It’s 2019, it’s about time we get some new twists on puzzles. Take word searches for example. The first word search was created way back in 1968, yet we’re still perfectly content hunting through grids of letters. Worry not, the future has finally arrived in the form of Fifty Words by POWGI.
In Fifty Words by POWGI, you’re no longer shown the list of words to find, and you’re not left with a bunch of unused letters at the end. Instead, you’re given a field of letters that winds and weaves across the screen along with a general concept of words to find, and then let loose to find fifty words. The best twist of all, though, is that every letter is used at least once. Once a letter no longer has any purpose, it turns grey. This all combines into a unique puzzle game that’s somehow far different from the typical word search.
Fifty Words by POWGI also continues Lightwood Games’ trend of fun, upbeat music, as well as the “terrible” puns after each puzzle that “by POWGI” games are known for. As a 37-year-old man, I’m a fan of these Dad-joke-ish puns, and they make for a nice little cherry on top of an already fun game. The controls are solid too; while I can’t speak for the PlayStation 4/Vita versions, the Switch allows you to use the Joy-Cons or the touchscreen in handheld mode, and both methods worked smoothly. You can’t play with only the touch screen as you’ll need a joystick to move the screen around (the puzzles can get big!), but it’s incredibly intuitive nonetheless.
The game isn’t challenging by any means, but I really liked the shift from “eye-straining activity to hunt for words” to “puzzle to find applicable words while working toward clearing the whole puzzle.” My inner completionist was very satisfied with each puzzle, and the word lists were terrific. As a metalhead, I couldn’t have been more excited about the “Let’s Rock!” puzzle that had bands like Slayer, Soundgarden, Weezer, Nirvana, and Anthrax in it. But even the categories that didn’t seem like they’d be favorites were fun; finding all sorts of clothing in “Something to Wear” and everything related to big or small things (in “Big Words” and “It’s a Small World” respectively) were still a blast.
Fifty Words by POWGI includes 60 puzzles, and each of the ones I completed took between 3-7 minutes. While this may not be as much content as some of Lightwood Games’ other releases, the puzzles exist in that perfect space between relaxation and puzzle. This makes them the perfect “quick little diversion” during commercial breaks, short road trips, or bathroom breaks.
Besides, any game that has a dark mode is terrific in my book. Dark mode for life!
Fifty Words by POWGI is available for Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.
A review code was provided for this review.