I wish to thank HH-Games for the review key for this title.

I’ve played many Match-3 games before. Some have grandiose stories, some have simple. Lost in Reefs trends toward the latter, but the gameplay is still pretty good nonetheless.

For those not familiar with Match-3 games, you match up three or more objects on a tile-based board to remove them from play until all the matches you are asked by the game to make are done. As is true of games of this genre, this one should not have surprising twists that have not been explored by many others in this vein. Like many other games by the same developer, options are unlocked after getting a certain number of matches to knock some extra tiles off the board that are otherwise hard to remove any other way. They range from knocking a single tile to a group of them off the board, with further options unlocked as the story progresses across the included game story campaign map.

This game has a simple story of trying to rediscover a lost city under the waves, gathering resources to reconstruct it as you play. This title provides a few options to determine exactly how you will progress. You can choose to have square tile boards, hexagons, or levels can mix and match the two. This is generally a cosmetic choice. The player also has three modes of clearing boards. Grouping means you can select matching tiles in a group to clear from the board. Swapping involves swapping tiles with adjacent match tiles to clear them from the board. Finally, chaining involves selecting a group of matching tiles in a linked sequence to clear them from the board.

Graphically, Lost in Reefs has a colorful, cartoonish nautical theme. The art has a hand-drawn aesthetic that resembles a coloring book in many ways and is rather relaxing to look at. The sounds and music also have clear nautical theming. Nothing really stands out, but none of it is unpleasant to listen to either.

This game can be played with a keyboard and mouse; controllers are not supported. This will run on the Steam Deck, though, but mouse control is a bit difficult. You can use your fingers on the screen to play fairly well, though.

Stability is pretty good. It runs natively on Microsoft Windows. It will run on Linux via Steam Proton. It’s not rated for the Steam Deck, though it ran fine in my experience.

Morally, there isn’t too much to be concerned about.

There is no violence, foul language, or sexual content. The lost city you are rebuilding has some religious structures, like a mosque. Given they also mention dragons and magic, it’s clearly not referencing an Islamic mosque. In general, whatever religious/supernatural references are mentioned are unclear.

Overall, it’s a decent Match-3 game. Technically, it’s a good game. Morally, the odd vague religious references aside, this game is suitable for almost any age. I’d definitely get this game on sale if you need a Match-3 game.