Help Grimm defeat monsters, ghosts, evil bunnies and more using the power of words.
I am such a fan of word games, so Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey by Bacon Bandit Games was right up my alley. Basically, you play a little Grim Reaper character, Grimm (later, you can choose from Grimm or Rose, his cute, ponytailed associate), and you follow a simple story line of his quest to get pizza. But the story isn’t very important. I personally didn’t pay attention to it much and still enjoyed playing the game.
On each level, you’re given fifteen letter tiles, each with a value like in Scrabble. You use the letter tiles to create words, which you use as your attacks against a few ghosts and monsters and sometimes bunnies. One of the little things I particularly liked about this game was that the definition of each word you use to attack appears in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen (though apparently the game’s encyclopedia thinks pandas are carnivorous). You earn crystals for defeating monsters and beating levels, which you can then use to purchase upgrades, potions, and miscellaneous items.
I was not expecting so much content behind this game’s cutesy first impression. Really, there’s a lot to it. Each of the forty levels has four different star values for which you can play: there’s the normal mode where you just have to beat all the monsters, a time trial, a special challenge mode where you may have to beat the level with one word or fewer than 20 letters, and a crystal star mode, where all the monsters are elite and have specific conditions where they do or do not take damage from certain words. Some monsters can also mess with your letter tiles by breaking them, changing half of them to Zs, locking them, poisoning them, etc. There may be too many of these effects, and they may linger frustratingly long, but at least it keeps the gameplay interesting. Also, while you’re playing along the map, there are some places where levels branch off, so you have to watch for those so you don’t miss a miniboss or alternative paths. And there are quests you complete for extra crystals as you play, like using all the letters on the board at least once or defeating a certain number of monsters.
Overall, Letter Quest was fun and exceedingly adorable. There are so many little things that come together to make this seemingly simple game much more engaging than one would expect.
For more information, visit http://www.letterquestgame.com.
