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Words are Hard
Words are Hard is a roguelite deckbuilder where you spell to survive. Build tile racks, place words on a power-square-strewn board, then chain tomes, enchantments, and lexicon levels into score-explosion combos. 12 characters, 181 tomes, eight chapters of escalating chaos.

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Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔ ✔ ✔

Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Words are Hard is a roguelite with hundreds of tomes, dozens of scrolls, and twelve characters that all interact through a chips × mult scoring engine. The space of possible combinations is enormous, and the only way to find every dominant combo and every underpowered build is to put it in front of a lot of real players. Early Access lets me tune scoring, balance characters, and shape the meta with the community — not just by myself.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“ The game is in a great state content wise, but I'm planning roughly nine to twelve months in Early Access, depending on how balance, content polish, and player feedback progress. I'd rather take the time to get it right than ship a 1.0 that needs three patches to feel finished.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“ I plan to use Early Access to:
- Rebalance scoring targets, economy, and character power across all eight chapters
- Polish character-specific animations and visual feedback
- Expand the codex, achievements, and discovery systems
- Refine the UI, audio mix, and accessibility options
- Potentially add additional characters, tomes, or content based on what the community engages with
I'm not promising specific features beyond what's in the current build, but I plan to iterate across systems, polish, and content.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“ The full game loop is playable end-to-end: twelve characters, eight chapters, twenty-four fights per run, an infinite mode after chapter 8, plus a shop, codex, mastery levels, seeded runs, and a per-character stats tracker. The Early Access build includes the complete roster, all current tomes and scrolls, and the full progression system. What it lacks is the polish, balance tuning, and visual feedback work I expect to land during Early Access.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We don't plan to change the price when leaving Early Access. Players who buy during Early Access pay the same as those who wait for 1.0, and they keep the game through every update.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“ The Discord is the main channel for feedback, bug reports, balance discussion, and ideas. I'll be reading every message, posting build notes after major patches, and explicitly asking the community for input on contentious balance changes and new character concepts. Steam discussions and reviews will also be regularly read.”
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About This Game

Spell to survive.

Words are Hard is a tile-laying roguelite deckbuilder. Draw tiles, lay words across a procedurally-generated board, and chain the right tomes, enchantments, and lexicon levels to detonate your score.

Five pillars of compounding chaos Every run, you stack five overlapping scoring systems that interlock in beautiful, broken ways:

  • Lexicon Levels — every word you play levels up its category, permanently boosting your score

  • Tile Values — upgrade the raw chip values of letters in your bag

  • Board Modifiers — change the rules of the board itself

  • Tile Enchantments — bolt effects onto specific tiles

  • Tomes — 181 unique passive abilities that fire on the right conditions

The fun isn't picking the best one — it's stitching all five into one absurd engine.

Twelve characters, twelve ways to break the game

Each character ships with a unique tile bag, a different fight cadence, and a twist mechanic that rewires how you play.

Eight chapters. Twenty-four fights. Infinite mode if you survive.

Each chapter ends with an Act — a boss fight that wants you dead. Push past chapter 8 and the gloves come off.

Features

  • Seeded runs for sharing wild victories

  • Per-character mastery levels (0–10) with skins, bags, and challenges

  • Procedurally-generated boards with random star positions and power squares

  • Codex tracking everything you've discovered

  • Single-player. No mics. No microtransactions. Just words.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

I'm a solo developer. Without AI tools, this game would not exist — the art, music, and copy would have been unaffordable to commission and impossible for me to produce alone. AI let me focus on what I actually built by hand: the game design, the mechanics, the 181 tomes, the scoring engine, the balance, the words.

What's AI-generated:
• Visual art (backgrounds, character portraits, tome/scroll/blessing illustrations, store page art) — generated with AI image tools, curated and selected by me
• Music — generated with AI audio tools, curated and selected by me
• Some flavor text and descriptive copy — drafted with AI assistance, edited by me

What's not AI:
• The game itself — every system, mechanic, balance number, character design, and core decision is mine
• The dictionary, the tile distributions, the scoring math, the run structure, the boss fights — hand-built
• The code — written by me with the help of AI assistants the same way any modern developer uses them

No AI runs at runtime. Nothing is generated for you on the fly during play. Everything you see was reviewed before it shipped.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: Dual-core 2.0 GHz (Intel Core i3 or equivalent)
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: OpenGL 3.3 compatible
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
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