In a world that already feels like the English language is dying to slang and shorthand, developers, Nyxworks, have created a game that will literally kill you if you have a lacklustre vocabulary. Their game, ‘Finale Word Royale’, enables you to test your word smith skills against 40 others in a killer battle royale.

There is no narrative in this game; it solely relies on the massive multiplayer gameplay. You do arrive, though, at an underground facility in an orange jumpsuit and with a hessian bag over your head, with ‘Squid Game’ like guards that patrol the dark and dingy corridors.

I do wish the game loaded up with some sort of cutscene to explain why you are there or the motives behind the facility, as it is always nice to have a little driving force in your motivations, but alas, the guess is as good as mine.

The gameplay currently is split into only two modes. ‘Guessing’ game is a game similar to Wordle, where you must guess a 5-letter word, while a guard stands in front of you with a gun towards your head.

You are pitted against the 40 others in the lobby to solve it before the timer goes off. I enjoyed this mode the most as it was the fastest and a pretty established and well-liked concept.

The second mode is ‘Scramble’, where you are thrown up against one other person to unscramble words before them, resulting in your fingers being cut off if you lose or type a wrong word. Being eliminated means cutting all your fingers off and bleeding out to death before your opponent.

Players are slowly eliminated from the 40 pool down to a final showdown 1v1. I was disappointed there were only 2 modes, as there are many word-based games out there that could have perhaps fleshed out the content, as these do get boring very quickly.

Sadly, the game also appears to load the server with a collection of bots to fill the game to start. As often as I typed in the world chat noone ever responded to me or put up the slightest chance when I went up against them, which is a real shame.

Surprisingly, while the content is lacking, it feels like maximum effort was put into the graphics. Running smoothly on my PC, the detail put into the character’s body, the opponents’ faces, and the general ambience and decor of the facility is impressive. Hairs cover your arm with beads of sweat, the dank and eerie lights of the compound flicker, and the visceral cutting off of your fingers is jarring.

The music and sound work isn’t too bad either. Is it top-notch? Not particularly, but the upbeat and energetic music of the lobby is reminiscent of a juxapostioned ending to a 90’s horror movie, which always did a 180-degree turn on the ambience of the actual movie. If you know, you know. The sound effects also add to the punishments as you listen to gunshots and screams ringing out around you.

Sadly, I can really tell this is the sort of game I could really enjoy if there were way more to do.  Working with words is kinda our thing as reviewers, so it would be nice to utilise that talent more. All Finale Word Royale really needs is a few more modes to retain a player base’s interest to have a truly killer time.

Written by: Stacey