Lingo

From the mind of Brenton Wildes, comes a word puzzle game mixed with convoluted and extremely non-linear maps and geometry. Unlike many other word games, which might rely solely on your quick wits and base knowledge of the english language, you also need to traverse a convoluted map that gets more complex and interconnected with every puzzle solved, and discern the many different rules that apply to every single puzzle, using logic, deduction, and pattern recognition skills. Without further ado, let's talk about what makes this game so special.

A mysterious world filled with words and colors and oh god I'm lost again

The base gameplay is quite simple: You find a wall panel with a word as a clue, and a textbox underneath to write an answer of your own that, according to the clue and specific rules that you must figure out in order to find out the correct answer. Whilst one of the main focus points in this game is the extreme increase in difficulty regarding the words to find and rules to abide to, the second, and frankly what I believe to be the most important, point of the game is the insane and convoluted structure of the different levels present.

You might walk straight through a door, looking to find a new area filled with puzzles, only to find out you're back where you started and, on closer inspection, getting there would be impossible in the real world (like a wormhole, portal, or infinite staircase, for example). However, this isn't just to annoy the player; knowing how to traverse this twisted map is crucial to understand the main rules.

For the puzzles themselves, the game seamlessly introduces all the different rules with tutorials that explains many applications of each and every rule. This, however, is not the important point, it's to extrapolate all the different rules the game has, in order to prepare for the one, true test, and where I believe the game truly shines, is the combination of all these different rules, especially when the order in which you apply the rules to get the answer.

I could get into more details regarding the rules of the game, but it's been really hard to actually speak about the gameplay without spoiling the way the game unfolds (in fact, I feel I might've spoiled stuff already), so the only thing left to add is you should give the demo of Lingo 2 a try (supposedly coming out this 2025!), to sort of see what to expect from this game.

What's missing and what's available:

Now, let's speak about something the game truly lacks: Music and actual sound effects that'd make you want to listen to them for more than 2 hours, maximum. I felt that the game plays better using your own music while leaving the sound effects on, for confirmation of puzzle completion. It's not that the music is bad, however it also isn't one I'd listen or enjoy outside of the game.

Finally, let's speak about the extra things you can enjoy: Workshop custom maps! This makes the game way much longer, as the community add new custom rules that don't interfere with the original rules, and actually add more complexity, re-igniting the spirit of rule discovery that makes this game special. If the original game, without completing the extremely complex puzzles, takes about 40 hours (taking it easy), then the workshop adds 100's of hours more, with more witty, fun, and mind-numbing puzzles to enjoy.

Overall, the game is a solid 7.5, leaning to 8, for the average puzzle enjoyer (9 for the really hardcore puzzle gamers, like me). The difficulty ramps up like crazy, regardless of your ability with the english language, and while the music might leave more to be desired, and the graphics are basic, those factors don't really impact the score in my eyes. The frustration one might feel stumbling around in the dark and finding the next puzzle might be daunting, but the satisfaction from getting the answer, and beating a level 100% is rewarding.