My playtime: 01:22:46

Intro
Harpy Lady Lyd is an arcade game that combines Tetris and Match 3 4. Two-tiled objects will come from the top and you have to line 4 tiles of the same element to clear them from the screen.

Graphics
There isn't much to talk about the visuals. Most visuals in Harpy Lady Lyd lie in its backgrounds, which are different in each level of the story mode. All of them look like the default RPG Maker backgrounds or are made in a similar style as them. Each level has a unique look depends on where the main character is traveling to.

Story
Despite there being dialogues at each level, some dialogues seem to be cut from one another. The game still pursues the same objective with a certain place in mind, although there isn't any explanation of the events that are happening between each level - all the game does is introducing a new area and give a reason for you to "fight". Surprisingly, this kind of approach works in the first few levels although I couldn't say the same for the last few ones. The events in the last few levels are closely tied together and it feels off to see that there is nothing that happened after you finish a certain "battle".

The Game
Gameplay
As I said before, the game is a combination of Tetris and Match 4 games. Two-tiled blocks will come from the top and you must arrange them so that four or more of the same colored tiles are lined up to remove them from the screen. You don't need to line them in a straight line though - the game will count the same colored tile as one unit as long as they touch each other.

There are two modes in this game: solo and quick match. In the solo mode, you're supposed to get as many points as you can, which is possible by doing combos and/or matching a lot of colored tiles at the same time - clearing 7-tiled blocks will give more points than its 4-tiled counterparts, so you're bound to strategize your stack to get the most points within the number of turns. The quick match, on the other hand, will involve battling with another NPC. Clearing some tiles will give an obstacle to the enemies' screen and vice versa. You need to compete until you or your enemies can't stack anymore, similar to how Tetris games usually end.



For those who want a taste of both modes, the game offers a story mode. It consists of 12 levels that mix both solo modes and quick matches in all levels. You'll start with an easy task to get a gist of what's happening and the game will be more difficult as you progress. However, I found that the first level to be quite hard since you need to learn to stack five or more tiled blocks to finish the level.

Length and Difficulty
I finished the story mode in ~1.5h. The game can prove to be challenging sometimes. I couldn't finish the first level because I didn't notice that I need to stack more than four tiles to get more scores. The game becomes easier after I understand more of the game, although it gave me another trouble near the end of it. Enemies became so difficult that I had to retry the battle several times to finish it, and trust me, I had no idea what I was doing to beat them - it was purely by luck.

This becomes more troublesome at the last level where I had to get a score of 2k points in the solo mode. The best that I could get was 1.7k at that time, and my score keeps on lowering on each retry. I almost gave up until luck comes to my side, letting me finish with a 4k score - I somehow managed to land a combo that grants me a 2-3k score in one go. I'm sure I won't be able to do the same feat if I tried.



Pros:
- 12 levels with increasing difficulty
- 2 game modes with different strategies to beat

Cons:
- Some levels in the story mode require luck to beat

Final Rating: 3/5
To be honest, the game was fun to play. I enjoyed the harder difficulty and it was satisfying to beat some enemies. However, the feeling seems to fade as I was getting closer to the last level. Enemies became too strong for me to beat and it feels as if I cleared each level purely by luck. While I didn't like how hard the difficulty is near the end of the game, I admit that I liked the game's unique concept, and I still enjoyed playing it.