Detective Worden

[b]Detective Worden[/b] is pretty much just Wordle with a side of murder mystery. Seriously, I could end the review here and you'd get the gist. I won't, but I [i]could[/i]. [h3]Story + Gameplay[/h3] In May 1985, our eponymous detective investigates a murder in Room 204 of Riverside Hotel only to discover ties to a similar murder four years before. In story mode, each clue is followed by a round of 4-6 letter Wordle: you have seven tries to guess a word using the process of elimination, where orange indicates a correct letter in the wrong spot, and green means correct letter in correct spot. [b]Controls. [/b]Keyboard + Mouse only. [b]Playtime. [/b]Story mode is ~2 hours. [b]Settings/Options. [/b]Full screen or windowed, audio sliders. Optional "retro look" and "camera bobbing," which I wish I'd known to turn on before playing. [h3]What Works For Me[/h3] ✅ Interesting (if convoluted) mystery. ✅ Real human voice actors and subtle background music. ✅ "Daily Challenges" is Wordle minus the [i]NYT[/i] subscription. ✅ Free mode is a customizable (word length, time limits, etc.) endless mode. ✅ Word length! Who knew 6 letters is weirdly hard? ✅ Leaderboards for the hyper-competitive. [h3]What Doesn't Work For Me[/h3] 🟥 Story mode answers often felt unrelated to the story. 🟥 Story mode does not provide a synopsis of discovered evidence, 🟥 so it can be difficult to follow if you play short sessions over time. 🟥 Some achievements require you to be unskilled or unlucky. [h3]Final Thoughts + Recommendation[/h3] Wordle is my jam, so I've had a great time with this. I still log in every day or so to play the "Daily Challenge" and side-eye the leaderboard (c'mon, who's making three guesses in three seconds?). That said, I played "Story Mode" in short bursts over a two week period and struggled to keep track of the plot. While you can review discovered clues at anytime, there's no summary or synopsis of the story so far (probably because it's quite short) and my long-term memory is functionally useless. I'm not sure how to score four achievements but they might involve Story Mode+, which unfortunately has the same answers the second time around. I wouldn't accuse story mode of being "replayable." I recommend this if you also enjoy Wordle, or if you've never played but love configuring words in Scrabble. Bonus points if you like mysteries and want to play the story, but honestly, the base price is cheaper than a [i]New York Times[/i] gaming subscription. [i]See [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/ghostlyprose/recommended/3894590/]Fantasmagorica's review[/url] for information I did not have, [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198972515174/recommended/3894590/]Catrionaother's review[/url] for SteamDeck performance, [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198200161774/recommended/3894590/]CindyK_JA's review[/url] for how to get those last achievements, and/or [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/janner66/recommended/3894590/]Janner's IndieGems review[/url] for a lovely breakdown and analysis.[/i] [quote][b]Follow [u][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45365863/]Eekz Today[/url][/u] for more crafting, life sim, management, strategy, and story-rich recommendations.[/b][/quote] [quote][b]Check out [u][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url][/u] for more detailed reviews and the best of indie gaming, or subscribe on [url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2]YouTube[/url]![/b][/quote]

喜欢wordle的友友们可以试试这个很豪华正餐的代餐！是以wordle玩法为基础、规则和wordle一模一样、在此之上套了侦探设定的猜词小游戏，证据作为猜词的提示出现。氛围很推理，不是真的推理游戏，比较适合字谜爱好者。 极其量大管饱，故事模式里就有4-7个字母的词（七个字母真的好难><原来传统五个字母是因为最舒适来着），有全玩家计时/计数排行的每日挑战，还可以自定义，可以开strict mode，想玩多少就玩多少！ 繁琐在于要打五周目故事模式并且强制做错[spoiler]死在不同地方的剧情节点[/spoiler]才能拿到全成就，不同周目的故事模式的词也不完全一样（有的一样有的不一样，临时被考了记忆力），但是这样推推还有小剧情看就让人挺高兴的。证据呈现的方式有点瑕疵，比如磁带翻不了、无法回看对话。作为解谜或者剧情游戏不怎么样，但作为猜词游戏非常完美，很好玩~ 话说好神奇明明四五六七个字母已经很短了还是有那么多词不存在（x）玩此游能一边知道新的词一边发明不存在的词（√）

Detective Worden is an engaging combination of word game and murder mystery. Since I am a fan of both, I was intrigued. As a word game, Detective Worden plays by the same rules as Wordle. You have six chances to guess a word that may be between 4 and 7 letters in length. After you type in a guess, you are given indicators of (1) correct letters in the right position, (2) correct letters in the wrong position, and (3) incorrect letters. You can input using your keyboard or use your mouse to click the keys of a classic typewriter. With the typewriter, you have the option of eliminating rejected letters. This simplifies things a bit. The game can be played 3 ways – Story Mode, Daily Challenge, and Free (Practice) Mode. Story Mode begins with a murder scene and a 4-letter word puzzle. As you progress through 30+ “scenes,” each reveals additional information about the crime and asks for a related word. The length of the word puzzle increases over time, and clues come in different forms (interviews, photos, crime scene data, etc.). While some words are obvious, many are only loosely connected to the clues so there is still a bit of guessing involved. As far as the murder goes, you can follow it to the end of the game to uncover the final truth or quit along the way, with only part of the story revealed. You “quit” an investigation by failing to enter the correct word on 3 scenes. Once you have completed the game, you can begin again in “Story+ Mode," which brings new surprises for you to discover. The game automatically saves when you exit so progress is never lost. The downside is that you can’t return to a prior scene without starting over. If you are an achievement hunter, I would encourage you to write down your words for each scene. Completionists will need to replay several times, and it goes much faster if you know your options in advance. Although the mystery is not very complicated and there is no real deduction involved, the story is a nice feature and makes a standard word game more interesting. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes to play with words at their own pace and enjoys a bit of sleuthing along the way. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow [b]IndieGems[/b] if you enjoyed this review and want to see more like it.[/url][/quote]

