Introduction

Word Play, the second release from British journalist Mark Brown, better known as the host of the million-subscriber Youtube series Game Maker's Toolkit, is out now on Steam! The game describes itself as "your favourite word game - but where you get to change the rules and the tiles as you play!"

Word Play comes as a surprise to many, considering GTMK's last game, Mind Over Magnet, released just seven months prior! But you know what they say, actions speak louder than words, so let's find out if I can put in a good word for Word Play.

Gameplay

Word Play is, of course, all about spelling words! You're given 16 letters in the form of tiles, which you can arrange however you want to spell words four or more tiles long. I think the length requirement was to avoid people abusing the system like in Scrabble with short, high-scoring words that I swear are made-up: "qi," "zuz," "pyx," and more come to mind. Moreover, the longer the word, the more bonus points you'll earn! +5 for a 5-tile word, +25 for an 8-tile word, etc.

To win, make it through all rounds by scoring enough points without running out of plays, which are used up each time you submit a word.

However, Word Play isn't your granny's word game! You also get to choose from 1 of 3 perks at the end of every round. Perks come in three forms:

• Modifiers - modify the rules to help you score additional points, such as by making words starting with a specific letter score double, by making the nth tile be worth more, or by simply giving you an extra tile slot. You can only hold six at a time, but they can be sold for more refreshes, so choose wisely!
• Upgrades - let you upgrade a tile to a more powerful variant. Here are all of the special tiles you can get:
  • Golden - multiplies your word score by the number of golden tiles used in the word
  • Emerald - has a 25% chance of being worth 5x its points
  • Diamond - is worth 5 points more each time it's NOT submitted
  • Potion - adds its points to your plays, but is destroyed after use
• Gifts - adds new tiles to your letter bag, which is where new tiles are drawn from after you submit a word. There are quite a few rare tile variants you can get from gifts, all listed below:
  • Dot - doubles the word score if placed at the end of the word
  • Exclamation - scores equal to the value of all unsubmitted tiles if placed at the end of the word
  • Mirror - copies the letter and score of the tile left of it
  • Glass - duplicates the tile you put in, but breaks upon submission and cannot be upgraded
  • Qu - a tile worth 10 points that combines letters "Q" and "U'
  • Ing - a tile worth 8 points that combines the letters of the "-ing" suffix
  • Ers - a tile worth 8 points that combines the letters of the "-ers" suffix
  • Extra Point Tiles - are standard tiles that are worth additional points
  • Wildcard - can be any letter
  • Plus - allow you to submit an extra word of any length

By strategically using your perks, combined with your vocabulary, you'll be able to rack up hundreds of points in no time! Depending on the difficulty you've selected, you'll have to complete a different number of rounds to win. I was able to word my way past the easy, normal and hard difficulties, but I met my match with the legendary difficulty!

The further on you go, you'll encounter more and more special rounds, which are incredibly dangerous, as they'll put certain restrictions on you, such as forcing you to start with a certain word, forcing you to only spell words of a certain length, locking the first row of your tiles, and more. Master those, however, and nothing can stop you!

I give you my word, the game is INCREDIBLY addicting, especially if you're already a fan of word games like Scrabble, Words With Friends, and Bookworm Adventures, all of which made up my childhood and are probably part of the reason I am still literate!

Art

The art style of Word Play is very simple, but in the best way possible! All information the player needs is easily available from a sleek, clean interface. The current round is displayed in the top right corner, your remaining plays are at the bottom, and your perks are on a sidebar to the left. The bright, white letters themselves pop out nicely from the background, which is just a gradient, and special letters are color-coded and given a shine effect!

My eyes are drawn to the perk cards in particular. The little bit of shine and texture on them makes them feel like real, actual playing cards! It's such a small detail, but it makes me love the game's charmingly simplistic art style even more.

Audio

Word Play's soundtrack, composed by Zach Jones, is truly superb. LIke with the art style, it's simple, but that's all it needs to be! The songs are laid-back, chill, and catchy. Many of the tracks remind me of the equally simple yet memorable songs of the Wii era, such as the famous Wii Shop and Mii Channel themes.

My only complaint with the soundtrack is that it is not nearly long enough! With just nine songs and a runtime of under 20 minutes, it leaves me wanting more. I worry that, after hearing the same songs over and over, things may start to get old.

Nonetheless, Word Play has incredible sound design! Everything is high-quality as you'd expect, and the sounds you hear when shuffling around your tiles, spelling words, and refreshing do a perfect job of capturing the real-life sounds that a bag of Scrabble tiles make! It evokes Christmas board games with the family.

Replay Value

My biggest criticism with Word Play is its relative lack of replay value. Now yes, each playthrough of the game is random, and you can play forever, but I wish there was more "content" content. There are a few unlockable modes, such as the Legendary and Marathon difficulties, as well as 23 Steam achievements, but I wish there was more! I wish there were more ways I could show off my vocabulary skills to the world. In this area, I think the game could take a lot of inspiration from Words With Friends a mobile game similar in style to Word Play.

For example, in that game, if you highlight a word you'll be able to see its definition as well as the highest score ever earned using it! This is an excellent way to reward mastery of the game's perks and special tiles. (also, now that I think about it, the game is definitely missing a dictionary feature to look up the meanings of new, confusing words you might encounter)

Moreover, an online versus mode like what Words With Friends has could do wonders in terms of adding replay value. This mode could be as simple as a race to see who can earn the most points in a certain number plays! I just want something more, you know? All the word games I've previously mentioned are so fun because you play them with real people, whether it be on an in-person board or an online one! Word Play, as fun as it is, feels lonely by comparison.

Other Notes

Here I wanted to highlight GMTK's commitment to making Word Play so accessible! There are options for so many different things that I didn't even consider! There's basic backgrounds and high-contrast modes, sure, but there's also spelling suggestions, highlighted vowels, and three different dyslexia fonts! Moreover, all special tiles display their name and function when hovered over, so colorblind folk need not worry, either.

Additionally, users are able to petition for words not included in the game's dictionary to potentially be added in a future update! This is an excellent idea.

Perhaps the only thing that could be improved in terms of the settings is support for multiple languages. Currently, only English is supported. As a developer myself, I know localization is tedious and expensive, but with as many subscribers as GMTK has, surely he can find a willing group of volunteers to cover every major language.

Conclusion

Word Play is a FANTASTIC experience that blends the best of Scrabble with new, exciting perks, special tiles, and bonuses to help you rack up thousands of points, if you're good enough! 

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a game must be worth millions, right? Well sadly, that's all the time I have for Word Play, but I will continue to be on the edge of my seat for any potential future updates and for whatever GMTK puts out next!