TheRetroArcade
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Joined: Feb 2026
Beyond Words finds the perfect balance between synergy and spelling.
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So, the latest game from FPS legends Steve Ellis and David Doak—who worked on GoldenEye and Perfect Dark at Rare before co-founding Free Radical and creating the TimeSplitters series—is… a spelling game. But putting any disappointment that it's not a shooter aside, the question is: is it any good in its own right?
Based on my time with the demo, currently available to try for free as part of Steam NextFest, I think it's looking surprisingly promising.
In the wake of Balatro's success, there have been a lot of word game roguelikes, essentially reworking the formula but with a Scrabble twist and a bag of tiles instead of a deck of cards. Frankly, a lot of them aren't great.
But, as the name suggests, I think Beyond Words is doing a lot more than your average example of this sub-subgenre.
The core structure is familiar. Playing on what is essentially a Scrabble board, you get a certain amount of moves each round to try and hit a target score. Succeed, and you move onto the next round with a higher target, and then a boss round with some kind of modifier to work around.
Between rounds, you can shop for cards that map pretty directly to Balatro's jokers, triggering bonuses each round in the order they're arranged that can add to your score in various ways—from simply adding to the multiplier, to retriggering certain letters, to increasing the value of certain word lengths.
So far, a pretty standard combo of word game and roguelike, and where I often see these games fall down is in finding the balance between the two. Too much emphasis on bonuses and synergies, and the actual spelling starts to feel irrelevant—often sending you down the path of high-scoring two and three letter words. But equally if the roguelike elements aren't impactful enough, it loses that thrill of mastery and becomes just a dry test of your vocabulary.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Beyond Words swerves either fate with some really clever choices. My favourite is how generous its dictionary is. Breaking the tyrannical rules of Scrabble, the game allows almost any word—including names, slang, proper nouns, and, yes, the filthiest swear words you can think of.
It's amazing how freeing that simple change is—and how funny. Scoring big roun...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
So, the latest game from FPS legends Steve Ellis and David Doak—who worked on GoldenEye and Perfect Dark at Rare before co-founding Free Radical and creating the TimeSplitters series—is… a spelling game. But putting any disappointment that it's not a shooter aside, the question is: is it any good in its own right?
Based on my time with the demo, currently available to try for free as part of Steam NextFest, I think it's looking surprisingly promising.
In the wake of Balatro's success, there have been a lot of word game roguelikes, essentially reworking the formula but with a Scrabble twist and a bag of tiles instead of a deck of cards. Frankly, a lot of them aren't great.
But, as the name suggests, I think Beyond Words is doing a lot more than your average example of this sub-subgenre.
The core structure is familiar. Playing on what is essentially a Scrabble board, you get a certain amount of moves each round to try and hit a target score. Succeed, and you move onto the next round with a higher target, and then a boss round with some kind of modifier to work around.
Between rounds, you can shop for cards that map pretty directly to Balatro's jokers, triggering bonuses each round in the order they're arranged that can add to your score in various ways—from simply adding to the multiplier, to retriggering certain letters, to increasing the value of certain word lengths.
So far, a pretty standard combo of word game and roguelike, and where I often see these games fall down is in finding the balance between the two. Too much emphasis on bonuses and synergies, and the actual spelling starts to feel irrelevant—often sending you down the path of high-scoring two and three letter words. But equally if the roguelike elements aren't impactful enough, it loses that thrill of mastery and becomes just a dry test of your vocabulary.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Beyond Words swerves either fate with some really clever choices. My favourite is how generous its dictionary is. Breaking the tyrannical rules of Scrabble, the game allows almost any word—including names, slang, proper nouns, and, yes, the filthiest swear words you can think of.
It's amazing how freeing that simple change is—and how funny. Scoring big roun...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?