Thanks to Lightwood Games for the review code

Title: Ladders by Powgi
System: Xbox Series X
Price: $9.99
Release Date: 04/29/2021

Presentation

As per usual with the last few POWGI games I covered for the site, we have a simple menu and UI accompanied by a generic soundtrack that’s partially recycled from the other games in the lineup. Controls are still as smooth as ever, and the menus do their job and still offer a handy dark mode.

Gameplay

This time around, Lightwood Games brought out a bunch of Ladders puzzles for us to solve! This word puzzle places two words at the opposite end of a ladder, and the goal is to work one word into the other one by changing it letter by letter.

You have a certain amount of steps to do it, and if you manage to solve the puzzle before completing the ladder, then that’s even better, but generally the length of a ladder is more than enough to figure out the solution, or at least experiment enough to complete it.

Thus, like with the other POWGI games, you go with this concept and go with it for 150 puzzles, each growing more and more complex, with trickier words that get longer, including longer ladders to boot, and these puzzles are pretty darn fun. Not much else to note outside of how this game is oddly weird with achievements, since it just gives them out like candy: most of them are dedicated to each letter of the alphabet, and the rest are just misc ones.

While the other POWGI games didn’t have the most complex achievements either, it was still pretty amusing to unlock nearly all the achievements by the end of the first page of puzzles. Besides that, the puzzles increase at a gradual pace, are enjoyable enough to be engaging, and are a great time killer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Ladders is another fun word puzzle Lightwood has brought to the Series X, but like with Crypto and the others, it does one thing and one thing well. So far, this is my second favorite of the POWGI games, as I did find it pretty fun to twist these word puzzles and clear the ladders at my own pace, making this a game i’d honestly buy to play on the go, since it’s a perfect fit. Still, this Series X version is just as fun, though unfortunately just like Crypto you don’t get quick resume here.

Not much else to say, if you like what you see in the images and are familiar with the concept, then this is 150 puzzles of wordbending fun!

I give Ladders by POWGI a 6 out of 10.