Words of Yendor

If you like roguelikes and word games then you will probably like this. It's cheap and fun for what it is. It's multiple word games in one tied together with rogue elements (no permanent progression). Cool aesthetic and lore (which I wasn't expecting from this type of game), though it's entirely optional if you don't want to engage with it. I do find it pretty easy though, and I don't consider myself a scrabble master or anything. The dev seems to listen to feedback and make improvements which is good. Which brings me to some small criticisms, some of which are definitely subjective but some of which could be easy fixes: 1. Character customisation doesn't save between runs which is odd, unless I missed the option for it but then it should be more obvious. 2. Some balance issues. Any class that starts with shorter scout/duel length or no composer upgrades is objectively worse, extra items don't make up for that. Lexicoscope is too strong and not fun because it just plays the game for you. 3. Some minor vagueness in mechanics/wording (eg. the graveyard event curses you, and the button says 'defend yourself to remove the curse' but it doesn't actually, you remain cursed even if you …

TLDR: If you like words games, I highly recommend the game. It's well done and fun. Words of Yendor - is a dungeon crawler with word games. The emphasis is on words, even though there are slay-the-spire-esque mechanics like visiting events, healing, shops, equipping artifacts, using consumables etc. However, the way it's all done is very unique. You begin with character creation: there are plenty of visual options for avatar, which is a nice touch. Then you choose one of several presets, which would allocate you a certain amount of consumables and artifacts, as well as define your starting dueling and scouting stats. Actually, even prior to that, you choose the length of a run (from 3 to 12) You go through a "dungeon" with several paths to choose, however only the first one is known, the other 1 or 2 are hidden and in order to find out the nature of these encounters, you need to scout them first. This is the first mini-game which consists of a collection of letters thrown into a grid and you need to construct a word by connecting letters horizontally or vertically. AI does that too (usually it's word is covered), then the word is revealed and if your scores higher, you …

What a lovely game. I mean, Victorian word game roguelike? Yes please. First off, it's very well-designed, in all ways. Visually, it looks exactly like it's supposed to, and it always feels very smooth and polished. The character customization is way more sophisticated than I was expecting, and there's also a randomize feature if you don't care about customizing your character. The gameplay is also fantastic. There are several different types of word games depending on the encounter type, with equipabales or consumables that can give you advantages. Obviously, there's an element of luck just in terms of what words and letters you're getting, and some encounters are unavoidable (so if you get an unavoidable assassin, it's generally either use a flashbang or RIP). But that's just part of the challenge. On your first playthrough, the game might feel a little overwhelming. There are so many mechanics being thrown at you, and it takes a playthrough or two to get used to it, but the game becomes pretty intuitive after that. Showdowns feel impossible at first but are actually pretty manageable once you get the hang of them. After you beat all the different word lengths, you can try…

Although it's designed to be able to create writing prompts / launchpoints, I find it sufficiently engaging as a standalone experience that I haven't actually used that aspect.

Edit: i really like the idea, that this game exists, but it has to have more character to it. Once you have done about 5 runs it feels like a job. It gets boring and you look for efficiency. What you want to get instead is novelty and sense of wonder with the options available. If you had a game mode for the interesting Gothic quotes as awards or maybe a game mode that only does them in the form of Hangman, I could see me coming back for more. As it stands it is a 2-3 bucks game with some gimmick, nice poem excerpts and Bierce's Devil's Dictionary shenanigans providing a laugh/ food for thought here and there. Which is more than most don't get me wrong, but this needs a few more touch and then it could really get addictive instead of just interesting. ------ Good job, but... Expected a narrative, it is hardly that. And the hangman mechanics are just too severe a punishment. In my opinion the best part of the game is the verses buried behind the hangman, but one tries to avoid them if the run to be successful. Not good, if you would make a separate game with the hangman mechanic and verse of romantics fitting the game, that would be a good pitch. As the game is right now I would …

You can die from winning.