Cursed Words: The Word Game That Isn't

My vocabulary is ever-expanding.

incredibly clever. makes me feel smart.

An incredible game that I haven't yet managed to convince others to try for very long. It being a "word game" seems to put people off, but the people who actually enjoy word games become disappointed when they hear it's a roguelike. To be perfectly clear, it's more of a roguelike. There are so many wild cards that you aren't really required to be good at word games. Heck, the goal usually isn't even about spelling the biggest word. It's more about getting items that synergize with each other, like Balatro. It's basically Balatro but with spelling. I think the main thing that keeps me coming back to it is the simplicity and overwhelming number of possible synergies. The core mechanics are so simple that a lot of strategies will just work, provided you find the items for them. And because the shop slightly leans towards items similar to the ones you already own, you have a fair chance of finding said items. You could put together a build focused around increasing tile score, the total word score, colours, curse types, word length, how you move from tile to tile, etc. And each difficulty on each character unlocks a new reward when you beat it, so there's always something to work …

Let me say the game is bigger than I initially thought. It has a lot to offer and gives you so many ways to play this. The Roguelike playstyle makes it possible to lay really long words even if you are not fluent in English - although it's good to know some words to get the game started. The graphics are lovely and even after 35 hours, I can still unlock and find new things. I am hooked! (I just lowkey hope they add some dictionary in other languages at some point, it would be wild to play this with German words!)

I was gifted this game: Had no idea what to expect but immediately got sucked into the game. I have a TBI so I am hoping this can help keep my brain sharp. requires some thinking, its nice, cute and simple. There are little characters, upgrades, bosses and the animation style is very cute.

[b]Overall:[/b] This game does a phenomenal job at using systems the player is likely to already be familiar with and weave those in together to leave the player with a game that can be engaged with in whatever capacities are most interesting to that particular player. I particularly like using the numbers and chess pieces together to the point that the game isn't really even about words anymore. That being said, I've had a lot of fun with runs that largely rely on my own vocabulary to carry me forward and it's an equally enjoyable time. [b]Art:[/b] The art style and and writing are delightfully charming, and the music is wicked good. It's the perfect vibe to relax to for anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours- I have to set timers so I know how long has passed lol. There's a good selection of characters that all come with their own run-specific quirk, and the designs clearly had a lot of love poured into them (bosses too). [b]Challenge/Replayability:[/b] This game also manages to be genuinely challenging without ever feeling unfair. I think getting this balance down must have taken a lot of effort on the developers' part, since even when I lose, I'm just thinking, "Oh man, I sh…