As a writer, I’m used to hurting people with words… but usually only emotionally or psychologically. As such, the potential to physically hurt people with words is like some sort of terrible dream come true.

The company trying to make that dream a reality – in game form, at least – is Actos Games, which is Kickstarting a puzzle RPG called Apexicon. You have a big grid of randomised letters which you use to form words that hurt enemies and heal you, while using special abilities to give you an edge. It looks rather neat, like some sort of Puzzle Quest/Bookworm Adventures hybrid.

Apexicon also plays rather well, based on the publicly available demo, although I confess that the hints at what’s in the full version intrigue me more. The demo class throws words at the enemy. The full version’s Idiomancer, on the other hand, focuses on turning words into “better and weirder” words, like some sort of spectacularly demented Scrabble pro. The Plagirist attacks using words based on what your opponent is wearing and using. Etc.

Alas, the game is $12,000 short of its goal, and it only has until 1 December to make it. If it sounds interesting, head over to the Kickstarter page, grab the demo, and consider pledging a bit of cash towards this.