Watchword

Big Quail Games · 15 Sept 2025

About

Watchword is the anagram roguelike. Strategically spell real and made-up words while using magical rule-bending books to score massively satisfying combos. Build your deck of letter tiles and find synergies in this endlessly re-playable twist on classic word games.

Watchword is a roguelike deck builder about playing words to beat increasingly difficult trials with rule-breaking synergies and combos.

[Watchword] is firmly doing its own thing—and it lowkey rocks. I played one game and I was hooked. -PC Gamer

A good vocabulary will certainly help, but it will mostly take careful planning and strategy to beat each trial.

Invent crazy new words and use special symbols to play a board that scores massively! Fill your bag and customize your collection of pieces.

Purchase books to ramp up your point scoring.

Each book has a unique power that can help (or potentially hinder) depending on what pieces you use. Some books completely change the rules of the game. Explore, and discover clever combinations!

Endlessly re-playable no two runs are the same. Chase a new build, unlock more difficult trials, and find hidden unlockables. After each trial, visit the Forum where you'll be able to upgrade your run, buy new items, and prepare for your next trial

Features

80+ Unique book relics: No two powers are the same. Add infinite repeat letters to words with "The Good Book" or focus on using new words with "Thesaurus". Each book has a unique strength that combos well with other books.
Randomize Relic Values: Feeling lucky? Edit books for a chance to perfectly align the item with your build.
Hundreds of piece variations: Single letter, double letter, metal, glitched, gold, and more!
Search for your Watchword: Try to spell a special word to expand the size of your board to make room for more powerful words in future trials.
Deckbuilding & Deck-fixing: In Watchword, you play lots of words and have plenty of opportunities to see the entirety of your bag. Build your strategy to shoot for certain words & synergize with specialized books.