WordCaster Review

WordCaster is a fantasy themed Boggle-style word game that has players fighting enemies through spelling words on a grid of letters. Although there are games out there that have successfully capitalized on the concept of using spelling or other puzzle mechanics as a battle system in an adventure game, WordCaster does precious little to make the experience feel like anything beyond an 'okay' Boggle game with fantasy art in it.

As a Boggle-style game, WordCaster feels very familiar to anyone that has played Letterpress or Wordament. Players are given a grid of letters and must spell as many words as possible to increase their score. WordCaster differentiates itself by framing the action as a combat sequence, making scoring feel more like attacking an enemy, but otherwise the gameplay is largely the same at its core.

Of course there are some other differences, like players in WordCaster finding spells that alter the way their attacks work or allow for some manipulation of the word board in a way that is typically not allowed. Also, since the game is simulating combat the time pressure is exerted by goblins and other creatures attacking the player character, although this merely acts as a disguised timer as the enemies do not use the rules of Boggle to attack.

While all of these concepts are fine, they don't really save WordCaster from being a subpar experience - largely through a lack of personality and somewhat poor controls. While the game is set in a fantasy land, there isn't much explanation for the world and the player's quest, and most of the art, while nice, is made kind of bland by the brownish hallways of the dungeons. As for the controls, swiping between tiles doesn't seem as easy to control as it should, and strange design choices like throwing loot all around the screen for players to tap on individually to pick up make playing WordCaster more tedious and frustrating than it needs to be.

Overall, WordCaster is okay at best. I can imagine players itching for a new single-player word game that are drawn to the game's art could have a pretty good time with it, but otherwise I'd suggest looking elsewhere.