In a time where AI is insidiously seeping into almost everything around us, even our video games, completely 100% handmade art made with heart (side note: can we get that on a t-shirt?) is becoming almost novel. That’s why I was drawn to Out of Words–it’s an ambitious, gorgeous stop-motion co-op 2D platformer where everything, down to each blade of grass and piece of moss, is meticulously handmade in the real world with physical mediums.
Out of Words’ story is even inspired by a poem written by Danish poet Morten Søndergaard, and every component of the world and setting is allegorically built from language, communication, and human connection. I didn’t get to see the story setup of Out of Words myself, but game design lead Jeff Sparks explained it to me during my short-but-sweet 20-minute demo at Summer Game Fest.
In Out of Words, the playable characters Kurt and Karla are best friends who grew up together, who have developed changing feelings for each other as they enter adolescence, yet they simply won’t speak the words–so they lose them all together when they fail to express themselves in a moment before crossing a street. They become isekaid (magically thrust into another world) into a mystical land called Vokabulantis, yet they’ve lost their mouths–and words–along the way. Their mouth mysteriously becomes a cute creature, Aleph, that grants them powers throughout their journey.
We’ve actually written about Out of Words last year, citing it as possibly being the next must-play two-player co-op, but I did get to see and learn some new things during my gameplay-heavy demo with Sparks.
For our first real obstacle, we helped Prince get out of the mud on his motorcycle. The little mini-game-esque task was fun and simple enough, and the animation of mud flinging all over our characters who couldn’t complain was just as entertaining. I couldn’t help but imagine how gross it’d be to be in that situation myself.
You can actually watch the whole process of making Prince’s puppet in the official “making of” video below, which I highly recommend if you’re curious about the painstaking artistry that goes into every puppet in Out of Words.
Next, we skipped ahead through a few different acts, to get a sense of the different environments, gameplay elements, and moods that Out of Words had to offer.
“We did hundreds of prototypes trying to make the narrative kind of situation between the two characters line up with what was happening gameplay-wise,” Sparks explained. “So we’ve done hundreds of kinds of co-op game mechanics trying to figure out what was going to be suitable.”
In one of the areas we encountered, there was a narrative reason the atmosphere felt dark and heavy, and that the creatures seemed more spooky than usual. One portion I played with anti-gravity, which required us to walk on the ceilings and walls, were some of the first mechanics the team ever conceived–which also has a narrative allegory, but I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone.
Sparks couldn’t help but express how surreal it was to see the area rendered with the level of finish it was at–with moss, stone, and clay bringing it to life. I wholeheartedly agree it looked incredible, as did the rest of what I played. The artistic lighting and bokeh techniques to communicate perspective and focus made everything even more beautiful and atmospheric.
It’d be easy to get distracted with the surroundings, but some portions required some quick moving to escape some unsavory creatures after us. Out of Words doesn’t seem like its gameplay is meant to be too difficult to overcome, but it’s still a testament to good game design we were able to get through that section, and most of the rest of what we played, without needing to speak much to each other. However, communicating with your partner would make things go more smoothly. Even if it’s just for encouragement or support, like when Sparks said he’d catch me during a particularly tricky gravity-platforming section, words can – somewhat ironically given the title and setup of this game – go a long way in creating forward momentum.
“We think there’s something really special about the couch co-op experience,” Sparks said, which I have to agree with. Honestly, I prefer playing any multiplayer game in the same room with my teammates, but there’s something especially satisfying about sitting next to someone while looking at the same screen as them.
Sparks and the team empathizes with people who can’t play in person together, though, so they’ve ensured Out of Words is playable online, cross-platform. The extra dream is to have Out of Words playable via game-share, so only one person needs to own it to play online with another. “You can play wherever you want and play with the person you want to play with the most. That was really important to us,” Sparks said.
To be clear, you have to play Out of Words with another person–there is no AI companion to take their place, much like the Hazelight co-op hits Split Fiction, It Takes Two, and A Way Out. So if you do commit to completing Out of Words with someone, how much time are you actually agreeing to? Spark’s “silly answer” is that they’re not completely sure yet because they’re still making it, and hope that people take their time with it so they can “soak it in.” But as a loose, ballpark estimate, he’s guessing about 10 hours.
Out of Words is pretty linear. There are specific starts and ends to each level, and there’s not a lot of off-the-beaten-path exploration to be done from what I saw, but there is a good reason to take your time besides just to smell the roses. There will be secret areas where you can find collectibles, which are missing words from a giant poem–the poem that makes up the game’s story.
Speaking to Sparks, and seeing the short vignette of what I did, left me feeling like Out of Words would be, well, emotional, to put it bluntly. When I asked Sparks if Out of Words would make people cry, he said he already tears up when he simply talks about it for too long. “We’re not trying to make people cry, but I think sometimes crying is a part of feeling these
meaningful story beats that really touch you,” Sparks said. “I don’t want people to cry, but in a way I would be surprised if people get through this without feeling something.”
As Sparks has demonstrated, the entire team at WiredFly and Kong Orange seems emotionally invested in the making of Out of Words. “We’re putting our full hearts into this and all of our love and energy into telling this story and making this kind of shared experience for people. We think the co-op nature and connecting with other people and playing something that is artful and meaningful and that has been considered and brought to life by artists of every stripe is… we’re at this moment in the world where we could really use a little bit of life and color and joy and connection. This is what we endeavor to do–is to make something beautiful that means something to people.”
If you like mandatory co-op games like the aforementioned Split Fiction or It Takes Two, or are even just enamored by good-old-fashioned physical-medium art, Out of Words is a game to keep on your radar. It’s still a ways away, with a release window of early 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Epic Games Store.
Casey DeFreitas is IGN’s Deputy Editor of Guides. Catch her on Socials @ShinyCaseyD.
