Wordscapes meets Scrabble in this engaging word puzzle game

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SHOULD I PLAY MOLECANO?

Play this, especially if you’re looking for something casual. Molecano combines the puzzling gameplay of Wordscapes with the strategy of Scrabble to create a fresh and engaging puzzle game where I had to create words and use them to build bridges to find food. While the pesky ad breaks annoyed me after a while, Molecano offers all the fun needed to enjoy solving simple word puzzles on the fly.

TIME PLAYED

I played Molecano for two hours. I’ve completed over three dozen puzzles and made it to level forty-one. I’ve only unlocked two out of the twenty acquirable characters so far, but I’m getting close to unlocking my third one.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT MOLECANO?

• Word puzzles. Molecano's simple word-finding, puzzle-solving gameplay was more than enough to keep me happy. It’s not flashy or revolutionary, but the easy-to-understand mechanics made it easy to relax while thinking about the possibilities from different letter combinations.

• Collecting characters. After solving each level, I earned a handful of coins that are used to purchase new characters. With twenty adorable characters to pick from, I loved that I could customize my experience and work toward something instead of only climbing levels.

• Hints, though they come at a cost. I’m grateful I had the option to reveal a hint when I couldn’t solve a puzzle. Using hints required watching an ad, but I appreciated that there was a way to make things easier when I got into trouble.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT MOLECANO?

• So many ads. It’s not just the hints that forced me to take a commercial break. After every two or three levels, I had to watch around ten to fifteen seconds of ads before I could skip them and continue playing. I don’t mind supporting casual games by watching ads, but the sheer frequency of ads in Molecano became annoying, especially given how short the levels are. Notably, you can remove ads altogether, but you’ll need to pay $5.99 to unlock that feature.

PLATFORM TESTED

Android via Samsung Galaxy Ultra S22 5G phone.