Words Can Kill cover
Words Can Kill screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure, Indie, Card & Board Game

Words Can Kill

Ver. 1.0.5
Bug causing music to play when music is turned off has been fixed.
A couple of words were added to the dictionary: "fleek" and "haji"

Words Can Kill Out Now


Unleash the power of words and save the princess!

Words Can Kill is available on Steam!!!


Words Can Kill Launches September 29


Words Can Kill will be available on September 29, 2022!

Wishlist on Steam today to be the first to save the princess!

The full price will be 7.99USD (or your regional equivalent)

Launch discount: -15%

​⚔️️​ Slay the SCRAAABBLE: Demo Update
Several players during the Next Fest reported that they still don't like controls in the game. So I added an alternative way to place tiles on the board for players who prefer the Cursed (or Doomed) mode. It can be activated through the menu (ESC -> Options).



1. You need to click the target board first.



2. Then click tiles you want to add.



3. Then click an Attack (or Block) button if you've built a valid word on the target board. Or you can click an empty green square to finish entering the word.



Aside from that the tips for the new players were added, UI on the map was improved, a couple of annoying music tracks were changed.

I plan to add some new items and balance the 3rd class before the release. The game will be released after the final testing as soon as possible (hope, in July).

​⚔️️​ Slay the SCRAAABBLE
Words Can Kill is a spelling roguelike game hugely inspired by Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons. Your deck here is full of letter tiles akin to those in Scrabble. Your journey begins with a random 12-tile deck consisting of the letters without additional effects (like a 1-point E, a 2-point P and 4-point Z). During combat you draw tiles from the deck and place them on the Attack or Defense board trying to spell most optimal words considering your equipment bonuses and enemies intentions. After successful fights you can get new items or add more powerful letters or even 2-letter tiles to your deck.



If you've ever played other popular spelling games you probably know how it can be frustrating to have a Q and no U in your hand. Time has come to change this once and for all! Remove this annoying Q from your deck on the next visit to the forge. Or instead, you can upgrade your Q and build the entire strategy around these Q and U tiles forcing your enemies just QUIT the battlefield.



Download the demo and try to beat the boss of the run!

​⚔️️​ Slay the SCRAAABBLE
Words Can Kill is a spelling roguelike game hugely inspired by Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons. Your deck here is full of letter tiles akin to those in Scrabble. Your journey begins with a random 12-tile deck consisting of the letters without additional effects (like a 1-point E, a 2-point P and 4-point Z). During combat you draw tiles from the deck and place them on the Attack or Defense board trying to spell most optimal words considering your equipment bonuses and enemies intentions. After successful fights you can get new items or add more powerful letters or even 2-letter tiles to your deck.



If you've ever played other popular spelling games you probably know how it can be frustrating to have a Q and no U in your hand. Time has come to change this once and for all! Remove this annoying Q from your deck on the next visit to the forge. Or instead, you can upgrade your Q and build the entire strategy around these Q and U tiles forcing your enemies just QUIT the battlefield.



Download the demo and try to beat the boss of the run!

​⚔️️​ Slay the SCRAAABBLE
Words Can Kill is a spelling roguelike game hugely inspired by Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons. Your deck here is full of letter tiles akin to those in Scrabble. Your journey begins with a random 12-tile deck consisting of the letters without additional effects (like a 1-point E, a 2-point P and 4-point Z). During combat you draw tiles from the deck and place them on the Attack or Defense board trying to spell most optimal words considering your equipment bonuses and enemies intentions. After successful fights you can get new items or add more powerful letters or even 2-letter tiles to your deck.



If you've ever played other popular spelling games you probably know how it can be frustrating to have a Q and no U in your hand. Time has come to change this once and for all! Remove this annoying Q from your deck on the next visit to the forge. Or instead, you can upgrade your Q and build the entire strategy around these Q and U tiles forcing your enemies just QUIT the battlefield.



Download the demo and try to beat the boss of the run!

Pre-Release Demo Update

Demo was updated


- You can try magic effect tiles and new no-hints modes in the demo right now.
- Tile placement feels better now.
- If you hover over a tile in the Gifted (hinted) mode you can see possible words containing this tile.
- Balance was slightly reworked (some items will be reworked for the no-hints modes soon). Remember, the demo is 2/3 of the run on the easiest difficulty. So if you feel it's too easy try to play the game in the Doomed mode or wait for the full release.
- Some visual effects were added.
- You can finish your turn by pressing Space and cancel the last action by pressing right mouse button.
- I want to add the word definitions and the possibility to rearrange tiles on the board soon.



Need help


English is not my native language so I ask community to help me with some in-game descriptions.
Please report me about any grammatical errors and bugs you encounter during your play.

Sorry for the delay


Words Can Kill is a solo developed game. I planned to release it before the end of March. But it was hard to work last month because I was totally frustrated by last political events. Although I'm against the war in Ukraine, as a Russian citizen I'm under economical sanctions now.
I wanted to add some new music tracks for the game, because some of the current tracks feel very repetitive. But I cannot purchase licenses for music and sounds from international stores because there is no available payment option for my country. I still hope Steam will continue to work with Russian indie developers but there is too much uncertainty now.

New classes and magic effect tiles
Words Can Kill is on the final stages of the development. All enemies and boss battles are ready now.

Two new classes were added: Brute and Keymaster. The default character was currently named Pioneer. You can propose your own names for the classes in the comments.
- Brute starts his path with the deck full of 2-letter tiles. Once per turn he can split a 2-letter tile into two 1-letter tiles.
- Keymaster collects keys to draw more tiles.



It is possible now to add magic effects to some tiles in the forge or to get tiles with effects as a reward after battles.
There are some examples of effects:
+2 points on the Attack board
+2 points on the Defense board
Restore 1 health if this tile is used to spell a word
Gains 1 point each time it’s used to spell a word
+2 points if this is the first tile of a word
+2 points in the middle of a word



The player can choose one of the 3 modes: Gifted (with hints), Cursed (without hints, but with addittional bonuses), Doomed (no hints, no bonuses).



The demo will be updated at the end of February. The full release is planned for the middle of March.

Big controls rework
Several players reported that the control system in the game was clunky and more suitable for mobile devices. So time has come to change the way controls works in Words Can Kill.

- Now you can click a tile -> click a destination point in addition to the old drag&drop system.

- You can insert a tile from your hand between the tiles on the board until any meaningful action (an attack, a block, the end of turn).

- You can undo your previous action by pressing the right mouse button (RMB).

- You can undo all your actions by pressing the "X" button.

Smoothness of the tile placement is one of the future tasks.

Fill free to leave your feedback in the comments or in the Community hub.





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