Gaming In The Wild - Video Game Reviews · John Rogers

264: Scrabble meets Balatro in Word Play

·34 min·3 clips

Cypher Zero hides its rules—you must experiment with symbols to solve puzzles, creating a breakthrough moment that feels genius.

This solo episode of Gaming In The Wild features host John in Reykjavik sharing his recent gaming experiences and discoveries. He provides updates on several games he's playing, discusses industry news, and concludes with a focused review of a new indie title. John mentions pulling his podcast from Spotify in protest of CEO Daniel Ek's actions, with listeners largely supporting the move. He discusses a recent Nintendo Direct, expressing underwhelm but noting announcements for Star Wars Outlaws and the release date for *Kronos the New Dawn*. He highlights a new ad-free games website, This Week In Video Games, launched by YouTuber SkillUp. John also notes the upcoming launch of Ludocene, a game discovery platform from guest Andy Robertson. He details purchasing *Crypt of the Necrodancer* and *Haste* during Steam sales and adding *Driftwood*, *Ritual of Raven*, and the highly anticipated *Time Flies* to his review slate. John is currently immersed in *Death Stranding 2*, praising its gameplay despite finding Kojima's story presentation initially off-putting. His progress in the cycling game *Wheel World* has stalled after a mid-game twist diminished his enthusiasm. He is deeply engaged with the logic puzzle game *Cypher Zero*, enjoying the process of intuiting its rules without a tutorial. The episode's centerpiece is a review of *Wordplay*, a new $8 word-game roguelike from Mark Brown, known as the YouTuber Game Maker's Toolkit. Brown created the prototype during a game jam with the theme "Bend the rules," later refining it with feedback from GDC. *Wordplay* combines Scrabble-like tile placement with Balatro-style modifier selection between rounds, featuring over 100 possible modifiers. John finds the first three difficulty modes relatively easy, while the fourth "Legendary" mode presents a sharp difficulty spike. He completed a "Marathon" mode of roughly 20 rounds, which required building a synergistic set of modifiers. A memorable moment describes a successful "gold tile" build where his entire bag filled with special scoring tiles. John speculates the game is well-suited for a mobile port to platforms like Apple Arcade. He notes the touchscreen controls on his ROG Ally are finicky, preferring traditional button inputs. The game has a "Very Positive" rating on Steam with nearly 600 reviews. The tone is conversational and reflective, mirroring a personal gaming diary or catch-up with a friend. John's style is educational when dissecting game mechanics and warmly appreciative of indie developer efforts. This episode will appeal to listeners who enjoy detailed, first-hand impressions of indie and puzzle games, especially word game enthusiasts. Those seeking high-energy debate or solely AAA game coverage might find the pace too relaxed.

As heard by us

A patient catch-up that finds shape in glossy, stubborn games.

John starts with a stormy Reykjavik weekend, then settles into a loose catch-up on what he has been playing. Death Stranding 2, Wheel World, and the surprise draw of Wordplay all get time, and the piece works best when he leans on feel over plot: stiff writing, glossy systems,…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For a stormy weekend listen about games that start stiff, turn glossy, and can pull you in once they click.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Gaming In The Wild - Video Game Reviews