Capsule Review: dordle
A daily spelling puzzle game that builds on Wordle's foundation.
Like a doubled Wordle, each day brings two new target five-letter words to guess. You get seven chances and after each guess you receive Mastermind-like feedback telling you which letters are correct and in the right spot, correct but in the wrong spot, or not in the word at all–for both words, as each guess is applied to both words simultaneously. The game also has a social feature of giving you a set of emoji that depict your performance and which you can easily share on social media. And unlike Wordle, there’s also a free mode that lets you play repeatedly instead of waiting for a new day, but of course these games are not in sync with other players the way the daily words are.
This is one of the many games experimenting with Wordle’s formula, and it’s my personal favorite. It uses the exact same mechanics as Wordle but in a different combination that makes the game slightly harder in an interesting way, due to the added depth of needing to guess words in a way that will be useful for finding two words rather than just one. The social hook is perhaps not as strong here because fewer people play dordle than Wordle, but if you do have friends who play the comparisons are also more interesting.
I Stopped Playing When: I still play this daily and compare with Allie.
Three Stars: Good. I liked the game enough to finish it (or just play it a bunch, for games that don't end). I recommend it to most genre fans.