In this Titanium Court review, we dive into what feels like the first prestige match-three game ever made. It is a bizarre, wonderful mash-up of a match-three puzzler, an autobattler, and a lo-fi visual novel, occasionally punctuated by goofy electric folk performances.
While its meditations on the hidden meanings of road signs are right up our alley, the gameplay presents a unique challenge. Despite its brilliance, one of its central hooks—match-three tile sliding—proved to be a significant obstacle during our playthrough.
A War Without Meaning
The story follows a nameless protagonist whisked away to an alternate universe following a sudden, mysterious shattering of her world. She finds herself in the middle of a forever war between two nondescript factions, eventually becoming queen of the Titanium Court.
This "royal faerie court" is a strange place where inhabitants speak "mostly in riddles and nonsense." The conflict itself feels entirely hollow, as the fight against the opposing red court lacks any compelling motive or traditional justification.
The gameplay loop is split into two distinct phases:
- High Tide: The match-three phase where you shape the battlefield by matching trees (for wood), water, and rocks.
- Low Tide: The autobattle phase where you deploy soldiers, resource-gatherers, and defensive aides presented as cards.
- The Overworld: Progressing through a grid toward final bosses.
Chaotic Mechanics and Randomness
During the High Tide phase, players must balance gathering resources with destroying enemy blocks. However, random complications can frequently disrupt even the best-laid plans:
- Giant jars that distract faery soldiers from defending the court.
- Giant shoes that attempt to sell you real estate.
- Goats demanding tolls that can lead to certain death if unpaid.
- Enemy catapults and warships that require strategic tile placement to neutralize.
Because these elements are randomized, pulling off a long-term strategy is never guaranteed. While shops offer buffs and boons to assist in battle, spending your hard-earned money is always a risk when you might need it for a health-replenishing hospital later.
If you do succumb to the chaos, death isn't the end. Every failure pours more wine into your Comfort glass, allowing you to spend points on permanent advantages for future runs.
The Verdict: A Titanium Court Review
What elevates this game above a standard roguelite is its incredible presentation and writing. The prose is abundant and gloriously funny, featuring descriptions like a bridge being "as a door defined by its presence rather than its absence."
The tone is delightfully asymmetric. One moment you are witnessing victorious baseball pixel art, and the next, you are listening to a "charred guitar wig out" that sounds like it was recorded directly to cassette by a drain-dwelling loon. It is charmingly stupid, quietly disturbing, and endlessly surprising.
Ultimately, this Titanium Court review must acknowledge a fundamental friction. While the genre-blending is conceptually smart, the core match-three mechanic can feel dull and repetitive. No matter how much strategic complexity AP Thomson adds via interacting blocks, the underlying requirement to match three tiles remains a hurdle for those who dislike the genre.
Game Details
- Developer: AP Thomson
- Publisher: Fellow Traveller
- Release Date: April 23, 2026
- Platform Status: Steam Deck Verified
- Tested Hardware: RTX 3060 (laptop), Ryzen 5 5600H, 16GB RAM
