Typoman
Typoman is a 2D puzzle platformer. You slip into the role of a character made of letters, struggling to make your way through a dark and hostile world. Despite your small stature you have a powerful gift: You can craft words to alter your environment. But choose your words wisely. They can either be a blessing… or a curse! - Wield the power of altering the world by by creating, changing or destroying words - Solve ingenious and challenging puzzles with a unique aesthetic mix of typography and pen & ink graphics - Captivating, carefully drafted, on-the-fly told story using witty word puzzles and puns - Surreal, atmospheric game world - Featuring Trophies, Global Leaderboards and two Mini Games - Distinct soundtrack specifically composed for the game
Steam User 95
This game is fun. This game is clever. This game has an ending that will make you smile.
This game is painfully short.
Generally I aim for at least an hour of gameplay for a dollar spent on a video game. Typoman doesn't even come close, even at a 50% discount. But still I recommend it. Why?
Because this game has the right words. In a game where your enemies are the vilest of words given form, virtues are your shield and sword. There's an inherent moral core expoused in the player's vocabulary that makes Typoman a surprisingly wholesome experience. I walked away with more than a smile from a game well played. I am satisfied by a story well told.
Steam User 28
I'm a little on the fence about this game. Steam is requireing me to give it a thumbs up or down so I'll give it a modest thumbs up.
Pros:
- great art and art direction
- I loved the way that words=power; psychologically it's interesting to read a word and have it affect the environment
Cons:
- guessing some of the answers to the word puzzles felt arbitrary; getting stuck on one or two made me want to quit
- the platformer elements were pretty ordinary; It may have been better to get rid of them completely
Lastly if you don't like boggle like word games you should probably avoid the game.
...and lastly THIS IS NOT A TYPING GAME
Steam User 42
Excellent Puzzle/Platformer!
I was anxious to play this. In this game your character is made of letters (you start as the letter “O” and soon join other letters to complete your character in a brief introduction of what you’re going to see in the game).
Some of the puzzles are simple and you’ll probably solve them right away, but there are several well-made puzzles to keep you entertained. I almost did rage quit one time at a gas puzzle but I realize the answer was right in front of me.
The monsters (or bosses) of each level are amazing and despite the game’s simple look, it’s definitely an engaging and fun game. It posses an okay variety of puzzles (with good challenge), the art on some levels is kind of minimalist but very beautiful and the soundtrack suits the game well. Since I’m Brazilian and English is not my first language (although extremely necessary in my work), I feel like this game is a very fun way to exercise my English.
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PT-BR
Excelente Puzzle/Platformer!
O jogo é cheio de letras espalhadas e você tem que formar palavras com elas para resolver os puzzles da fase. Alguns puzzles são simples e só de olhar você já entende o que precisa fazer, já outros você precisa quebrar a cabeça um pouquinho para conseguir resolver.
Os monstros de cada level no jogo são bem trabalhados, e o jogo apesar de ter um visual simples é envolvente e divertido. A variedade de puzzles é legal (o nível de desafio em muitos deles também), a arte presente em cada fase é minimalista mas muito bonita e a trilha sonora combina bem com o jogo. Também gostei muito do personagem principal ser uma combinação de letras (você começa o jogo rolando como a letra "O" e vai se juntando a outras letras para completar seu personagem em uma breve apresentação do que está por vir).
Eu estava ansioso pra jogar Typoman e não me decepcionei. Pelo contrário, achei melhor do que eu estava esperando.
PS: Saber inglês é extremamente é necessário para conseguir jogar (sem se decepcionar). O jogo tem puzzles com palavras simples como "on", "run", e outras que a maioria das pessoas conseguiriam resolver, mas também tem puzzles com palavras um pouco mais complicadas que pessoas sem saber (pelo menos o básico de) inglês podem encontrar problemas para resolver. Compre se confiar no nível do seu inglês.
Steam User 12
This is a short yet brilliant little game. The art style and execution feels fresh in a sea of "seen that before". Typoman makes clever use of words to fashion the world you traverse and the enemies you encounter. The puzzles require the player to create words from available letters that will produce some kind of effect on the environment -- moving objects, creating barriers, etc -- that are needed in order to progress. This is packed into a nice little story with some collectibles to find along the way. A good command of small English words is required as well as their opposites in some cases. There are also two mini-games that challenge you only with the game's core mechanics.
Unfortunately Typoman falls into the same trap as many other games where platforming is present but not the primary focus; the things you use it for are either a) incredibly easy or b) difficult because of how imprecise and unforgiving the controls are. The latter can significantly slow down your progress at a few locations in the game, leading to moments of frustration where the goal is simple but feels like you are fighting the controls to accomplish it. This aspect really needed more polish.
Achievement hunters should be able to get the ones I did without much problem. Two of the last three, however, are not worth the time involved in my opinion. Taking full advantage of the degraded platforming experience, the devs made a "playthrough with five or fewer deaths" achievement that's will only appeal to masochists. The antonymizer mini-game achievement requires solving 165 puzzles, most of which (for me) would take 10+ minutes to solve. But if you really like these kinds of word puzzles, then go for it.
Rating: 8/10
Probably one of the more fun and unique word puzzle games on Steam. That alone should be enough reason to buy and try it. And while the platforming is a disappointment, dealing with it isn't too bad. Mini-games are optional fun.
Steam User 28
See written review below or watch it here:
TL;DR: SKIP TO CONCLUSION!
UPDATED: 2 new modes have been added. See details here
Typoman: Revised is a 2D puzzle platformer that requires you to use letters to make words in order to solve the puzzles.
