Code Word

Code Word is an open-source word-puzzle game for android developed by Jake Rosin of Peace Ray LLC. The game is primarily centered around guessing a word similar to Wordle. The game appeared to originate as an over-engineered Wordle solver though it would evolve into said game as development continued. The developer also mentioned being inspired by various other games including Jotto, Mastermind, Bulls and Cows, and Absurdle.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

"Code word is a free word puzzle game for Android."
- peaceray.com/codeword

As its website stated, Code Word is an open-source word-puzzle game for android developed by Jake Rosin of Peace Ray LLC. The game is primarily centered around guessing a word similar to Wordle.

The game appeared to originate as an over-engineered Wordle solver though it would evolve into said game as development continued. The developer also mentioned being inspired by various other games including Jotto, Mastermind, Bulls and Cows, and Absurdle.




Installation

The game can be obtained on Google Play Store, F-Droid Main Repository, or the game's GitHub page. As of 12 May 2025, the latest version of the game is v1.4.4 released on 18 December 2024. The game does not seem to be available on platforms other than Android.


The size of the game is 8.8 MB during download, and it takes up a total of 20 MB on install, which is a decently small size for a game. We installed the game from F-Droid, and there was no problem during the installation process.




Gameplay



The gameplay of Code Word is reminiscent of Wordle but with some differences. The gameplay is simple: you need to guess a secret word by typing a word of certain length determined by the puzzle settings and then confirming the word by clicking the check mark on the keyboard. If "by letter" is chosen as feedback (the default settings), then once the word is submitted, each letter on the word will be highlighted a certain color to tell you whether the letter is used in the right place, used in the wrong place, or not used at all. You can only guess a certain number of time before you lose the game.


The game allows you to configure the puzzle quite extensively. You can choose whether to guess an english word or a random code sequence (similar to Mastermind by Hasbro or Guess in Simon Tatham's Puzzles), the type of feedback given while guessing, the length of word/code, the limit on the number of guesses, and more. The game also offers the option to solve the global daily challenge if you enable it in the game's settings.


The chosen type of feedback determines how the game works. Aside from "by letter" (explained above), there is also "exact & included" where the game will only tell you how many words are in the right place or in a different place, "included" where the game will only tell you the number of letters shared with the secret, or "exact count" where the game will only tell you how many letters are put in the correct position.


From what we've gathered from our respondent, the game is rather easy to understand, but it is hard to solve. Despite that, the game can still be quite fun. Our respondent gave the game an 8/10 in terms of gameplay, citing that the game is fun but also too difficult.


Additionally, the game can be a great way to learn or practice more vocabulary. Our respondent told us that the gameplay is creative and useful because it helps the player to improve their vocabulary as it makes us think.


Finally, throughout our testing, we also found no bugs or performance issues with the game.




Graphics



The graphics of the game is overall very bare-bone. The game's appearance is reminiscent of just a regular Android app following material design guideline; in other words, the app looks like a regular, non-gaming Android app with minimal custom designs. However, the game offers some customization for the game's appearance. You can choose the app's color scheme (between light and dark mode), the color of the feedback hints, and the code sequence color.


There is not much to say about the game's graphics. It is simplistic. It works to make the game playable, but it does not stand out. Our respondent noted that the game's graphics could be improved because "it only has two colors [on the puzzle screen], so it is boring and not colorful." Said respondent also mentioned that the game could use additional background and details as well as animation.




Audio


The game has no audio in any form.




Customizability


Despite how simple the game is, it still surprisingly offers extensive customization on how the game works. As mentioned in the game's gameplay section, you can configure the kind of secret (English word or code), type of feedback, length of word/code, number of guesses, and more. You can also configure the color schemes of the feedback and the code out of various options. Aside from that, there is not much else that you can adjust.


Our respondent found the game to be sufficient in terms of customization as it has options for the color scheme, though the options were noted to be boring. The game was also noted for its variety because the player can choose the length of letter and guesses.




Verdict


Code Word is an interesting game for those who are interested in a Wordle-like game that are open-source and installable so it can be played offline. The game may not be much of a looker aesthetically, but it is still fun to tackle nonetheless.




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