The pen is mightier than the sword, as those who have never been stabbed often say, but in the world of “Leximan” it is a cosmic truth.

Developed by three-person indie developer Knights of Borria, “Leximan” clearly draws from the same grimoire as games like “Undertale.”

In it, you play Leximan - an orphaned wizard with a Lexicon (you know, like a word): the book spits out pieces of words that you need to combine to solve a problem. The problem is as follows:

This mechanic was mostly a means to a charming little gag, as far as I could tell, after an hour of fiddling around. On the other hand, when I chanted “boing,” the enraged Viking took the wind out of its sails and bounced back with wizard-like vigor.

Unfortunately, unlike games like “Undertale,” “Leximan” doesn't put enough thought into its battle system to make it anything more than a loose word-association game; imagine “Undertale's” befriending system minus the barrage of bullets, and you'll get the idea. If you can imagine Undertale's befriending system minus the barrage, you'll get the idea of Lequiman. [When exploring Academy Elementia, you can type an overworld spell at the drop of a wizard's hat to unearth secrets. For example, after entering the “suspiciously large room,” I was thrown into a mini-game reminiscent of “Vampire Survivors,” in which I, my medicine-making ally, Orbital Dave, and a ghost dog fought off a pack of flames.

Whether Leximan will be the next big indie game hit remains to be seen, but it is playable enough for the low $15 (£12.80) price tag, and Steam's typical introductory campaign can help lower that cost a bit.