Letterbox by POWGI review for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC

Platform: Switch
Also on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Publisher: Lightwood Games
Developer: Lightwood Games
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E

As I?ve established over the years, I have a pretty big soft spot for anything Letterbox Games releases. As someone who loves word games, how could I not? It?s their specialty, so any time they release a new game, I always instantly devour it.

The problem with this, of course, is that my biggest complaint about their games is almost invariably that they don?t last long enough. But, obviously, how could they not? If I?m tearing through every word puzzle a game has to offer, then clearly it won?t last me that long.

When it comes to Letterbox by POWGI, however, I feel like this is a complaint most people will have. While it?s a word game, it?s also a logic game in which you?re given a grid surrounded by letters, and another nine-letter word, and you need to place all nine of those letters in the grid in a way that spells a bunch of five-letter words.

Now, as much as I love word games, I usually struggle with logic puzzles. But not in this case: while Letterbox featured one or two puzzles that left me staring blankly at the screen, there were many more that I was instantly able to solve in under thirty seconds.

Like, many, many more. As in, so many that I completed the whole game in well under an hour.

I?d like to think that this is because I?m some linguistic supergenius, but I?m pretty sure that?s not the case. More likely, Letterbox just isn?t that difficult.

Which, in turn, makes it hard for me to recommend a game that I doubt many people will put more than an hour or so into, which has no replay value at all. I enjoyed Letterbox by POWGI in my brief time with it, and I imagine that any word nerd who can hold out until the game is on sale will have a fun hour or so with it, but unless that describes you perfectly, you can safely skip this game.

Lightwood Games provided us with a Letterbox by POWGI Switch code for review purposes.

Grade: B-