Deadword Review – A Letter-Swapping Zombie Adventure

There are plenty of zombie games on mobile. There are plenty of word games on mobile. There aren’t that many zombie word games anywhere. Now you can add Deadword to that short list. It mixes vocabulary with undead survival and …

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There are plenty of zombie games on mobile. There are plenty of word games on mobile. There aren’t that many zombie word games anywhere. Now you can add Deadword to that short list. It mixes vocabulary with undead survival and creates something pretty interesting.

The game is presented in chunky pixels, with a map at the top of the screen and a keyboard at the bottom. You explore the world by changing a single letter in the four-letter word you’re given at the start of each level.

For example, you might change LOVE to LONE. Your goal is to move from your starting word to an exit word. Usually you’re only a few steps away from getting there, but things are much more complex than that.

Zombies have different words attached to them. These usually block some of your letter choices. Getting caught by a zombie loses you one of your three hearts. Lose them all and your dead. You’ll punch the attacking zombie back to a different word, but it’s not a tactic you’re going to want to use often.

There are also crates and secrets scattered around the levels. These give you health packs, maps and distractions. Maps show you a few words you can switch to on your progress to the exit, while distractions bleep and bloop to keep zombies away from you.

Things can get a bit fiddly sometimes, and you need to pay $1.99 to unlock the entirety of the game as well. But overall, there’s an entertaining and brain-expanding experience here and you’re definitely going to enjoy most of the time that you spend with it.

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The good

  • A different take on zombie survival
  • Stretches your brain in interesting ways

The bad

  • Does get a little bit repetitive
  • Sometimes it's a bit too easy to get stuck
70 out of 100