I’m not sure if I’ve played any word games for the better part of my life, or during the occasional internet outage, so it’s pretty weird that I’ve been playing a lot of Wordle. In Wordle, you play on a 5×6 grid guessing 5-letter words which don’t sound all that fun until you get addicted.
Maybe it’s because of the need to follow trends or maybe it’s the minimalistic UI that flips to show green letters, that certainly gives you a dopamine pop.
But the big hype with Wordle would’ve certainly caused a lot of clones to pop up, and that’s happened. While most of them are subpar for the most part, others offer a mix of mechanical and textual changes, remixing the formula of the game.
So today, we’ll be looking at 8 games like Wordle, and they are:
- Quordle
- Dordle
- Nerdle
- Lewdle
- Squirdle
- Heardle
- Globle
- Framed
Quordle
Quordle is for those people that like to read the dictionary as a hobby and like to eat Alphabet soup on a cold winter night. Jokes aside, this is by far one of the hardest Wordle clones with 4 instances of the game running simultaneously. You’re supposed to guess all 4 words in 9 guesses. Never have I ever clicked off of a game this fast after just 1 round.
Quordle is not for me, but if you’re an English snob (Is that a thing?), give it a go.
Dordle
If you’re the type of person that finds Wordle a bit too easy and wants to amp up the difficulty, then try out Dordle. So what does Dordle do differently? Well, players are presented with two Wordle games simultaneously with the same set of rules applying to both games. You get six guesses for both sequences.
You could either sacrifice a guess for another game or try to play both sequences simultaneously. For me, it kind of takes the fun out of Wordle. I don’t want to be racking up my brain for a game that’s supposed to be simple and fun.
Nerdle
Now, Nerdle is not going to be for everyone. Most users will call it quits within their third or fourth attempt. But if you’re a math whiz or think highly of yourself, then you might stick it out for the long game. Players have to figure out a math equation, with green representing figures that are part of the final answer.
It follows an 8×6 grid contrary to Wordle’s 5×6 grid scheme. I’m not a big fan of math. If I was, I wouldn’t be spending my time indulging in games like Wordle, but in the long and short of it, the game get’s as fun so long as you win.
Lewdle
Now, Lewdle is not my cup of tea. But hey, if you’re a teenager or someone that’s got an inappropriate sense of humor, and want to update your dirty word vocabulary, you might enjoy it for a couple of rounds. But where Lewdle starts to fall short is the lack of some dirty words in its word base. And trying the same dirty words over and over again can be pretty annoying.
But hey, if it’s what you like, you should go for it. It could be a fun play with some friends tagging along, but after a couple of rounds, everyone will most probably resume scrolling their phones.
Squirdle
Squirdle is a spin on the Wordle formula, testing one’s Pokemon Knowledge. Firing up a game of Squirdle, I found that I’d forgotten my Pokemon. But players are presented with a list of Pokemon from the search bar. It’s uniquely fun but nerve-wracking at the same time. You’re given hints like the Pokemon generation, whether it’s a type 1 or type 2 Pokemon, the height, and weight.
While not my cup of tea, Pokemon fanatics should certainly give it a try. I’ll just stick to Wordle in the meantime.
Heardle
An audiophile and music enthusiast game, Heardle puts your listening and music knowledge to the test by playing a small audio sequence of a song. It could be anything ranging from old hits, 80’s rock, or modern pop and rap songs.
But if you’ve relegated yourself to a particular niche or genre of music, you might have a hard time playing this game. Heardle isn’t for everyone, but for those that like to keep an open ear to every music genre out there.
Globle
If you’re looking for a more enjoyable Word guessing game. Try out Globle. For once, a Wordle clone decides to steer away from the formula and do something different. And in this instance, we get a geography guessing game with a Globe.
Even if you aren’t a geography wiz, you’ll still have a good time trying to figure out the mystery country. But things can get pretty frustrating if you’re red hot and can’t figure out a country that’s adjacent to your guess.
But I ended up cheating. Cause sometimes, I like to cheat to win. We all do or is it just me?
Framed
Framed is a movie guessing game. It presents you with frames from a movie that pop up with each guess you make. Considering everyone binged Netflix and streaming services to the maximum during the pandemic, Framed is made for everyone.
Despite my knowledge of esoteric movies, I had a hard time guessing the mystery flick. The frames can be pretty familiar and sometimes obscure, making it all the difficult to guess a movie. But I was adamant the frames were from Chef, despite the Website stating otherwise.
In the end, I found myself looking at Heat. Sadly, I’m not the movie enthusiast I thought I was, and will be watching Heat today as a punishment. But Heat aside, have you seen Chef?
Conclusion
Wordle certainly shook the Word game community. I remember a time when I’d scribble on a crossword puzzle and read the funny Garfield comics. Soon the internet popped up and video games became the norm. Who knew word games like Wordle would make a comeback this Titanic?
