LOK Digital

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

.

Review:

LOK is a Puzzle game originally released as a paperback puzzle book in 2022, later adapted as a free PDF file, an itch.io release, with a full PC release with added content in 2024 and a port to Nintendo Switch in 2025. LOK is technically a word puzzle game, but that’s a bit misleading because all of the “words” in question are fictional ones. As such, it might be better to look at this game as a logic puzzle or an order of operations-style puzzle.

The presentation here is minimalist, but not exactly simple. This game uses 2D visuals that are pretty much only in black and white, but these take on a stylized design with fluid animation that gives this game a lot of personality. In addition to these visuals, players will also have a relaxed synthesized soundtrack playing while they solve puzzles.

To describe the puzzles, picture a crossword filled with letters, with the player tasked with marking each letter in the puzzle. To do so, they must spell out words, but not just any words – they must use the vocabulary this game gives them. The first of these words is LOK, but they’ll get other words as they progress.

Players can fill out these words in any orthogonal direction (vertical or horizontal), and cannot go diagonal, bend around corners, or skip spaces. Upon completing a word, each word has an additional bonus action. For example, LOK allows you to mark any single space in the puzzle, while TLAK lets you mark any two spaces that are adjacent to each other. Marked spaces are counted as eliminated, allowing for words to be marked that cross that gap.

If it sounds complicated, I assure you it’s all straightforward… at first. This is definitely one of those things that can get really complex the deeper you dive into it, to the point where you’ll find yourself looking at a grid full of Ls, Ks, Os, Ts, As, and so on, and you need to figure out not only where the words you need to remove are, but what order you need to remove them in. It’s not always easy to wrap your brain around this, and I would argue that while LOK is easy to pick up, it quickly becomes a game that novice puzzle players will find themselves stuck in.

Also, because I’m not sure where else to mention it here, this game’s gamepad controls work fine, but it really seems like the sort of thing that should use touchscreen controls, but those unfortunately don’t appear to be available here.

I do think LOK is an interesting Word Puzzle whose unique approach to that game type really sets it apart, and more seasoned Puzzle fans will likely find this to be right up their alley. Just be aware if you’re more of a novice that the challenge level here may be a bit too much for you.

tl;dr – LOK is a Puzzle game with a simple-looking presentation that has players marking letters in a Crossword-style grid to form made-up words like LOK and TLAK, each which comes with its own rules for how it works, with the goal of marking every tile in each of the game’s stages. The puzzle design here is clever, but the challenge ramps up quickly, making this not a game for everyone. However, puzzle pros should certainly give this game a look.

Grade: B-

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