Back at the end of March we got word that the bomb-defusing party game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes was on its way to iOS and Android, and today we’ve learned that the actual release date will be next week on August 1st. To back things up a bit, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is the result of the developers at Steel Crate Games noticing how awful it was when people were playing VR games in a group setting. One person has an awesome experience strapped to their head, and everyone else is just kind of standing around watching and not really knowing what’s going on in the game. They wanted to find a way to incorporate those bystanders in a way that didn’t require everyone owning their own VR headset. Thus the concept of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes was born. The person with the headset is the bomb Defuser, and everyone else plays the part of the Experts who can see the steps needed to defuse the bomb in a special Bomb Manual. The problem is that only the Defuser can actually SEE the bomb, so the Experts are left to try and explain what the heck it is the Defuser needs to do on the actual bomb, whether it be cut certain wires or input codes into a keypad. It’s pretty similar to the legendary local co-op game Spaceteam, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of playing that. Here is a cool trailer for the VR version.
So anyway, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes launched on Gear VR in the summer of 2015 and was a huge success. Naturally the next step was to bring it to more platforms, as at that time (and in current times, for that matter) virtual reality wasn’t quite as household as desktop computers and game consoles. It was brought to more VR and desktops, and in August of last year it arrived on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Switch. The only problem was that there was a bit that was lost in translation when playing on consoles. The whole concept is built around the fact that only one person can see what’s going on, and that illusion is broken when playing on a huge TV or monitor. Sure, you can employ the honor system and ask that people don’t look at the screen, but it’s still not quite as cool as with a full VR setup.
That’s why the mobile release is so interesting, because mobile devices are very personal and it’s easy to shield your device’s screen from wandering eyes. You’ll only need one copy of the game to play too, as the Defuser will play the actual game and the Experts can either read the Bomb Manual straight from the website or they can print out a physical copy and use that. I think it’s going to end up being a wonderful experience on mobile and the type of thing that’s fun to bust out at parties or family gatherings and laugh your butts off over. So check out Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes when it hits iOS and Android phones and tablets next week on August 1st at a price of $9.99.
