Dear reader, do you love books as much as you love video games? Would you like to play and read at the same time? Do you want to play and improve your vocabulary while reading some of the world’s most famous books? I don’t know how, but this went from an Arcade review to an infomercial really quick.
I’m talking about Dear Reader, a game that, after 7 years, is finally available in Apple Arcade. Dear Reader was developed by Local No. 12 studios. This game made for book lovers. You’ll go through some of the most iconic books that have ever been written and you’ll take part in the experience by completing the sentences and paragraphs of each chapter.
On paper, this game is extremely easy. Your goal is to go through each chapter of a book and complete a sentence. The game will tell you what to do. Sometimes, you’ll have to fill the blank with a word, and other times you’ll have to rearrange words in a sentence. These game modes are called wordplay and there are a total of 24 of them. You’ll unlock new wordplay modes by progressing through the game. Sounds easy, right? Well, not quite. The words and sentences can be complicated. You’ll have to be patient and read carefully to make the corrections properly.
If you get stuck you can ask for a clue. If you use clues or if you place a word or phrase wrong, you’ll lose ink. If you lose all your ink in one chapter, you’ll lose and you’ll have to start from the beginning of the chapter. Sometimes it may be confusing and frustrating, so patience and a love for the written word are essential to play this game.
After each chapter you’ll keep the ink you won. The ink is used as in-game currency and you can use it to but new books. However, books can be a little expensive, so you’ll need to farm a lot of ink. and you’ll need to do it quickly because some books disappear after a few days.
One thing that I liked about Dear Reader is that you can select the difficulty in which you want to play. You can play as a Relaxed reader, a Page Turner or a Speed Reader. Each type of reader represents a difficulty. This is a great feature if you just started reading or if you’re a veteran reader.
Dear Reader also has goals. Each completed goal will unlock a new book. However, you only unlock the possibility to buy these books, instead of getting them immediately.
Dear Reader is a simple and pretty game. Everything, from its gameplay to its looks and music has a minimalistic style created to give the player an easy experience. Instead of crazy controls, you’ll get a relaxing puzzle game with the reward of reading through a classic story.
Overall, Dear Reader is a great game that might not be for everyone. Its simple gameplay and complicated puzzles will give you an entertaining and challenging time while teaching you some new words and stories you might have never heard before. Even if you’re not a book lover, you should give this game a chance. It’s a challenging, fun experience that’s worth your time.