Instantly loved the concept as a fan of both word games and roguelikes, and I was not disappointed! Fun game so far, easy to learn and hard to master. I tried the demo and got hooked so bought the full game.

First, the most prominent issue to me: as a Steam Deck player, the UI is too small, even at fullscreen size. I’ve seen the mobile UI and it’s definitely better for gameplay — I’ve accidentally selected buttons that I didn’t mean to before on my Steam Deck. I think giving some options for larger UI would be helpful for me as well as more visually accessible.

Everything following is personal taste or suggestions from me:

I feel that the game is a little too hard early on — I don’t think I should have to use gem upgrades in order to beat the most basic kind of run. The costs and point goals are pretty demanding before using gems. That’s just my opinion, though, and the game does get easier after getting upgrades.

The buffs get a little same-y after a while; most are variations on a few different types, e.g. [multiplier] times [letter spot]. There’s not a lot of risk to be taken, so synergies tend to fall into the same patterns.

Currently, the only ways to affect the tile bag are to destroy tiles, add tiles, and upgrade individual tiles. I think it would be fun to be able to apply more chance. I’ve been trying to avoid the comparison to Balatro, but the spectral cards are a good example of that kind of high risk / high reward gameplay. Something like “randomly upgrade three tiles, but permanently remove a letter for the rest of the run”.

Having achievements would be awesome. I’m sure there’s a whole lot to come up with, and I’m a sucker for completionism.

That isn’t to say the game is bad — these are just nitpicks. I love the concepts that make this game expand past Scrabble! Brick tiles are fun to strategize with, shiny cards are exciting to find, and the different kinds of tile upgrades are interesting and unique. I saw on the subreddit that there are new items and features in development, so I’m sure the game will only improve over time. Overall very impressive for a single dev — keep up the good work!