{"id":136761,"date":"2026-04-08T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-199211"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:00:00","slug":"mini-review-beyond-words-switch-addictive-in-the-best-ways-but-totally-copies-balatros-homework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2026\/04\/08\/mini-review-beyond-words-switch-addictive-in-the-best-ways-but-totally-copies-balatros-homework\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini Review: Beyond Words (Switch) &#8211; Addictive In The Best Ways, But Totally Copies Balatro&#8217;s Homework"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/092813d9a9d65\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/092813d9a9d65\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed pictures\" id=\"screenshots\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/163119\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/163119\/900x.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Beyond Words Review - Screenshot 1 of 10\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Back in 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/balatro\">Balatro<\/a> made big waves in the indie roguelike space, offering a relatively simple but incredibly addictive take on the age-old game of poker. After selling millions of copies, it\u2019s now spun off its own sort of <a href=\"https:\/\/nosmallgames.com\/2025\/06\/i-tried-every-balatro-like-game-i-could-find-in-steam-next-fest-again\/\">sub-genre<\/a> inspired by its mechanics, and one such game is called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/beyond_words\">Beyond Words<\/a> from MindFuel Games, a new studio comprising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/n64\/goldeneye_007\">GoldenEye<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/gamecube\/timesplitters_2\">TimeSplitters<\/a> veterans Steve Ellis and David Doak.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, this is <strong>Scrabble<\/strong>, but if it had Balatro\u2019s rules, rapid-fire pace, and gameplay loop. It\u2019s not perfect, but it does expertly utilise some addictive mechanics to build on its wordy foundation, making it perfect for bookworms who want something that challenges both their lexical and strategic sensibilities.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s broken up into various themed levels, each of which follows a round-based roguelike structure wherein you\u2019re given a minimum goal score to hit and a few opportunities to put together enough high-value words to get there, working with a supply of letter tiles randomly drawn from a bag. Each tile has a different point value, and longer words offer progressively higher multipliers. Playing strictly within these rules only gets you so far, however, and this is where some roguelike mechanics come in.<\/p>\n<p>Based on your performance each round, you\u2019re given money to spend in a store featuring a random rotating selection of purchasable upgrades that can fudge the rules a bit more in your favour. You can do things like \u2018level up\u2019 the point value and multiplier for all three-letter words, or gain a buff that permanently doubles the value of every vowel you use. Yet, you have to do your best with what you\u2019re given; sometimes the shop doesn&#8217;t have great stuff to choose from, but you can usually cobble together a decent \u2018build\u2019 to plan moves around.<\/p>\n<p>This all comes together in a game that feels constantly rewarding, even when you fall short of a goal. Even on the same level, you\u2019ll never play the same run twice, and there\u2019s a thrilling sense of forward momentum as you hone in a nice build, rack up points, and nail some seven or eight-letter words on the board. It\u2019s addictive in <em>all<\/em> the best ways.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, it can sometimes feel a bit too derivative. When details like a rainbow-coloured booster card offers the same buff as a rainbow Joker in Balatro, it&#8217;s hard to ignore how much it copies. This in mind, it would\u2019ve been nice to see MindFuel do more to <em>expand<\/em> upon the mechanics of its inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond Words, then, is an enjoyable roguelike experience that smartly mixes in chance mechanics and run-based gameplay with a foundation that challenges your vocabulary. Though it feels notably derivative, it ultimately does a good enough job of executing on the mechanics it apes to stand on its own two feet. I\u2019d suggest you pick it up &#8211; there&#8217;s lots to dive into in this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in 2024, Balatro made big waves in the indie roguelike space, offering a relatively simple but incredibly addictive take on the age-old game of poker. After selling millions of copies, it\u2019s now spun off its own sort of sub-genre inspired by its mechanics, and one such game is called Beyond Words from MindFuel Games, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}