New release: Celsius Heroes Chapter 1: The Call of Esther

Gary Laporte writes in to announce that Parisian indie studio Celsius Online just released the party-based, first-person dungeon delver/Match 3 hybrid for mobile Celsius Heroes Chapter 1: The Call of Esther…back in March. (But hey! It’s new to me.)

The premise:

Curses, disasters, invasions of monsters: a deadly shadow is disturbing the peace of the County of Acilion. At the head of a party of heroes and adventurers coming from the town of Celsius, try and discover the origin of evil.

So, your basic, run-of-the-mill RPG plot premise. What makes this game interesting is its particular blend of mechanics: a bit like Might and Magic IV meets Puzzle Quest. There’s an official trailer, but I actually think the 30-second gameplay trailer gets across the overall structure and approach of the game better:

The developers state that Celsius Heroes has more than 100 quests, a roster which they expand with regular monthly updates. They write that in the October update, they’ll be introducing “the possibility for the players to create their own dungeons, dialogues and quests,” which is pretty neat.

Celsius Heroes is free to play, with in-app purchases. You can snag it for Android on Google Play, for iPhone or iPad on the iOS app store, or in-browser via Facebook.