The recent Indie World showcase featured a rather curious word game for the Switch eShop, but chances are you may have missed it thanks to its initial exclusivity in Japan.
Fear not, dear reader! According to a new listing on the US eShop, '文字遊戲 Word Game' is heading to the West (well, the US, at least – we've not yet seen mention of it on the EU eShop), and it'll be available later today for $34.99. Whoa, whoa, whoa... Hold up, that seems a fairly hefty price for a word game, hm..? Yes, we were surprised too, and truth be told, we're not 100% clear on what the actual objective is.
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From what we can gather, this isn't your average word game like Scrabble or Boggle and whatnot. Instead, you actually control an animated Chinese character and make your way through a series of puzzles. It looks fairly basic for the most part, but there are also moments of true ingenuity in which the words animate into complete new objects or creatures. You have to see if in motion to really 'get it', we reckon.
Anyway, here's the official, totally-not-confusing description:
Word game is literally a game of words.
Words are not only composing narratives and interfaces, but also representing objects, characters and scenes.
Player controls "I" to challenge puzzles composed of words.
When "I" appears a secret room, in-game narrative clearly tells "I" that "there is no door”. However, in the world of word game, “I" can walk through the "door” because there is a “door”.
“I" should find clues between lines, delete words to change the meaning of sentences, or shift words to rewrite facts. “I” must be wise and brave enough complete the mission of words.
May the best "I” win!