You play as the hero and your body is made up of the letters spelling 'HERO'. It’s a game about good versus evil, and there isn’t much depth to the story. You will need to find and gather all the collectible quotes as you play though, in order to read it.
As you progress through the chapters, you encounter various words and letters, and you need to build specific words to complete the puzzles. It would have been nice to be able to type out words instead of moving letters individually, but it wasn't a big deal. There isn’t any direct combat in the game, but you use words as weapons in some levels, as well as on the final boss fight, and it was enjoyable.
There are a wide variety of words that you can make, but not all of them have a function. The part of the game that was the most challenging for me was figuring out which function I needed to perform. Once you know what you need to do, it’s then a matter of finding the right synonym using the letters you have available at the time.
Pros:
music and sound effects are good throughout the game
puzzles are good, and enjoyable - some of puzzles are more challenging, and really make you think about what you need to do (after being stuck for a bit, and then after finally realizing what word or letter I missed, I have to admit that felt pretty dumb for not realizing the word sooner)
there’s sometimes flexibility with what words you use (but not always)
checkpoints throughout the game are very frequent, so if you die or have to retry, you won’t lose very much progress; the game is very forgiving in that sense
good art style that fits so well with puzzle mechanics (letters and words make up various parts of the environments; even the monsters are made up of words, like 'DOOM')
decent port from the Wii U, and it has some improvements from the original
in levels where platforming plays a larger role, you’ll need to be quick with your word building and platforming to avoid certain death, and it adds some excitement to the game
Cons:
this game requires you to have a good understanding of English and spelling
a few times I made words that I thought should have worked in the situation, but they didn’t always (i.e. 'RAINS' does not work but 'RAIN' does)
not much depth to the story
initially interacting with letters thinking you’ve grabbed the letter, but didn’t interact long enough to fully pick it up can sometimes be annoying, and get you killed
lacks keyboard customization; the interact keybinding is bound to spacebar and it feels awkward right (you move with the arrow keys, but with your other hand using the spacebar, you will instinctively jump with spacebar instead of the up arrow key, and die) - using a controller might be easier
Conclusion:
The game took me just over 4 hours to complete, and there were just a few collectibles that I missed. I don’t feel the need to replay it, but there are several achievements that are still available. I enjoyed the word puzzles, and the game overall. I feel that the price is just a little too high for the game’s duration. I’d recommend checking it out if you’re someone who enjoys word puzzles, and puzzle platformers.
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Steam User 16
Four letters create a tiny hero as he arises from the crumpled mess of alphabets, it’s TypoMan: Revised.
This is definitely a step in the right direction from the original. Revised certainly has its own uniqueness and doesn’t feel as clunky as its predecessor.
Gameplay
I used a wired XBox 360 controller for this review. The left thumbstick moves Typo, A is to jump, RT is to push and pull letters, and B is to carry letters. Levels are cleverly designed with words in mind. Keep your eyes peeled for letters hidden or discarded as you may miss a letter. Letters and words can be pushed, picked up, thrown, and dropped to fit, create, and activate sequences throughout the levels.
There are also collectibles to find in the form of little quotes. They aren’t too tough to find if you pay close attention to how the level is set up. Sometimes going off the beaten path will reward you with an achievement and a couple quotes. Pay attention to these quotes because the word that is in all caps is often times the word related to what you need to do in the next part of the level. The majority of the story is told through the quotes as well.
You’ll come across enemies that you can’t fight yourself, so you’ll have to use your wits and take note of your surroundings if there is a word to be unscrambled or a word that tells you what to do. There will be instances where these red lasers are above certain areas. These lasers mean that you can’t go beyond them holding a letter. Pay close attention to these areas as there might be other ways to solve the puzzles.
Puzzles aren’t too troublesome and require players to unscramble or come up with words that pertain to the situation. Words such as run, turn, and open are just a few of the words that you will be unscrambling in order to get out of tight situations or activate objects. They do, however, get more complex as the levels go on. There is a system where there will be hints in case a puzzle proves too difficult. There are moments where it’s difficult to figure out what to spell or how to progress
Controls
Controls are smooth and responsive. The XBox controller worked well and felt very natural to use. Keyboard and mouse was a little difficult for me as I’m better at playing these games with a controller, but to each their own.
Controls this time around feel leagues better than they did the first time around.
Graphics/Music
The game looks like it feels, dark and foreboding. It reminds me of Limbo with it’s almost all monochromatic scale. Music was gloomy and dreary, directly relating to the bleak situation at hand. It fit the scenes in each level and didn’t take away from the overall feel.
Overall
Typoeman: Revised is a great word game and an atmospheric puzzle platformer. It’s clever enough to keep you guessing, challenging enough to keep you entertained, and fun enough to keep you engaged. The only downfall I can see is that the game has moments where it’s hard to figure out how to proceed and it’s really short. It can be completed in roughly 2 hours. Although obtaining all the collectibles could prolong that if that’s what you’re into.
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Steam User 7
A novel puzzle platformer; fun but frequently frustrating when you are stuck on a level and think you have tried every possible word and action. My wife and i played it together, although there is no coop mode, handing the conroller back and forth. Its a good game to do that because she will try sonething that i did not think of. We got thru it only having to go to the you-tube well once i think. We thought the ending was particurly frustrating because all the sudden the ui to spell words was different for no good reason and we could not delete letters but eventually figuerd it out. The final cut scene was unnessisarily long and dramatic but overall a thumbs up.