Hot on the heels of the last game, I either really enjoyed Epistory or I’m really burnt out and spent my PTO day finishing the game and writing up this review. Or both. I haven’t played a typing game since Mario Learns Typing back in early elementary school. Epistory is nothing like mindless drills and repetitions–learning home row and where all of the letters are in relation to it. It’s more of an isometric adventure/RPG with interestingly beautiful graphics. I found myself recalling back to the short period of time where ambient games were popular (think Eufloria, World of Goo, Splice) as it’s really easy to get into the Flow of typing.

Don’t let the seemingly low-poly count turn you away. It has a certain charm when you see the world literally unfold like origami shapes coming undone and build up to add depth to the world. And who doesn’t like riding around on a large fox with three tails?

The controls are a little weird, but the standard WASD controls are sorta supported. I say sorta because you still have to use the J and I (I think) keys to get true east and true north in some tricky spots. I really wanted to bind the keys to VIM’s HJKL and tried doing so on the launcher, but it seems to get overridden by the time you get into the game. I also found out, despite having spent numerous minutes using the spacebar button to switch between navigation and typing mode that the enter key also does the same thing. Very reminiscent of playing MMOs.

At first, I liked it because it was kind of like playing an audiobook, if an audiobook were interactive with graphics and keyboard input. The narration would kick off short phrases that built as you navigated forward. Then, the world got a little too big and I accidentally hit Chapter 2 before finishing off the Chapter 1 area and I hit Chapter 3 before even starting Chapter 2. My explorer habits were working against the intended narrative, but I was having too much fun typing away.

Bugs and naga-like creatures are the enemies you encounter while playing. If you’re too busy admiring the scenery or scanning for treasure chests, you might a bug and run smack into it before it’s too late. You have to switch to typing mode, which pops up words to type. Thankfully, if you make a typo, it does not start you from the beginning. However, when you’re getting swarmed by enemies, it can get confusing real fast which one to address next.

You can also interact with the environment by switching to typing mode. There are some obstacles that can only be cleared that way. There are some barren patches of soil that will sprout trees or plants for aesthetics. There are also chests and numeric vaults to open. The UI can even be interacted with by typing if you’re too lazy to reach for your mouse. Especially if you’re a fast typer, typing out “map” is faster than reaching for the mouse.

The background sounds and music are somewhat noticeable in the sense of “oh, I must be in the forest because the birds are chirping” or “oh, there are windchimes up here” (this happened to be a floating ruin/city area). It’s very pleasant, not distracting, and for me, created an ambient atmosphere that let me get into the rhythm of typing. There is a battle music track when you are dealing with swarms, but it’s not jarring or overly heart-pumping.

The words you type out are also environment-appropriate. The bare patches of ground could need words related to flowers or trees. Likewise, when clearing out logs, they’re usually some type of tree. While exploring caves, there were words related to different kinds of stones. Then, there’s the magic system. Fire had fire-related words like “sear” and “ignite”. Spark (electricity) likewise had words like “coil” and “bulb.” I probably could have learned a slew of new words if I had bothered to write them down, but … I was too busy playing. Just out of programmer’s curiosity, I wouldn’t mind having a look at their word dictionary.

As I mentioned early on, the story was a little weak. I won’t give out the ending, but despite having played through it in a few days, I couldn’t quite connect all of the bits and pieces scattered throughout the game. There were beautiful watercolor images that were the result of collecting image pieces in the dungeons as well as a final image presented at the end. Some areas of the dungeons also had another voice, different from the narrator, adding a mood of sorts, but it was fairly disconnected and I started to ignore/forget what was being said.

Overall, Epistory is a solid game, mechanics and graphics-wise. It makes up for the fragmented story that was possibly intended to leave interpretation up to the player. I would most likely play Nanotale, another typing-based game from the same studio.