While at Summer Game Fest my dear friend and former co-host of What’s Good Games Riana Manuel-Peña’s eyes lit up when she told me about a game called Out of Words. I remember her telling me, “You HAVE to play it! You’d love it,” and seeing as that woman has never steered me wrong, I made sure it was the first station I checked out at the Nintendo booth.
Out of Words is a co-op platformer that follows childhood friends Kurt and Karla as they try to navigate their feelings for one another. (I get the feeling these two have been dancing around each other for a looong time.) Karla is about to move away, which means they find themselves in this “now or never” situation – talk about pressure – and someway, somehow, they’re transported to a strange new world called Vokabulantis. The catch? Their mouths didn’t make the journey with them.
You’ve probably noticed by now, but Out of Words is STUNNING, and it’s all stop-motion animated. It was real hard to pay attention to what my co-op partner and I were trying to accomplish when everything commanded the attention of my eyeballs. From the hand-cut grass to whatever witchcraft was done to get the water glistening the way it did (cellophane?) – hell, even the simple act of moving was mesmerizing – you just gotta see this game. These screenshots are gorgeous, yes, but it’s even more jaw dropping in-person.
Out of Words is a journey for two, meaning you have to play with another human. Teaming up with someone – be it locally or online, including cross-platform – you’ll traverse the world of Vokabulantis by running, jumping, climbing and, sometimes, you’ll even break physics, all while communicating with your partner to successfully time leaps of faith, solve puzzles and navigate precarious situations. The trickiest puzzle came towards the end of the demo when my co-op partner and I were actively falling – except he was falling up and I was falling down – and in order to, y’know, not die we had to toss an item back and forth like it was a hot potato. It required concentration, but wasn’t difficult. I mention this because I know if you’re someone around kids you’re probably wondering, “Oooh, I wonder if I can play this with <insert kid name here>?” And my answer is YES! I mean, I’m totally playing with my 5-year-old. And honestly, if any of the puzzles become too difficult, I know my dude will have a blast just walking around pretending he’s, like, in a movie or something. (Ah, children.)
The people behind this deserve their flowers: Kong Orange, the game studio, WiredFly, a stop-motion animation studio, and artist and poet Morten Sondergaard who crafted the idea. There was a moment about halfway through the demo I accidentally (or maybe it was on purpose…) woke up a giant frog abomination that proceeded to swallow me. Or sit on me? I can’t remember. Either way, while the level was booting back up, I remember thinking, “Dang, I’m so glad this game is being made.” Because right now, when game development is riskier than ever, it takes tons of courage to go against the grain and create something different. Something the industry hasn’t seen countless carbon copies of mechanically, artistically and narratively. And it’s that uniqueness that draws me, and so many others, like moths to a flame.
So yeah, I’ll be playing Out of Words day one, and I’m wishing everyone involved nothing but the absolute best.
Ri, you were right!
Out of Words was recently pushed to early 2027, and will be coming to Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC via Epic Games Store.