Typoman is one of the more unique titles I have played during the Mix Indie Game Showcase last Wednesday night. It's a platformer, but not in the sense that you just run aimlessly, grabbing and killing monsters at will. Rather, it's a cerebral game that requires using your brain at all times. While it seems to be a platformer at heart, Typoman borrows more from the puzzle genre in which you must figure out how to move past the traps the game sets up as well as enemies that lay ahead of you. Once I was able to get the hang of things, I found its challenges to be immensely rewarding once they were finally completed.

The demo I played started off simple. I ran, jumped, and figured out the controls rather easily. The main goal of the game is to use words and put them in the correct order that will help you solve the puzzle needed to get to the next area. For example, one area had me swinging through letters, eventually grabbing the last word that spells “DRAIN”. That puzzle had me using precision platforming action, combining both genres together fabulously. Another puzzle, towards the end of the level, was churning out letters. At first, none of these letters were spelling out anything legible. But soon, I was able to spell out the word “STOP” with only a few of the letters being used, which in fact stopped the falling spike platform so that I could move on top of it to the next area. Sometimes the hardest puzzles require the simplest of answers.

Presentation wise, I very much enjoyed the unique atmosphere that Typoman exudes. You control a figure made out of letters who is in search of his other arm, which has been taken by a mysterious presence. The level I played was dark and foreboding; dark shadows were everywhere as I traveled through the first stage, with zero color to be found. The hero's journey will be a dark one, and it’s unique aesthetic will stayed on my mind for a good while.

The one word that comes to mind when it comes to Typoman is “different” - it's immensely unique in the way that it plays. Many games are dark and ominous, but not many use letters that will help you advance to the next area. It was a challenge to figure out how to solve these puzzles; combine that with some of the precise platforming that was needed during some stages of gameplay made it a tough experience. But it was tough in a good way – it's just enough to where once you finally figure out that one word that will help you make it to the next section of the game is immensely rewarding. Scheduled for release later this year, Typoman is rife with promise and ingenuity.