Synonymy Lite

Language is a wonderful thing, especially if we take pleasure in learning how to make it sound the way we want it to sound. It is malleable and flexible, which is why there are so many writing styles in the literary world, both simple and complex. Every writer can leave an imprint on the language, by simply finding a way to join the right words together.

Synonymy is an educational video game designed to be both fun and informative at the same time, although you need to be at least a tad intimate with the English language to see its value. Celebrities like Stephen Fry and Richard Dawkins have endorsed the game for its ingenuity, while the latter even provided the voice narration for it. All profits go to educational charities around the world, so every purchase has the potential to help those in need.

As far as the actual game is concerned, the underlying idea is quite simple: you are given a word to start from, and by jumping from synonym to synonym, you must reach a target word, which is obviously very different from the original term. However, thanks to the rich thesaurus of the English language, it is possible to reach any word this way, although the number of jumps you have to take varies from case to case.

Synonymy exposes the players to a very large database of words, some of which might be too obscure for some to be familiar with them. Thankfully, each one of them comes with a definition as well, which means that you can also enrich your vocabulary at the same time. It is a very good way for non-English speakers to improve their grip on the language as well, but everyone has something to gain from it in the end.

As far as the game’s user interface is concerned, you need to know that it was ported on PC from the mobile market, so the controls can be a bit awkward on the keyboard. You can swap left and right using the directional keys, but the mouse also comes in handy if you’d rather use clicks instead. The visual quality is nothing to get excited about, but the game looks quite modern and fancy, not to mention relaxing.

In the end, Synonymy’s greatest weakness is repetition, because the gameplay remains the same no matter what the words are. On the other hand, it is a tremendously helpful tool if your goal is to learn more about the English language, or if you are willing to expand your vocabulary.