The gameplay of Puzzle Fighters is very unique. The mechanics are simple and easy to understand. The gameplay, however, resembles that of a puzzle game such as Tetris or Candy Crush more than it does of fighting games like Street Fighter. However, the way you play the puzzle aspect of the game is shown through the fighting animations on the upper portion of the screen.

The puzzle features sets of two blocks which drop down on a grid style arrangement. The blocks also have different colors, as well as four variations of block types. The first type of block is the square shaped block which can be red, green, blue, or yellow. The second type of block is the circle shaped block which can also be red, green, blue, or yellow. The third type of block is the diamond block which lacks any color. The fourth type of block is the timer block, which has a countdown number on it. The blocks can be flipped in any direction on the way down. Once the blocks hit the bottom they will begin to accumulate. The majority of blocks will be square; however, the player will occasionally be given circle and diamond blocks as well. When square blocks are paired with a circle block of the same color they will disappear, and the character will attack the opponent. However, the player also has the ability to group blocks up to do more attack damage. Diamond blocks, on the other hand, will eliminate any block on the field of the same color as the one it lands on top of. The timer blocks can be a nuisance, as they basically act like a null block until the timer runs out. The timer goes down by one number each time the player places a set of blocks. The timer can start as high as five. The player is able to arrange the same colored blocks in specific patterns to do combo attacks.

Each character has an affinity color associated with them. When using moves with the same color as their affinity, the character is given bonus effects such as boosted damage, or stun effects. Each character also has support super abilities in the event they are assigned to be a support character. These support supers are essentially quick attacks where the support character quickly jumps in to assist the lead character. Each character also has various main attacks which the play may swap in and out.On the topic of support characters, the player chooses two characters to assist in battle, making your team consist of three fighters.

The game is still extremely new, thus a competitive meta has not fully evolved. However, near the top of the leaderboard, some characters seem to be used more often than others. However, it is unclear if certain characters provide a competitive advantage.

The gameplay mechanics are not very deep. In terms of interacting with your opponent, there are only two ways you can manipulate the game. The first is through timer blocks, each character is able to drop timer blocks on the opponent when doing combo attacks. This can help make it difficult for your opponent to attack. The other way a player can manipulate the game is efficiently organizing their blocks as they come, allowing them to do more damage with their attacks. Outside of that, the gameplay stems down to being a puzzle game.