A friend of mine recently introduced me to this game, ZTYPE by Phoboslab. It’s set in space, and you type out words to shoot down oncoming enemy ships. Sounds simple, but as you dive deeper, the words get trickier and the ships, faster. I made it to wave 11, feeling quite proud of that.
My son gave it a shot, and found it frustrating, but thanks to the custom word file feature the game has, I uploaded a 2nd grader word list, making it more his speed and he ended up getting to wave 17 – something he most certainly rubbed in my face, despite the obvious difficulty gap.
The feedback you get when your lasers connect with the word-enemies is incredibly satisfying. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, words began breaking apart into individual letters, coming at me faster, and that’s where my streak ended.
I know this game is super old, and released back in 2016, but it’s still very much worth trying for you and the family. This whole type-to-attack mechanism reminded me of other titles, notably “Nanotale – Typing Chronicles” and its predecessor “Epistory – Typing Chronicles,” both developed by Fishing Cactus. These games elevate the whole typing experience into a roleplaying adventure, weaving narrative, magic, and exploration into the typing mechanics.
They were once available on Google Stadia through web browsers, making them fun and easy to play, but, well, if you’ve kept up with gaming news, you’d know that the fate of Stadia took those away from us. You can certainly play these on your Chromebook via Steam for compatible devices as they’re not that demanding, but ZTYPE is quick, easy to access, and offers a taste of that kind of fun without the hassle.
For anyone interested, ZTYPE isn’t just confined to computers. Their website lets you play on your phone too. Plus, there’s an offline mode ready for download. If you’ve got some downtime, it might be fun to explode some vocabulary in space and release some tension – it is the weekend, after all!
Nebula photo by Philippe Donn
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