Read time: 5 minutes

Although my mom was my first teacher when it came to fun and what it means to embrace play, I inherited my imagination from my late grandmother, who taught me what it means to adventure. As a child, my grandmother would speak to us in American Sign Language (ASL) when she prayed over me and my cousins—right before she would anoint our foreheads with olive oil. One of the first lessons I received from Motherdear (as we called her) was on how to adventure as an adult, and she did so by regularly taking a vacation without her husband, our grandfather. She would say, “To keep your marriage or relationship healthy, you need to keep your relationship with yourself healthy,” and I took that to heart. 

Motherdear would often travel with members of her church—where she signed to the congregation alongside the pastor on Sundays—to breathtaking places like China, Jerusalem, Africa, and Italy. On these getaways, she would assist Deaf members by translating alongside tour guides or when shopping and communicating with shopkeepers at local souvenir stands. Motherdear’s joy in communicating and sharing ASL with the world came to mind when I played Out of Words, a game where finding a way to connect, without the words to do it, is the whole adventure.

The co-op platformer, developed by Danish studios Kong Orange and WiredFly and imagined in the mind of renowned poet Morten Søndergaard, follows two young characters, Kurt and Karla, trying to hold onto each other as Karla prepares to move away—without a single word of spoken or on-screen dialogue to help them do it, as both characters embark on their journey visibly missing mouths.

Emotions are woven into the physics and aesthetics of the game’s world, Vokabulantis, so each level unveils a new emotional adventure to master and express. Co-op mechanics are one of my favorite parts of playing with others because, as an enthusiastic if somewhat unseasoned gamer, the gameplay relies on both you and your partner. That gives me more of a chance to win alongside a friend using the power of good timing and tasks performed in sequence—talk about gaming on the spectrum!

While speaking with BGG at Summer Game Fest this year, developer Johan Oettinger shared a gaming upbringing much like my own, one built on playing alongside siblings and parents.

“I have some of the fondest memories playing games with my siblings: my little sister and my big brother,” explained Oettinger. “With my sister, The Sims or other games like that, and with my brother, it was point-and-click adventures, [real-time strategy], and a lot of games like that. This urge to make something that is two-player co-op was the big dream, the childhood dream.”

And that childhood dream grew up alongside another one. For over 20 years, Oettinger and the WiredFly studio have built a rich body of stop-motion work across commercials, short films, and art installations. That same passion for expressing unique human experiences through handmade, tactile design carries into Out of Words‘ narrative.

“I’ve been making stop-motion since I was a boy, and I built a stop-motion studio that turned 20 this year,” said Oettinger, pointing to WiredFly’s award-winning, two-decade run in the art space. “I love coming-of-age stories and storytelling like that, but Kurt and Karla’s story is based on losing my best friend. At that age, girls are smarter and stuff. She tried to tell me, but she just couldn’t get the right words out, and I lost her. This is the story where I don’t lose her.”

Oettinger added that he believes Out of Words, which is slated for release in early 2027, is a story everybody can resonate with as “everybody has something that they’ve left unsaid.”

The gameplay is just as poetic as its makers intended. It’s no wonder the atmosphere and physics-defying puzzles brought to mind the work of Vincent Van Gogh—beautiful and emotionally complicated at once. By holding back dialogue, Oettinger and Søndergaard turn communication itself into the adventure: the silence is loud, and it pushes players to find their own way to connect outside the game. A wondrous adventure all on its own.

“That is the big dream with Out of Words,” he said. “[Kurt and Karla] lose their language, they lose their mouths, and the whole conversation between the two main characters is moved to the sofa or online over Discord.” Players will need to complete even the simplest tasks together to progress, like counting down to jump simultaneously. Oettinger also highlighted that even talking about the game’s themes, including what communication ultimately means to each other, is part of the shared experience.

Motherdear would say that the act of finding your voice in the world is an adventure anyone should support at any stage in life. She taught me that from her lap—how to speak without speaking, how to connect across any distance or silence. It’s the same thing Kurt and Karla are reaching for, the same thing Out of Words hands to anyone who picks up a controller with a friend. So find your gaming twin, wishlist the game, and keep on adventuring.

Out of Words will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and on the Epic Games Store.