Indie 3D Action Game Mina and the Story of Kotodama Turns Spoken Words Into Controls
Building voice recognition locally rather than over a network is what makes spoken commands workable as a control scheme, and the patent-pending casting-time system suggests Latent Entertainment intends to hold that ground.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
Latent Entertainment showed Mina and the Story of Kotodama at Osaka Indie Games Summit 2026, held October 3 and 4 at Congres Square Grand Green Osaka. Players use a controller and their voice to summon objects and operate mechanisms. Developer yoshi built the voice recognition engine himself over about half a year. The project follows Deep Space Exploration, a smartphone murder mystery selected for Tokyo Game Show 2025's SELECTED INDIE 80.
The demo ran on a large microphone at the venue, and spoken commands were recognized despite the noise of the show floor. Players read guidance inside the stage to learn new spells, then speak them to build platforms and move rock.
yoshi, who develops the game as an individual, said he first tried spells like Fire and Ice but concluded a button press would be faster. The voice's real use, in his view, is picking what you want out of a large number of options. A system that changes an action according to how long the player speaks is pending a patent application.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.