Saving the Fragile Galapagos

When Charles Darwin first stepped onto the beaches on the Galapagos, he was positively amazed by the variety of both fauna and flora that populated the incredible tropical paradise. Well, it used to be a tropical paradise. Even though many groups have worked hard to preserve this natural wonder, a lot of damage has been done by other groups and it's up to you to restore the delicate balance.

Take on the role of Dr. Evan Finch as he carefully revitalizes the natural environment of Isabella, one of the islands in the Galapagos region. It's up to you to bring in the right mix of resources so that the unique animal species can thrive once more.

Environmentalism is Element-ary

Nature is a puzzle, but it is quite simple at its core. With this game, you will be presented with a grid of elemental features. There are tiles with wood icons, water icons, and so on. Your task is to swap adjacent icons to create matching rows or columns of three or more icons. In doing so, these elements are added to your cache and more elements cascade down the field to fill the newly created void.

You do not have to clear every icon from the board. Instead, you will find that there are very special habitat fragments placed on various locations on the board. These are usually surrounded by stone or wooden tiles, so you need to free the habitat fragments from these restrictions. Create matching sets on top of these tiles and they will be broken.

After collecting an adequate supply of these elements, you will be able to "spend" them to buy upgrades for the island. Plant new trees. Provide more fresh water. Supply the animals with suitable food.

Exploring the Unexplored

You've probably encountered other match-three games in the past, but Paradise Quest offers a very unique feature. It's not just the tropical and environmental theme! While most other games restrict you to a completely visible game grid, this adventure only shows you a portion of the vast grid at any given time.

In order to progress through the rest of the stage layout, which you'll need to do to collect all the habitat fragments, simply make matches in the general direction that you'd like to travel. For example, forming a matching set of icons along the left edge of the screen will nudge your visible area in that direction. This encouraging travel leaves surprises around every corner!

Discovering New Species Every Day

After enough habitat fragments are collected, they can be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle to create new habitat areas for the unique species of the Galapagos. The jigsaw is based on a grid and you must match up the corresponding tiles. When the jigsaw is complete, you have the opportunity to visit these animals in their natural environments, shooting pictures and leaving nothing but footprints. More species continue to populate these new habitats on an ongoing basis.

For an educational and enjoyable puzzle experience, be sure to check out this great quest in paradise.