Epistory – Typing Chronicles

Huh? What's this? A typing game? Eeeeewww. Those are for losers and lame gamers, a dissertation which I have arrived at after playing that one other typing game in my life, uhhh, the one with the zombies. Genre aficionados will know the one I'm sure. That game was novel for all of about 10 minutes, after which it was nonceremoniously chucked into the 'zzzz nooo' category of my Steam library and forgotten about until this current moment.
And Epistory? What a dumb name. I scoffed at the title with an aura of smug arrogance that was so thick you could almost see it. The game was a bundle leftover that I came this close to giving away, but there was just something about those screenshots that made me try it. I was all like, I'll take a 5 minute look at this and then add it to all the other random stupid bundleware shit that I've accumulated over the years in the disappointingly large zzzz nooo designation of my library.
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But wait! Waht a twist! I liked the game after all. I loved it in fact. Perhaps my couldn't have been lower expectations helped a little, but holy shit this is a fantastic little hidden gem. I do not hyperbolize when I say that this is one of the prettiest games I've ever played. It tells kind of a shitty story but with so much charm that I was thoroughly swept off my feet with my panties around my ankles. Until the end, where its like 'and it was all a dream' fuck I hate endings like that honestly thats the biggest load of bullshit ever uuugghh
The typing action is actually kinda thrilling and the different elemental magics really infuse the gameplay with an exciting mechanic. Like, spark element will deal some AOE but ice will momentarily freeze singular enemies etc etc, so pick carefully. But not too carefully because you're about to be killed. But also don't be overhasty because typos will cost valuable time. See what I mean? Yeah it's 'just' a typing game, but with STRESS and STRATEGY.
Epistory's flawlessly paced 6 hour runtime also contained some chill puzzles and exploration sections, before throwing you back into some adrenalin surging EXTREME TYPING ACTION.
I can't help but respect this game. It knows itself, it knows what it wants to do. It does it, and does it very well. And it does it for long enough to prove it isn't just a fluke or a brief frivolity, but not long enough to overstay its welcome.

This game is unbelievably good. I've playing games that teach typing before, as a kid. This is far, far, far beyond those games. This is a real game, and it also happens to help increase your WPM. I used to be able to type over 100wpm, currently my best is over 86. But this game might bring me back to 100 WPM!!

I love the gameplay, and I think the game has innovated on the typing genre more than any other.
The main mechanic of the game is elemental mode-switching, which lets you use different magic to freeze, burn, blow or zap bugs. Using these modes is strategic, and clutching last second freezes or getting multi-bug lightning bounces is so satisfying. I wonder if they took inspiration from old mode-switching text editors like EMACS and Vi for the idea. If they did, that's awesome.
My only complaint is that the gameplay does get stale because you're only typing alphabetical words in the same way the whole game. "Bosses" (big bugs) are just longer words, which is fine, but I would've liked to see more hype around it. Maybe type out a sentence or paragraph.
Also, the game is pretty, and the story is more vibes than a narrative. I recommend the game though, it's fun :)

I thought this was going to be a throwaway game for a night but I honestly really enjoyed it. It had a good story, world, and narrative. Really fond of this game and would highly recommend it.

This is a great game to practice touch typing (it really is necessary since you have to keep your eyes on screen and be prepared to type the enemies' words during surprise encounters). Often times battles are fought while having to stand still on a platform, which means that you can solely focus on typing. The controls for walking (E-up, F-left,j J-down, I-right) take a bit getting used to. If you'd prefer a different key binding just search up some community mods
I am a miserable typist (around 30-45 wpm) and until now progression hasn't been too hard.

A fascinating tale of a girl and a fox, stranded in the middle of nowhere, typing out their own story...
A really good take on a typing game, where you play as a female character atop a red fox, destroying bugs and items, finding chests, restoring the land and restoring memories.
During your journey you find different powers, with which you can access different areas and tackle enemies with different strategies, with some great synergies between some of them. The controls are really good, until around the third area, where some angles of movement might be needed, but are not easy to get.
The music is really good, it sets the mood for the occasion, and the ending piece is just so relaxing that it makes you feel good after completing the game.
A few caveats, of course. The last achievements are a grind to get, but they give you an excuse to try out the arena mode of the game, which is just wave defense, with increasing difficulties. You also have to be perfect at typing for some achievements, and fast for a few others. There is a mod in the steam workshop for people who can't write quickly, or usually fat-finger their keyboard, so the achievements are not impossible, but still take a fair amount of time to get.
Overall, I would give this game a 8/10, the story is quite good, the difficulty is mostly average, with some really challenging sections that require using specific elements, the music is good, controls are a bit iffy for certain sections, arena mode for extra time in the game, if you want to play something after campaign, but extremely grindy achievements.

Absolutely loved this game. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun typing game (as I was). The arena mode is addictively fun.