A Wordsmith Mage who uses a Lexicon instead of a Spellbook – Leximan Review
Leximan is an indie game in a similar vein to Undertale where you play as a mage that specializes in lexicon magic. It’s not an exaggeration, in this game you choose and form words to create all kinds of spells to use against enemies or even in the overworld. I’ll only give a premise and screenshots from the first hour of the game to prevent spoilers. The player character attends a magic academy to learn and improve their magic skills. You meet the Principal of the academy as well as a witch named Wressa who loves coffee. After a few months in the academy you’re sentenced to the basement for having magic different than everyone else. Events ensue and you have to defend the magic academy from invaders and the plot continues from there.
The graphics are all 2D sprites similar to Earthbound inspired games such as Undertale. You can walk on maps and examine objects. The characters have dialog and convey a variety of expressions. The writing is the highlight of the game, where the characters and item descriptions are all very witty.
The story itself isn’t a really grandiose plot and admittedly the twists aren’t the best, but the characters are very likeable and nuanced. Be aware that most of the gameplay is listening to characters and exploring the world rather than fighting. This game has fixed on-screen enemy encounters and no random encounters. Some encounters are optional and you may have to go out of your way to find them.
Leximan is a very minimal game with a tight scope. There’s no levels, currency or items. You may be able to learn more spells from examining certain objects. But in general whenever you’re tossed into a fight you choose predetermined letters (usually in chunks of syllables) to form a word to use against the enemy.
Usually the word to create is obvious, such as using a blizzard against a fire enemy. The game is made such that only 2-3 words can be made. There’s good replay value because different words can result in different outcomes. I speak English natively and had no issues with the gameplay at all, but if you’re very new to English you might have some difficulty. From what I could tell there was no penalty for wrong answers (except maybe a bad ending here and there). Choosing words to fight enemies wasn’t timed, meaning you could always take your time forming words or even cheat using online word solvers if you were in a very tight spot.
The game breaks up the choosing words gameplay with other kinds of gameplay such as a Vampire Survivor segment (a time survival game where you survive against infinitely spawning enemies) as well as dodging projectiles in boss fights (like in Undertale and Deltarune).
The game thankfully has plenty of save points every 10 minutes. The game doesn’t let you save anywhere, so the abundance of save points is appreciated.
Leximan is a really unique game, probably one of the most unique I’ve played in a long time. I sometimes disliked “edutainment” games in the past. Some games such as Midnight Rescue or Freddi Fish would teach you fun logic puzzles and had a humorous storyline, but other games such as Rayman’s Brain Game would just straight up ask you math questions which wasn’t integrated well at all.
Leximan isn’t like an edutainment game at all. It never tries to be educational. It’s meant to be really witty with choices of using words against enemies and the writing really is up there.
The presentation isn’t the best – the enemies in gameplay and some characters are very similar to Undertale’s to a fault and I would’ve preferred if the game had more of its own identity. Some of the maps you explore can feel somewhat plain and lacking as well.
The cover art for Leximan is very beautiful, but the cover art is very different to the character portraits seen in-game which I found a little jarring. The in-game art falls short and looks unappealing compared to the game’s cover art which looks very light-hearted and playful. I don’t like to be a reviewer who says that “games copy each other” because I understand that games, books and movies can draw inspiration from a variety of sources and nothing can be wholly original, but the artwork in this game really feels too similar to Undertale and felt somewhat off-putting.
It’s not a long game at all, but some plot points do take a while and the game can feel very slow at times. There are definitely pacing issues as well, with some story segments taking a while and other parts where months pass and timeskips occur within a minute. It’s not meant to be the most serious plot either but I would’ve liked more structure with the plot because the character motivations fly all over the place frequently.
Leximan is still definitely up your alley if you’re interested in an indie game with some of the most creative writing and interesting characters I’ve seen. It does leave me wanting more and I wish the game had more substance and mechanics, but it’s a very fun indie experience nonetheless.
Leximan
Our Score: Good
Pros
- The gameplay is extremely unique, where you make words to use against enemies and bosses.
- The characters are very interesting and likeable.
- The game’s setting in a magic academy is very intriguing.
- Story and gameplay can feel slow at times. Story can have pacing issues and sometimes the plot doesn’t make much sense.
- The game feels very limited. There aren’t levels, items, or skills. You choose from several pre-determined words in battles.
– Brandon Harris
Reviewed on the PC
Recent Posts
