Letter Quest is a word puzzler that mixes elements of board games like Boggle and Scrabble with turn-based RPG battles.  You play as a cute little character who looks like a cross between the Grim Reaper and Orko from the He-Man cartoons.  Defeat enemies like ghosts and dust bunny monsters by spelling words.  Not sure why you are doing this as the in-game instructions don’t really make that clear, but your little character likes pizza, apparently.  Letter Quest is available for many home consoles and mobile devices, but recently it is now available as a cross-buy on the PS4 and Vita (reviewed on Vita here).

In each stage you must defeat a certain number of monsters to pass the level.  On the bottom of the screen is an assortment of 15 letters.  You must tap on them to spell words and attack the enemy.  Using longer words and uncommon letters (like Q, Z, etc.) result in stronger attacks.  Be on the lookout for colored tiles that will grant special attributes when used.  After you spell a word, the enemy will attack you.  They can damage you head on or make letter tiles turn to poison, become less effective, etc.  If you can beat all the monsters without losing all your own hit points, you’ll pass the level.  You can earn multiple stars for each stage, too.  You’ll earn one star after completion, but can replay the same stage again with a time limit or other rule changes to collect even more stars!

By defeating monsters and completing stages, you’ll earn gems that you can use to buy upgrades and items in shops, as well as other goodies.  You can upgrade your stats, like health, defense, and strength, as well as buy books that you can level up that cause various effects as you spell words.  You can also buy healing items like potions to use during the stages as well as unlock cosmetic goodies like new weapons and playable characters as you progress.

The main problem I had with this game is the text was way too small on the Vita.  I don’t know if it’s any better or not on the PS4, as the Vita’s touch screen makes it simpler to play.  Also, while there are instructional pop-ups that let you know how to play, the in-game manual doesn’t explain a dang thing, which is unacceptable as a download only title.  It seems like this game would work better as a mobile title anyway, which is where I think it started out.  But if you enjoy board games like Boggle or Scrabble, or spelling video games like Bookworm, you’ll want to check this one out anyway.

Kid Factor:

Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence. While you do trade blows with ghosts and monsters, you just get knocked back when hit, and defeated characters just fall over and disappear.  Strong reading and spelling ability as well as letter recognition is required, but since this game reinforces those skills, it could be considered educational as well.

Tags: Game Reviews