I thought this was going to be a detective game with a word puzzle twist, but it's more of a word puzzle game with a loosely connected detective story running in the background. Comparable to the board game "Mastermind", you have multiple guesses to find a word of four (later five) letters' length. After your guess, the game tells you which letters were - correct but in the wrong spot, - correct and in the right spot, or - entirely wrong. Also, after each guess, you can remove any entirely wrong letters from the typewriter that's used for entering guesses. I'm giving a thumb down because of the very loose connection between the respective word and the hint/the case. In theory, each solution describes an aspect of the case, but most hints are too vague to help you figure out the solution. You may have more fun if you are OK with ignoring the hint, simply starting with a wild guess and then some more wild guesses till you have enough letters to find the word.

[b]6/10[/b] Wordle, but it’s a homicide case, and you’re the detective. [b]What is it:[/b] Play wordle with a story. Follow the steps of a detective trying to solve a murder, one wordle at a time. 7 tries to guess a word, starting with 4-letter words and gradually increasing in length. Each wordle solution advances the plot, a word that can be used in the next sentence of the story. Sometimes you get a little clue about the theme of the word, sometimes it just ties in with what happened in the previous word. You can sometimes guess the word on the first try! Guessing one word may unlock a clue item, or just trigger a short bit of text. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3650778129 That is the “campaign” mode, with a story+ unlocked once you win the first time. There’s also a daily puzzle and a random generator with configurable difficulty, from 4 to 8 letters and flexible number of guesses, and including a “strict” mode in which all the letters identified so far must be used in guesses. The campaign is a bit short and could use a few more stories, but it’s a good Wordle otherwise. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3650797379 [b]How hard is it:[/b] Mostly easy, it’s Wordle, how good are you at it? ★★☆☆☆. [b]How long is it:[/b] I lost track, but I think it’s around 40 levels in story mode, 1-2 hours. With the daily levels and the countless random levels, you could spend a lot of time playing for fun. [b]Level design:[/b] While each word ties somehow into the story, it is not at all obvious what the next word can be. Which is good, guessing the word all the time based on the clues would make the game rather trivial. But I also think it should be a little bit easier to deduce the word based on the clues, at least a quarter of the time. Otherwise, the chosen words are fine, no kwyjibos or syzygys, normal words one would expect to encounter in a police file. [b]Quality:[/b] Decent. Automatic progress saving for the story mode. No level selection, just linear progress through the story. The daily mode allows access to the past 5 days. Both mouse and keyboard controls. Good [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3650779145]settings[/url]. Cloud saving, some good and some bad achievements, daily leaderboards. Small, fast and responsive. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3650779591 [b]Worth the price:[/b] Yes, if you plan on using it for the dailies and random levels. [b]Most positive aspect for me:[/b] I like the configurable random generator, the Strict mode makes it challenging. [b]Most negative aspect for me:[/b] The story was too short. [b]What would make it better:[/b] Removing the failure achievements. Access to all of the previous daily levels, not just 5. A longer campaign, or rather more individual cases. [quote]For more puzzle game reviews, news and everything puzzle-related, follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/25928931-Puzzle-Lovers/]Puzzle Lovers[/url] and check out our [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/puzzlelovers]Steam group[/url].[/quote] [quote]Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] for more reviews like this one.[/quote]

Combines two of my favourite things: detective stories and word games. I only wish it was longer, though I do appreciate that you can keep it going as a word game only. I really hope you add more cases as I loved the format. Edited review to add that I played this on the steam deck and it worked beautifully.

Wordle by way of murder mysteries. Detective Worden is a private investigation themed Wordle game, it plays exactly like your daily Wordle and expands on the concept by varying word length and giving you direct and indirect clues through its aesthetics and in universe files. If you like Wordle but don't care much for Columbo, you'll still like it, it's more of what you already like. If you like Columbo and haven't managed to get into Wordle, the shorter words in the beginning and well realized theme can be a gateway to the NYT's little game finally clicking for you. It's that simple. If you're looking for an actual detective game with actual deductions and clue gathering, this simply isn't it. Sure, all words will be themed around the current clue the detective is examining, but that's it. Still, it's a nice noir romp. To get a couple of things out of the way: each puzzle has two valid answers, so there is some replayability to the short main story. Once you're done with that, you can play the daily challenge or go through freeplay mode, so there's quite a lot of reasons to come back. You also get stats and history and lots of goodies for people that like to track that sort of stuff and see if you can get into the top three players of the day. I did once, it felt good. Accessibility wise, you can input the letters with your keyboard or make use of the in-game typewriter, which will actually take away the wrong letters with the click of a button. The typewriter could be bigger, but it's good that the game gives you both options if you feel like only using your mouse. With all of that said, I do think there's room to add new cases, maybe in the form of DLC or maybe through Steam's workshop, so the community can come up with their own words and clues, and maybe even some experimentation. For more reviews of games that are cute, or creepy, or both, please check my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44079361/

Cute little detective game! I'm realizing how bad I am at the wordle mechanics, hah.

一个纯粹的猜词游戏，另类的英语学习器。逻辑性非常弱，喜欢猜词的可以入手，冲着推理来的就算了。不是很推荐，比较无聊。

Recommend for Wordle fans who like a nice detective atmosphere to puzzle in. Admittedly, I found the story difficult to follow in this format, but I think the concept is cool and could definitely be refined in future games.