Wordle’s Movie Clone Framed Uses Stills to Test Cinema Knowledge

Framed, another Wordle-inspired game, tests players’ knowledge of films by showing still images that players must identify, testing their movie knowledge. Wordle became an internet sensation earlier this year, to such an extent that Wordle was acquired by the New York Times. Wordle‘s creator Josh Wardle originally released the game to be free to play and free of ads, a thing that many fans feared would be lost with its acquisition by the newspaper brand.

Wordle‘s success also spawned a plethora of similar games that range from an exact copy of gameplay, intended to spawn ad revenue, to genuine alterations of the original game’s concept meant to offer an interesting twist that allows players enjoy Wordle in a new way. These clones include games like Squabble which uses the same basic idea but pits players against each other in a battle royale-style PvP, rather than having players crack the puzzles solo. Other Wordle duplicates are almost exactly the same as the base game in function, but focus on a specific topic such as geography or Lord of the Rings, and there’s even a Magic: The Gathering-inspired Wordle. Many of these clones follow in the footsteps of Wardle’s creation and are ad-free as well as free to play.

One of the latest Wordle copycats is Framed (via RockPaperShotgun), a cinema-inspired alteration of Wordle‘s concept that offers a challenge so different from what the original does that it stretches what can fairly be termed a clone. Players are given a single still from a movie, which must be used to figure out the film from which it’s from. Each incorrect guess reveals another still from the film, adding compounding information until the answer reveals itself. Only one film is posted each day as is the tradition of Wordle-likes.

Framed is fundamentally different from Wordle in numerous ways, but perhaps the most glaring way is that it ultimately feels like it belongs in a different genre. Wordle is obviously a puzzle game but its newest duplicate feels more like a trivia game. Rather than testing the player’s ability to crack a puzzle based on gradually revealed information, Framed is more of a memory test, gradually offering more and more clues until the correct answer is finally exposed.

The quality of a Wordle clone can be calculated with several metrics but similarity or dissimilarity from the original as a factor should not be considered over the actual enjoyability of the game itself. Although Framed is highly different from the game it is loosely based upon, it is a worthwhile game in its own right, and all the more worth playing for it. It will not necessarily scratch the word puzzle itch someone might have in the interim before a new Wordle puzzle is released, but it does offer a version of the game that will appeal to those who love the theater more than they do linguistics.

Source: Framed (via RockPaperShotgun)