The pen is mightier than the scythe in this grim tale about the reaper trying to grab some pizza. While the premise for Letter Quest – Grimm’s Journey is silly, its gameplay certainly isn’t. After the game’s brief comical introduction it’s time to spell out trouble for your foes in this RPG crossed with Boggle.There’s various upgrades to unlock and bosses to fight as a chibi version of everyone’s favorite reapers of lost souls.
It’s hard to liven up an old concept like spelling out various words, but Letter Quest manages to do so fairly well. Watching a monster’s health bar shrink from my various verbs and adjectives was an amazing incentive to attempt more complicated words. Each level also has 4 different challenges ranging from simply beating it to time trials and “elite” monsters that soak up more damage. Eventually you build the skill to spell your way through these levels, but if not there’s an upgrade shop to help even the odds(or buy a female version of Grim for an avatar). My personal favorite touch is the inclusion of definitions for each word you spell, though some feel a little off or only use one definition of the word. That small touch makes Grimm’s Journey feel like a great brain teaser, though that feeling quickly gets tramped by the game’s own difficulty curve. Fighting up to the first boss is a complete breeze but right after that monsters begin to have some fairly rough challenges like only being hurt by 4 letter words or with words that start with vowels. Being difficult isn’t a bad thing, but it should feel more like an easy transition than a roller coaster drop.
Word games can be a nice break between blasting aliens and saving the world. Grimm’s Journey adds a wonderful motif to make it easier to play and enjoy along with a surprising amount of depth for those that wish to dive in. Still I can’t help but think this game would be better for mobile devices. Some of the challenges feel better suited for shorter play sessions, especially the Quests that are affected by all modes of play. Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey is definitely worth checking out if you’d like a neat distraction.