Thanks for giving it a try! I haven't personally beaten the game either haha (though I've made it to the final level 10)
Yeah, a gridless version could be interesting to explore. Perhaps 7DRL 2026 :) My worry would be coming up with abilities... I think for this game, the more abilities the better, so if you think of a reasonable 5 letter word and type it, it works (unlike currently). The grid provides another way that abilities can be different each other (range, radius) and opens up a whole class of abilities (movement).
Now that I've said that, perhaps a 1D version could work though? Eg the player and all creatures are positions in a line, instead of a grid. That could streamline things but still provide enough "design space" to make abilities varied and balanced