The two player co-op adventure game genre has blown up over the course of the 2020s in thanks to developers like Hazelight. Now, the genre is seeing more and more games pop up, and, at Summer Games Fest, we got to go hands on with what might be one of the beautifully crafted co-op games I have ever seen in Out of Words. Developed in tandem between studios Kong Orange and Wiredfly, it is their first game, but in no way does it feel like a first attempt at making a game.

Out of Words is a handcrafted stop-motion game where everything was made with a human touch and then scanned into the game. If you know how difficult stop-motion animation is to do, then you will immediately see how impressive this game truly is as an achievement in design for being a studio’s first game. Talking to director Johan Oettinger, he said he hopes to create someone’s favorite game and a game that anyone can play, and we could hear the passion he has for his game. There are numerous co-op games out there, but some are too complicated for a very casual or nongamer to play. Out of Words does not have this problem as it is a simple platformer that is so easy for anyone to pick up and play.

The game tells the coming of age tale of friends Karla and Kurt as one is about to move, and they have so much to say to each other. However, since they are awkward teenagers, they can’t communicate with each other. Thus, their mouths fall off and they are transported to  world about words. As he watched us play, Oettinger told us he wanted the communication to leave the characters and be done between the players. Honestly, it worked perfectly as we were super in sync getting through each area of the demo.

The levels we saw were all beautifully designed and appeared extremely colorful to downright dour and dark. There were some unique mechanics we got to experience such as swapping the gravity for each character to navigate around an area. Oettinger said there was so muc more to the game than what we saw, and we felt like we could’ve sat there playing the game for until we beat it. Luckily, for those interested, the game will have a local and online multiplayer, a buddy pass like system, and will also be crossplay. Thus, you’ll be able to team up with your friend to take on the game no matter where you are or what platform you have.

Out of Words is set to release at some point in 2027.