I’ve always had a thing about typing games.
Well, not even “games”; when I was a kid I’d much rather stick the CD-ROM of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing than Jazz Jackrabbit. Even now, when I sit at my keyboard typing away for ten hours a day, every day, I still find some pleasure in finding a typing test online and testing my words per minute skills.
(Some might call me ‘sad’. I’d probably agree.)
There’s been only a handful of actual typing games that aim to do more than just measure your WPM. Typing of the Dead, of course, is perhaps the best known, where typing words that pop up on screen at an increasing speed is the only way to defeat hordes of shambling zombies.
The Textorcist takes a similar approach, but with a bullet hell twist. In it, you play “certified exorcist and badass” Ray Bibbia who rids the world of demons through his private exorcist agency. Gameplay is similar to Typing of the Dead in that you’ll type words that pop up on screen in order to send out attacks. But in The Textorcist, you’ll also have to dodge attacks, too.
It’s quite a lot to ask – and it’s bloody hard to get good at, but after spending a little bit of time with an early build of the game, I can confirm it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Polished pixel graphics come to life with colourful spews of bullets, and Ray’s character shines through with dialogue cutscenes and text boxes.
The Textorcist is a game that truly tests your coordination – you need to watch the words that come up on screen and type them as quickly and as accurately as you can, while also anticipating your opponents’ attacks, dodging them as necessary. Get hit and Ray will drop his exorcism book, meaning you have to stop what you’re doing and move around the screen to retrieve it.
If you feel like testing your typing skills against your reflexes, speed and coordination, The Textorcist will be available on PC on 14th February. Trust me, it’s a lot of fun.
