshchera is really good, and feels like the kind of game you can revisit ad infinitum. It's already found itself a home in my folder of "go-to" Playdate games.

Meshchera isn't available in the Playdate Catalog (yet?), but don't let that stop you from trying it out. It's on itch.io at the moment, and sideloading games onto the Playdate is incredibly easy. Once you have the game file, you can just drag and drop it right into your library by signing into your Playdate account and going to the Sideload tab. This can also be done via USB. Panic has a detailed explanation of all the options, if you need some guidance.