By Braedon Martin
Staff writer
In the wake of the massive success Wordle discovered, as with all things, popularity breeds imitation, and Worlde is no exception.
However, unlike the mobile games market, where imitation is done cheaply, with no concern for the original product, just to make money, Wordle spin-offs each have their own interesting ideas and entertaining extra parts to keep a player’s interest. Wordle spin-offs can be split into three distinct categories: What?, Wordle but specific, Unique.
Category 1: What?
This category is dedicated to only the weirdest, most difficult spinoffs Wordle has to offer.
Up first is the Wordle spinoff Quordle, which is a simple game of Wordle, turned up to 10. Instead of one puzzle, you must use your new six guesses to figure out four Wordle puzzles at once. Quordle is the perfect spinoff to play if you are some kind of masochist; otherwise, keep your distance.
Semantle is a pretty odd game, where your guesses are not limited to a five-letter word, but any word or short phrase, and instead of letters right or wrong, Semantle will tell you on a percentile basis how similar the word you guessed is to it’s secret word or phrase. This one is very difficult to figure out, but you are given an infinite amount of guesses. Containing significantly less pain than Quordle, if you’re looking for a challenge, Semantle is probably your best bet.
Absurdle is the perfect fit for this category, because it is complicated in a way that it struggles to describe itself. The closest you can find for a description of what Absurdle actually is is on it’s own page.
“(Absurdle) is an adversarial version of Josh Wardle’s excellent Wordle Adversarial, in this context, meaning that Absurdle will give you only the minimum information it has too, and actively avoids giving you the answer. As with Quordle, Absurdle is very difficult to complete, and should only be tried by the more masochistic of word game enjoyers.
Category 2: Wordle but specific
The first game in this category is Swordle. Wordle but using Star Wars terms. (Force, Saber, Grogu, etc.) An interesting concept, but as with every game in this category, the specificity of these games makes it difficult to know what words you should actually use in the game. If you’re a Star Wars fan, give it a shot.
This is a game that considers itself the “yassification” of Wordle. Using … a set of words that is difficult to figure out, this one may be the weirdest Wordle, but specific, game out there. This one cannot be recommended due to its sheer inability to be figured out.
The last game is Lewdle, a Wordle parody that’s all about vulgar words, using sexual terms and other such no-no words. Once again struggling from a “what words can I actually use here” problem, Lewdle quickly loses interest.
Category 3: Unique
Worldle is all about countries, giving you the outline of a country somewhere within the world, and it’s up to you to figure out what it is. Incorrect guesses will tell you how close you were to the country, an arrow pointing in the direction the country is in reference to your guess, and the distance of the country from your guess in that direction. Worldle is a thoroughly enjoyable guessing game that is completely recommendable to anyone with knowledge of maps.
Next comes Heardle, a musical guessing game. Heardle will give you a short segment of a song and you have to guess either the artist or the song it is from. Each incorrect guess gets you a little bit more of the song. Heardle is probably super fun for people who … actually listen to music. Absolute recommendation.
The third game is Actorle, a game all about guessing the actor from the movies provided. Actorle provides a series of movies (unnamed) with their year of release, and the genres of the films. Incorrect guesses that may have been in a movie with the goal actor will reveal the title of the movie, and will give the actors age, and how far apart the ages of the two are. Actorle requires extreme knowledge of movies, but it’s certainly a solid game.
Squirdle is the Pokemon guessing game. Squirdle allows you to choose the spectrum of generations, incorrect guesses will give you the weight, types, generation, and height of the pokemon in relation to the target. Just like Actorle and Heardle, extensive knowledge of the eight hundred something Pokemon is necessary to enjoy Squirdle, but it is a solid game nonetheless.
Letterle is more of a parody game than anything, where you guess what letter the game is thinking of. Pretty simple, you’ve got 26 guesses, very easy. It is pretty funny to share your Letterle score though.
This is possibly the most unique game on the list. Eldrow. Eldrow is still technically a guessing game, but you’re not the one guessing. Think of a five-letter word, and now you are running the Wordle game for a pre-programmed AI. Interesting, infinitely replayable, this backwards Wordle game is easily the best on the list. Wordle spinoff games are a relatively new market, but for the most part they’re very solid. As long as you avoid the mobile app market, which is FULL of crappy, cheap ripoffs filled with ads made only to steal your money and more importantly, your time
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