The Puzzle genre of gaming has recently seen an influx of new crossover ideas. Tetris 99 brought battle royale into the puzzle gaming space, and other games are trying to blend other genres with puzzle mechanics. Treasure Stack is a brand new party game that takes games like Tetris and Puzzle Fighter and adds a new dimension to the gameplay.

In Treasure Stack, you play a pixelated hero as they attempt to match colored chests with keys before the area fills up completely. Treasure Stack is a fast-paced game, and you have to think quickly if you want to match the chests before evil runes fill up the screen. Luckily, your hero has a grapple they can use to navigate and pull down falling chests.

This idea sounds pretty fun, and in a party game context, I can easily see how friends and family could have a lot of fun. However, I see a few glaring issues with the game and a few reasons you might not want to pick this up just yet. Before we dig too deep into what is wrong with Treasure Stack, I should mention that the game currently has 3 different modes.

Treasure Stack can be played with up to 4 players online, or in local matches. You can also play Solo, but the solo gameplay only serves to give you a way to play alone and unlock cosmetic items. You can unlock different grappling hooks for your characters, as well as different character designs. None of these things affect gameplay, but for some weird reason, there is no progression system outside of solo play. You can’t unlock cosmetics while playing online, (unless you are playing ranked matches) and are limited to just bragging rights on a leaderboard.

Ranked matches allow you to unlock season-specific rewards, but I really don’t see much of a point when the rewards are all cosmetic. None of the things you unlock change the gameplay, and you never seem to unlock new power-ups or mechanics.

The sad part is, there isn’t much to Treasure Stack. Yes, you can play with friends and enjoy chaotic puzzle gameplay at the same time, but beyond that, the game just feels hollow. The power-ups (bombs and swords as examples) are cool and serve as unique ways to clear the board, but aside from that the variety of gameplay is very limited. Another issue I had with the gameplay itself is that you can’t turn the “stacks” or pieces. You can only move them in columns, making it harder to prepare to clear sections of the board.

Truthfully, I am very disappointed by Treasure Stack. I can see myself playing with friends (considering the multiplayer is cross-platform on Switch and PC) but I think the fun would wear off very quickly. The Steam page even goes so far as to say that Treasure Stack caters to “Solo AND multiplayer puzzle fans” but I find myself skeptical of that. There is no real reward to playing solo, and unless you’re someone who wants to be at the top of all the leaderboards, there’s not much reason to play online either. As someone who loves games like Tetris, Tricky Towers, and Puzzle Fighter, I find myself wanting to like Treasure Stack much more than I actually do. If it had a story or recognizable characters I might feel differently.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Treasure Stack was provided by Pixelakes for this review.

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Treasure Stack

3

Score

3.0/10

Pros

• Interesting Concept
• Simple Controls
• Fun with Friends

Cons

• No Incentive to Unlock Cosmetics
• No Story in Solo Mode
• Can't Rotate Chest Stacks
• No Variety in Gameplay
• No Real Goal or Reason to Play for very Long