When Apple Arcade originally launched in September 2019, it had 71 games to download and play. When you open the app store today you can pull up the full list of games in their original release order. If you scroll to the VERY bottom of the list, you'll find Word Laces, which in my estimation makes this the first game released for the service.
It seems somewhat symbolic actually, that a casual, innocent, lighthearted little word game would be the first that Apple put on the list. It seems like it almost communicated the intent of the service itself.
Apple launched their Arcade service at a time when mobile gaming had long since become a cesspool of micro-transactions and ads. If you look carefully, it almost seems like Word Laces was sort of designed to exist in that kind of world. The game as it exists now is beautiful, simplistic and minimalist...and it actually feels kind of weird. There are only two game modes here, one of them offers 1 puzzle per day in the form of a daily challenge, and the other is just the normal mode you'll play, going level by level, solving the word puzzles. No fluff. Once you complete a puzzle, there's no ads or stupid fake money to spend. You just go to the next puzzle.
To look at the gameplay, Word Laces sums itself up exactly. You combine words using shoe laces. You'll see a variety of letters on the screen and sometimes combinations of letters, and you tie them together, in a string, to produce a word that represents or describes the picture you see on the screen. Within five seconds you'll know EXACTLY how to play this game.
The puzzles are short and sweet, normally lasting about a minute or two. and once you finish you'll earn stars based on how many hints you used, not necessarily how efficient you were. I really liked that the game didn't pressure or rush me. After completing a puzzle you can always go back and do it again, should you so desire, and to compliment the main 1200 puzzle campaign mode, there is a daily puzzle as well, which I found to be much trickier than any of the 50 puzzles I've completed in the main mode.
For being such a simple game, I have to admire its breadth. 1200 is a LOT of puzzles. I've been playing this game with some intensity for over a week. I feel like I've been mainlining it in my spare moments. Having completed 50 of the 1200 puzzles, I feel like I've done a lot, though in the grand design of the game I haven't even hit 10% That might seem like a low number to justify a review...but honestly, I feel like I've seen enough of this game to know what it is. That doesn't make it bad. But it does make it kind of basic.
I don't want to sound harsh. This is a pleasant little puzzler. I'm legitimately going to keep this on my phone. It's one of the best games I've seen on Apple Arcade that will start up in ten seconds, and lets me complete a puzzle in a minute or two. Play sessions in Word Laces can be REALLY short if you want them to be. On a computer or a game console that might not seem attractive, but on a phone, its awesome. This is a GREAT toilet game.
The stars you earn can be used to earn shoe boxes. When you finally earn a shoe box, you'll be rewarded with a random shoe, which has a corresponding lace for you to wrap your words with, and it also slightly changes the color of the background to add some variety. Its essentially a little bonus to change the color scheme and style of the game board while you play. Its a cute addition, as it always feels good to be earning something, but it really doesn't amount to much, and it certainly won't be the primary motivator to your continued play experience. The reason you will start this game up is the pleasure you get out of the puzzles, and that alone.
Its worth saying before we end this conversation that I started playing this game on my iPhone. The next day I downloaded it on my Mac to see if it played any differently. I expected to start over, but actually my save file was perfectly synced with my phone, without me doing anything, or really even knowing that it was happening. Heck, I didn’t even know that was a feature. But as soon as I started the game on my Mac, the game started on the exact same puzzle I had been working on on my iPhone. I’m not sure how many Apple Arcade games do this, but if this is a feature that is common, its a really fantastic quality of life feature. But I digress, lets get back to the review.
Word laces is a little treat, neatly wrapped and thoughtfully presented. It's not the greatest word game ever made, but it doesn't have to be. Its a bite-sized shoebox of clever fun, and if you're even a casual fan of puzzle games, this one is worth a download.
