Letters: A Written Adventure is a charming and wonderfully creative puzzle adventure where your character uses words hidden in pen pal letters and AIM style chat messages to solve riddles and decide what person you grow up to be.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer a year ago, Letters: A Written Adventure is a wonderful narrative-driven puzzle platforming adventure where words really matter. In the game you control a cute little 2D representation of your character who can walk around the pages of pen pal letters or messages in old internet chat clients. You can then pick up words (or fragments of words) and use them to solve puzzles and decide what kind of person you grow up to be.
Starting as an 11 year old girl in Switzerland, Letters: A Written Adventure follows your character as they go through life and grow up. The choices you make can often have significant effects on the trajectory of your life – so deciding to play games with your friend rather than focusing on your drawing may mean you end up being a game developer rather than an artist.
The puzzle design is all very inventive and sees you attempting to find words that can aid your progress. So for instance, when you come across a bird with a missing wing that is blocking your passage you can break up the word “drawing” and pick up the word “wing”, which you can then give to the bird to help it grow a new wing. There’s often more than one solution and there are lots of fun little easter eggs to discover by using words in different ways.
The current build of Letters: A Written Adventure features two stages and takes around 15 minutes to play through (though it’s worth playing through twice to see the different outcomes). It really impresses with its charming hand drawn visuals, creative puzzle design and clever use of branching storytelling. It’s a very pleasant experience and it’s real joy figuring out the various ways the words you use can impact the game world and the story. Highly recommended.
Check Out the Kickstarter Page Here
Check Out a Gameplay Video Here
Download The Letters: A Written Adventure Kickstarter Demo Here (Steam)