unattributed πβοΈWordatro! bears some similarities to my last game review of Word Play. Basically, it follows the pattern of being a rogue-like game, however this one employs fewer mechanics. Each game consists of 10 rounds, with each round requiring a higher score to continue. You have a limited number of turns and re-rolls in each round, however as you make it past rounds you can add more turns and/or re-rolls.
Instead of adding or removing tiles from the bag (as you could in Word Play or Balatro), you can enhance a number of tiles value. You also get bonus effects as an award for completing a round. There are no additional specials, nor are there any bosses (or blinds like Balatro).
While this could lead one to think that this is an easier game than Word Play, it most certainly is not. It is in fact more difficult than Word Play by a mile. The escalation of the point targets in each round makes selecting more complex words that will score better difficult. It's not just selecting longer words, it's understanding the values that they will have by their placement on the board, and how they will interact with the bonuses that you've gained.
And that's something else that makes the game more of a challenge: whether you have selected the best combination of bonuses and sequenced them correctly will affect the game.
I've made it to the hard setting of the game, however, I have never completed a full game. I can make it to about round 8 (of 10), but continue to come up short.
There are, however, a few things that I have found lacking. The dictionary does seem to be missing some words that, while not the most common, are valid words that would be allowed in most other games. (The one that comes to mind right off is "rugrats".) There's also a case where I would say that the description of some of the bonuses isn't exactly clear (but that could just be me).
However, for $10USD on Steam, it's a game that is definitely worthwhile. It's a game that will bet replayable for a long time. And, there is even a daily challenge game where you compete against others if you get bored of the main game.
#gamereview #wordle #wordlelikegame #roguelikegames #balatro
