Synonymy
Released Mar 2015
Synonymy is a non-profit, educational word game narrated by Richard Dawkins where players are challenged to find a path between random words through their network of synonyms. By taking the synonym of a word, and then a synonym of that synonym, and so on, you can ultimately arrive at any other word in a language.
51% positive · 103 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Where to buy
Steam $1.99
Can't confirm — worth a look
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Evaluation
Synonymy launched on March 5, 2015 as a finished educational word game. The developer shipped one notable post-launch update — Synonymy 3.0 on September 21, 2015 — which was a significant engine overhaul addressing feedback gathered at E3 and GDC. The developer's final communication was on October 13, 2015, where they announced a new unrelated personal project (Iconic Passwords), which effectively signals a pivot away from Synonymy rather than plans for its continued development. There have been no developer communications since October 2015. No DLC was ever listed, no roadmap was published, and no future content was promised. The game appears to have launched as a largely complete product and received one substantial post-launch refinement before the developer moved on to other work.
Evidence
Developer announces a new unrelated personal project (Iconic Passwords) and shares a GDC talk about Synonymy's creation. This is the last known communication from the developer.
Synonymy 3.0 released — major engine overhaul improving synonym ordering, difficulty scaling, and scoring. Developer expresses gratitude and mentions a forthcoming free demo.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Christopher Cinq-Mars Jarvis
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows, macOS, Linux
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer
About this game
Synonymy is a non-profit, educational word game narrated by Richard Dawkins where players are challenged to find a path between random words through their network of synonyms. By taking the synonym of a word, and then a synonym of that synonym, and so on, you can ultimately arrive at any other word in a language.
The game supports multiplayer, and weekly challenges in which users can compete globally on set start and end words. Every time a path is uncovered by a user, it is tweeted from @synonymygame and posted to our Facebook page. All profits go to educational charities.
A visualization of the game's network can be seen here -- http://tinyurl.com/med6g8b -- In order to compute relative distance, all synonyms were mapped using 3d graphing software, as if each word were a planet that had a gravitational pull proportional to its number of relationships to other nodes. Above is a 2D representation of that model, a 40,000 x 40,000 rendering.
Music by Daduk
The game supports multiplayer, and weekly challenges in which users can compete globally on set start and end words. Every time a path is uncovered by a user, it is tweeted from @synonymygame and posted to our Facebook page. All profits go to educational charities.
A visualization of the game's network can be seen here -- http://tinyurl.com/med6g8b -- In order to compute relative distance, all synonyms were mapped using 3d graphing software, as if each word were a planet that had a gravitational pull proportional to its number of relationships to other nodes. Above is a 2D representation of that model, a 40,000 x 40,000 rendering.
Music by Daduk
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Jun 28, 2026
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