In the 1990s, the Japanese market was flooded with role-playing games. A gamer had their choice of Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Wild Arms, and so many more. When we fast forward two decades to the current generation of consoles, every game that is released has those elements. These elements include statistical progression gained through the experience of doing an in-game task. Even EA’s Madden series has RPG progression in the career mode. With so many genres being infused with the RPG elements, it’s no surprise that Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey also boasts these features. The surprise is that this vocabulary-based word game is incredibly good.
At E3 2015 it was announced that Letter Quest would be released on Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program. The heroes, Grimm and Rose, are monster hunters that use words to defeat their foes. The basic gameplay loop begins with selecting a level. Each level has four stages: stage one is the basic stage, stage two is the time trial, stage three is the challenge mode, and stage four is the hard mode. In the beginning, you will only be able to beat stage one and two of each level, as you are not strong enough to take on the challenging third and fourth stages. But that will change in time.
As you progress through the stage, you collect gems by killing monsters. These gems are then used to upgrade Grimm. Rose is locked until you progress far enough in the game. You defeat monsters by attacking with the power of the words you spell. The vocabulary portion is a mixture of Scrabble and Boggle. Each letter has a value in accordance with their rarity, like in Scrabble. The least powerful letters are bronze, medium letters are silver, and the rarest and most powerful letters are gold. For example, spelling “minute” will net you six bronzes and a really weak attack. On the other hand, “xylophone” will smash the opponent with a mixture of gold, silver, and bronze power letters. You select letters by clicking on them, retract letters by pressing “X”, and use active items or rerolls by clicking the other face buttons. Overall, the turn-based battle system works flawlessly. The controls are intuitive and clearly laid out for the player. You can click the Xbox view button at any time to receive help options that explain each icon on the screen. Everything is seamless and effortless which is incredibly important for a typing game played with a controller.
Among the many things that Letter Quest does right is its greatest hook: the RPG element. I found myself thinking of this game at work, wondering if my next upgrade would allow me to finally beat level five’s challenge stage. You spend your gems in the store to upgrade Grimm’s health, attack, defense, and dodge chance. You can also buy consumable power-ups, potions, and status effects. There are a multitude of items in the store to purchase and upgrade that actually make your character feel better and stronger. It is still up to you to create powerful words with letters you have, but some levels are impossible before you start the upgrade process. My play sessions would turn into multi-hour binges as I tried to grind out one more stage to get enough gems for the next power-up. The upgrades are meaningful and necessary. There is enough level grinding to evoke RPG memories, but not enough that it ever feels tedious. You can buy everything in the store before you complete the game, so you do not have to worry about what you level up first.
The art direction and style of Letter Quest is perfect. The game is cartoonish and cute as your big-headed death character swings his oversized scythe at floating monsters. The environments, villains, boss characters, and letter tiles are all brightly colored and beautifully animated. The enemies can spawn special letter tiles when they attack that have negative side effects. These special tiles continue to diversify the gameplay and add to the atmosphere. The game runs extremely smoothly; I experienced no screen tearing, lagging, or crashes. The game also has multiple save files and the option for a hard mode for the Shakespearean elite. I tried the hard mode, but I am not in that group.
Summary
The blending of word game and RPG mechanics has created a game that reeled me in hook, line, and sinker. The gameplay loop of collecting gems, failing, upgrading, and progressing had me returning to this game night after night. The smooth controls and visuals made my addiction pleasurable. I cannot recommend Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey enough. It is an ambassador for the turn-based, word-based, role-playing game. Even if it is the only game in the genre.
