Review: WordCross is crossword made competitive

CEBU, Philippines – There was a time when newspapers were ever-present on breakfast tables or patios and crossword puzzles were a favorite pastime. 

Maybe your dad did it. Maybe your grandma. Perhaps it was even you who filled the boxes with answers. Back in those days, solving crossword puzzles can also be fierce. You might even recall scolding a sibling, cousin, or friend and telling them: “No, that’s definitely not the right answer.” 

If you miss competitive crosswords, or just miss solving the word puzzle game in general, then WordCross, a game made by Leveret Games.

Leveret Games is a game development studio with offices in the Philippines and Singapore. Ria Lu, CEO of Leveret Games is based in Manila.

Chill or Competitive?

So are you a chill or competitive crossworder? Either way, both players can definitely enjoy WordCross. 

For single players, there are two modes to enjoy: Survival and Relaxed. 

In Survival, you race against a clock that starts with three minutes and each correct solve adds five more seconds. The goal is to survive for as long as you can. It sounds (and starts) easy, up until it isn’t (because time pressure is real). 

Meanwhile, in Relaxed, you answer the board at your own pace. This mode is perfect if you just want to chill while firing up your neurons for fun. 

It’s time to duel (if you have friends)

Although I found the solo player modes to be fun, the game is more entertaining going up against friends. After all, WordCross’s original gimmick was crossword x battle royale. 

As such, you can jump into multiplayer by hosting private lobbies with friends or by queuing up for online matches.

In multiplayer, you can play up to three other players in WordCross. When the game starts, the goal is to solve and claim as many tiles from the board as possible. Each match lasts for ten minutes. 

During multiplayer matches, you can also challenge other players in a duel. Duels are activated once two players are at the same tile and thus they race to solve it first. If you are able to knock out an opponent in this way, you then take 20% of their tiles (game immediately ends if the game is a one-versus-one).

To spice it even more, you can gain advantages and deter your opponents from claiming tiles by using several power-ups. Some of my personal favorites were the SmokeScreen (which blocks all opponents’ vision for 20 seconds) and Reversi (which reverses a player’s input on a tile until the word is solved). There are other power-ups to utilize in WordCross, but I won’t spoil it in this review.

As fun as WordCross is, unfortunately, there seems to be no other players playing WordCross, at least, at the time I was testing the game. 

I tried venturing into their online server’s matchmaking, only to be disappointed as I failed at finding anyone else. The only time I found an opponent via matchmaking is when me and my friend both queued up at the same time. Even then, the game took its time to queue us both together.

Think fast, type fast

Whether you’re playing solo survival or against your friendly foes, you’ve got to think fast and type even faster. 

Honestly, that’s the thrill and allure of WordCross. Playing the game, you’ve only got limited time so you have to quickly read the hints, figure out the answer, type it (properly), and then hit enter (don’t forget to do this; forgetting cost me some precious seconds in some of my games). 

The game’s in-match music also accentuates the think fast, type fast vibe the game has going for. In a sense, the music is a double-edged sword; sometimes the music helps you think clearer but it can also be a metronome of haste and panic. 

Levels to this game

During the first few times of testing out this game, I was pleasantly surprised to discover WordCross has levels to its game, literally!

In its latest update back in January of this year, WordCross introduced Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels. 

CEFR is simply a system that rates language ability on a scale from beginner to proficient, basically describing what learners can understand and do.

As such, WordCross has the following levels:

• A1–A2  (Beginner)
• B1–B2 (Intermediate)
• C1–C2 (Advanced)

By default, all CEFR levels (A1–C2) are enabled, but you can toggle them to your preference (and proficiency in English). 

Additionally, the Non-CEFR Words toggle lets you turn off extra words to keep things simple, or turn them on to learn more new and challenging words.

Overall Review 

All in all, WordCross succeeds in turning a traditionally quiet pastime into something lively, tense, and surprisingly competitive, all without losing the option to just sit back and relax.

Its biggest strength lies in that flexibility. You can treat it as a personal brain exercise in Relaxed mode, a stress test in Survival, or a chaotic battle of wits with friends in multiplayer.

That said, the lack of an active online player base holds it back from fully realizing its battle royale potential. Good thing the solo player modes were added.

Still, if you’ve ever argued over crossword answers at the breakfast table, or just enjoy testing how fast your brain can connect the dots, WordCross is worth a look. If you want to give it a try, you can do so by testing its demo available on Steam.