Greatest typing game I've played. Many players are complaining that it is too difficult, and I would agree that it needs a couple of "introductory" levels before the current first level -- it is quite difficult until you understand the mechanics of the game and start coming up with a strategy. There are a couple other points where the game seems "impossible", but it is beatable in the end. Highly recommended if you like typing in stressful situations. This might be the first (second) review I've given in the several years I've played Steam games.

I played the early access update 2.5 that was released on 19 Dec 2024, and I purchased it for A$12 on sale. This review is mostly to the devs. This game has potential. It is currently a bit unbalanced and can be improved as it is in early access after all. At the price I paid, I do not regret it. I've played a number of typing games, I'm a fast typist, and I love typing on my keyboard. I appreciate the roguelite twist and I enjoyed my time with this game (because I enjoy typing on my keyboard). I look forward to seeing where the devs take it. However, as the game currently stands, it is not where I can recommend it.

1. Enemies overlap each other. Please don't, this doesn't suit a typing game of any genre at any challenge level.

2. The hidden-letter enemies suck. This makes the game not fun. Speed typing is so much about speed reading, this brutalizes the fun of speed typing. Keep the word-scramble boss, but take this enemy type out please.

3. Enemies spawning within the map and not from the edge of the map. I accept the one enemy type (with the 4-diamond-petal glyph) that explodes into smaller enemies when killed, but I hope this is the only case where enemies spawn within the map. All other enemies should keep to spawning outside/on the edge of the map.

4. The word-scramble boss on Trial 2 is too overpowered to be anyone's second round in this game. Especially with the way the rest of the game is implemented.

5. Following from above, the scrambled word is not prominent over the other activity happening on screen. Ideally I'd prefer if enemies never overlapped, but if overlapping stays in the game, I'd want the scrambled word to stay in the highest contrast font colour and be kept on top of all other enemies.

6. Another reviewer said the game feels overbalanced on perfect typing. If this is the case I wonder if it means restricting strategy. I may want to time when I trigger Blade or Tesla, for example, when an applicable word is in a better position on the map for me to trigger it so it covers more enemies, or overlaps with other turrets when I have the augment where Turrets make enemies more susceptible to damage. Or I may want to get a Pickup. Abandoning my current word to do any of that means breaking my perfect combo. Has it been programmed where certain cases won't break perfect combo? For example if my next word is a Pickup, and I got that perfectly, it shouldn't break my combo, even if I had to abandon a partially typed word to do it. Other cases that I think should be exempt from breaking perfect combo are, when typing a letter that doesn't start any words that are on screen, and when abandoning a word that has already been killed (I know there is an augment for completingly a killed word but I don't use it over the other augments). For the former I mean for example when the words on screen are apple, bunker, candle, and I hit an E, which doesn't start any of those words so there shouldn't be a break in combo. A break in combo should only come when I've started a word and my next letter doesn't match.

7. Augmentations and unlocks can do with a bit more rebalancing. On Trial 1 if you keep targeting enemies after the boss shows up, you can keep picking up loot and getting money. With how difficult the game starts at, a player can unlock all augments without even passing a single omen. Then there's no more unlocks to get enough dopamine to keep playing. Please don't just take the easy way out where you simply increase the costs of the augments or make it so money stops dropping after the boss shows up. There could be other types of unlocks/rewards for attempts that don't run out so quickly. Perhaps unlocking an extra augment slot?

8. There are too many different glyphs for enemy types, and there is no tutorial or compendium explaining their types. Some are easy to understand: the basic solid circle and solid circle with rings are a great visual indicator to the enemies' health, and the 4-diamond-petal indicates a particular enemy type that explodes. But some others like the square and hexagon and the 3-solid-dots-on-a-circle glyphs (and maybe more) feel a bit cryptic. The game is busy and frantic, the player has no time to discover and learn on their own. It feels like when an infograph has too many fonts, it's a design faux pas.

9. The weapon page can be greatly improved in the visual delivery of information.

10. The weapons list does not page down even though I have more than is shown.

11. Let me use arrow keys left and right to page on the weapon page when the modifiers get long, instead of using Q/W.

12. I think Blade Trap's Chance to Inflict Poison should be Chance to Inflict Blight instead. When picking up a weapon upgrade the upgrade name uses the term "Poison" but it looks like Chemical, Blight, and Poison are basically synonymous.

13. When I turn off typing sound in the options, when typing the boss text on Trial 1 and Trial 3, there are still typing sounds.

Ideas:
1. Allow players to choose to practice left hand heavy words, right hand heavy words, top row/home row/bottom row heavy words.
2. This might just be me: my left hand feels a bit more active than my right. I don't feel this when I played Epistory (another typing game). I wonder if a letter frequency test has been done on the words in the game's dictionary to balance the occurence of letters.

So much fun and stress at the same time. Amazing concept and realisation. It also very nice to see several language available (both for interface and playing)