Isekat Is Actually What Happens When You Mix Souls Combat With A Typing Game

Put down your pitchforks, people. This isn't just "it's hard therefore it's Souls". At Indie Jam 2026, I got to try out Isekat- a game that sees you playing as a Cat isekai'd into a fantasy world where you're made to type your way through hordes of enemies. 

Now, the typing genre is pretty fascinating in and of itself. In recent years we've seen multiple cool uses of the genre, from the most famous, Typing of the Dead to games like The Chef's Shift.

Isekat Is The Dark Souls Of Typing

But what sets Isekat apart is that it's one of if not the first of these games to have actual combat tied to it. During one of its stages, I faced down groups of enemies, all with words over their heads. Typing the word doesn't kill them though- it does damage. Worse still, while you're typing, you can still be hit by attacks on their part. 

The solution? Throw up your shield, forfeiting your word progress but preserving your health. 

Rather than just being a game about hitting every word as it flies to you, suddenly you're splitting brainpower. Half of it to identify and type words as they appear, and the other to know when an attack was coming so you could decide whether you wanted to block it or take the chance to kill them before it connects. 

You know, like a Souls game. 

Obviously, some of the difficulty comes from the words itself. But Isekat has charmed me with its ability to force the player to think about more than just typing. One of the upgrades in the game's rogue-lite structure involves making spelling words stun the enemy- now you'll want to prioritize enemies about to swing at you to save your furry hide. There's also going full gorillacat- stacking damage buffs so enemies feel the full weight of the appeal of a man who can spell. 

There's also the bossfights. These are genuinely creative uses of the game's singular mechanic, and where the souls-like gameplay feels most apparent. After all, pattern recognition is key. You might have to suddenly type to shoot down projectiles before they hit you, or know exactly how long to block an enemy's blockstring before typing out a manifesto to blow chunks off their armor. 

Isekat is available now, and for the morbidly curious there's also a demo. Between the cute animals and the devilishly hard gameplay, I'd definitely recommend checking it out- either here or at the Indie Jam show floor.