Out now on PC, Birdigo is Balatro for word game lovers
I love Balatro. When it released early last year, I did little else for a couple of months other than play the moreish roguelike again and again. Taking the rules of poker and giving them a unique, madcap twist, it’s a game that can be over in a matter of minutes or keep you hooked for well over an hour until you jump in to start all over again. As much as I love Balatro, however, I’m also a lover a word games. So imagine my surprise to discover a new game that mixes together the joys of both: introducing Birdigo.
Birdigo gives you a series of letters that need to be made into words — think Boggle or Scrabble. To start out with, you’ll simply want to make the longest word possible. You’ll gain points based on the length of the word you input: each letter gives you one ‘flap’ by default, and that ‘flap’ score will be multiplied by a ‘power’ — the longer the word, the higher the power. A three-letter word is only 1x power, for example, but a seven-letter word will net you a 10x power.
But there’s more to Birdigo than simply spelling out the best word you can. Like Balatro with its Joker cards, you’ll gain Bird cards that modify your game. Perhaps the letter ‘U’ will give you 20 extra flaps, for example. Or maybe you’ll automatically gain an extra 5 power if you spell out a word with an even number of letters. Because of these modifiers, every single game of Birdigo feels very different depending on the cards you end up with.
There are also special letter tiles, too. Like Scrabble, some letters are automatically worth more points: Js, Qs, Zs and Xs are gold tiles for example, each worth 5 flaps. But you can also buy or unlock additional letters that give you extra points — maybe a platinum E, which gives you 10 flaps each time it’s used.
Given Bird cards and special letter tiles, then, Birdigo soon becomes more strategic than simply spelling the best word possible. Maybe you have a Bird card that grants you bonuses for two or three-letter words, which means spelling the word “to” might score higher than “bezique”.
If you’re a seasoned word game player, it can initially feel a little odd to purposefully spell out shorter words, but that’s the joy of Birdigo. Getting your head around its weird and wonderful rules is part of the fun here, and scoring mega points from a tiny word is as hilarious as it is thrilling.
Related: The Best Word Games on PS4
Like Balatro, this is the type of game you can jump into time and time again, but there’s also a progression path for you to follow, too. There’s a series of levels to make your way through, and different letter sets to unlock — some giving you more letters than others, and some throwing in more wildcard letters, making your game a bit easier or harder depending on your preferences. There’s also a daily game to play if you want to test yourself with a set challenge every day.
Buy Birdigo before 13th August and you’ll save 15% on its asking price of £8.50. But even at full price this is a bargain: don’t sleep on it if you’re a fan of roguelike card-based games who also happens to love word games. It’s a crossover I’d have never dreamt up, but it works surprisingly well.
