Review: Mythmatch Mixes Match-3 With Comedy and Myths

When narrative games involve match-3 puzzles placed into them, they tend to appear as isolated stages separate from what’s happening in the story as an excuse to get materials or advance progress. In Mythmatch, Team Artichoke masterfully weaves matching into an integral story element that shows how exceptional Artemis is a goddess applicant. At the same time, that execution also allows for some cozy slice-of-life Ithaca and relationship development and sharp commentary on gender discrimination in the workplace. 

Recommended Videos

Artemis wants to be recognized by her father Zeus and added to the pantheon of gods. She’s gotten some insight and assistance from Chiron as her and her twin Apollo live on Delos, waiting for her moment. She realizes by combining three of different types of items, they can evolve into a new item or creature. This leads to her creating things like a hawk to reach the gods on Mount Olympus and Cerberus as a companion for Hades. This does get the attention of Zeus! However, he immediately recognizes the lazy Apollo as his son, resulting in him becoming the sun god immediately. Meanwhile, they try to drop Artemis into a moon goddess role (recently plucked from Selene by that jerk Hermes) to continue her cleaning up after him. She sees the god of the hunt role is open and tries to get it, but finds she needs to apply. So begins her struggle for proper recognition. 

Mythmatch is interesting as there is this balance between arcade style stages in the campaign and more freeform adventure that involves taking quests, matching items to get the things people need, and building up relationships for the chance for folks on Ithaca to provide higher level items instead of the guaranteed tier one materials sometimes. (There’s also a dedicated Arcade mode for practicing more traditional matching.) In both cases, Artemis herself occupies a space on the stage and field, and she uses her bow and arrow to grab and pull an item to herself. You then toss that item into a group of three to evolve it or bring it to someone who needs it for further crafting or quest completion when in the mortal realm. 

Go Ad-Free With Siliconera+View the site with no ads, be able to provide direct feedback about what we cover, and be automatically entered into our monthly PC game giveaway.Join Siliconera+

When on Olympus “applying” for the goddess of the hunt position, that means completing certain objectives in a set space before being overwhelmed by items In that area. Things start off small, with basic elements of life like dung, grass, and goats, but can get into more elaborate challenges like actually create Medusas that can turn items to stone. (That prevents them from moving on their own power or via Artemis’ arrows, but undoes the curse if they’re matched with similar items.) You also spend belief to get new abilities to help with matching or to bribe Hermes into giving you a second chance before you’re dropkicked back down to Ithaca and need to wait for nightfall for Selene to bring you back to the “home office” again. You can also get opportunities to talk to folks like Demeter and other gods to hear Team Artichoke’s take on power dynamics among Olympians. 

What’s great about Mythmatch is the mechanics are perfectly balanced so they work well in both spaces. In the contained stage, being able to grab and toss from a distance helps. So does spending believe on abilities that do things like help clear  the screen a bit or keep animals/birds from moving. In the mortal realm, those arrows can mean grabbing items from over gaps or taking more time to organize so you can make items or craft needed items like a bag so Artemis can carry multiple ingredients. 

What’s best about Mythmatch is the relationship and worldbuilding. Artemis finds herself subject to a patriarchal structure on Olympus, with folks like Demeter, Selene, and herself dealing with repercussions of it and trying to push back in ways that might make things better. Likewise, on Earth we see this happening with Penelope, who’s left to rule in Odysseus’ absence. She’s left to deal with situations where he dropped the ball and she took the blame. We get to direct Artemis to assist a community by completing quests, building up relationships by talking to people and being a present and active deity. Not to mention we watch as Artemis starts being accepted as a goddess even without the official Olympus stamp of approval because of her influence on Ithaca.

I also appreciate that, while there is the arcade element and making smart, strategic matches is key to success on Olympus, Mythmatch doesn’t feel stressful. It’s so manageable. Whether it’s by using the easily-earned Belief to buy power-ups and second chances or experience from repetition, it’s a joy. It also doesn’t take long to get unlocks for things like increased access to Ithaca areas via raccoons or more carrying space via a bag. 

Mythmatch twists expectations of what a match-3 game can be with an excellent narrative with fun characters and clever gameplay. Matching items to fulfill mortals requests or prove yourself on Olympus are satisfying for different reasons. The mechanics work well. The unlocks and additional abilities feel meaningful. It’s a strong game. 

Mythmatch will come to the Switch on July 7, 2026 and is available on PCs now.

8

Mythmatch

Mythmatch twists expectations of what a match-3 game can be with an excellent narrative with fun characters and clever gameplay. Switch version reviewed. Review copy provided by company for testing purposes.