There is a new POWGI game in town for Xbox owners, with this one also launching at the same time for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch users. Gaps by POWGI is the name this time around, and nicely it isn’t as taxing as some of their other word puzzle titles, Crypto by POWGI and Roundout by POWGI.
Gaps still presents its own unique challenge however. You are given a word to find that is five to eight letters in length, but to find those letters you need to fill in the gaps of other words. The difficulty comes from the fact these existing words could have several letters that fit their gap. In order to solve these puzzles you need to be checking the word you are trying to discover to see what letters fit in that one, and the words you have been given with the gaps in. It’s a little bit like your driving test in that you need more than one pair of eyes on things. But it is far less stressful.
Cleverly done is how the letter you immediately think is the missing one is not actually the correct answer. Gaps by POWGI isn’t designed to catch you out in that sense; more to make you think outside of the box a little bit more. That sounds cliched for a puzzle game, but hey, I’m just here to present the facts.
There are 150 puzzles in total to solve. Whilst the words you need to find vary in length, the words with the missing letters are only ever five letters. Enter an incorrect letter and you have several ways to correct it; an undo button for any glaring mistakes you make or a hint system that can be used at any point and will remove wrong letters for you. This doesn’t have a limit to the number of uses either so can be used as often as you like.
Everything else is part and parcel for a POWGI game. A no frills UI, no extra features, the same music, easy achievements and some hilarious new puns. After feeling a bit let down by them in recent releases such as Mixups by POWGI and Ladders by POWGI, the puns are back with a bang.
If you’ve ever played a POWGI game, then you should know the drill by now. Not only are the achievement names clever word plays but you are rewarded with a brilliant pun for each puzzle you complete. In more recent titles, they were in short supply and frequently repeated. In Gaps by POWGI though, it is a return to form for whoever at Lightwood Games comes up with these. For a start, they are related to the word you are trying to find and, secondly, never fail to raise a smile.
But there is another subset of gamers who enjoy the POWGI games, and they are the achievement hunters out there. Once again Gaps by POWGI has an easy 1000G with only one achievement taking any real time at all. That is for finishing 50 puzzles in total, which you will be working towards with the various other achievements. There is also a 75G achievement for spelling out a five-letter anatomically correct word for a male sexual organ, which is more than generous.
Just make sure you utilise the undo and hint features, as there are also achievements associated with them.
Not that it really matters in a game such as Gaps by POWGI either, but it is Optimised for Xbox Series X|S with 4K and 60fps too. I can confirm though that this doesn’t make you find the missing letters any quicker though.
Gaps by POWGI is one of the simplest word puzzlers from Lightwood Games in terms of concept, but this helps it by not overcomplicating things that could potentially draw away interested parties. The puns are back too which is only ever a good thing, as is the very easy Gamerscore. For those who are gluttons for punishment and aim to complete every single puzzle on offer then Gaps by POWGI may even be one of the quickest to complete in total, with many puzzles taking around a minute each when utilising the hint functions.
Fill in the blanks with Gaps by POWGI for £6.69 on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
