Stop-Motion Co-Op Adventure Out of Words Debuts at Summer Game Fest
Out of Words blends traditional stop-motion craftsmanship with Unreal Engine 5 digital twins, a technical approach that could set a new visual standard for narrative-driven co-op games.
Key Facts
- Creative director Johan Oettinger and poet Morten Søndergaard showed a demo of Out of Words at the Epic Games booth during Summer Game Fest: Play Days 2026.
- The game follows 13-year-old childhood friends Kurt and Carla, who lose their ability to speak and are pulled into a world called Vokabulantis.
- Out of Words uses a hybrid technique: physical puppets and sets are scanned via photogrammetry to create digital twins in Unreal Engine 5.
- Forty animators from Aardman, Laika, and the LEGO Group are working on the game.
- Oettinger said the hybrid process allows corrections four times faster than typical 3D graphics games.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
Creative director Johan Oettinger and poet Morten Søndergaard presented a demo of Out of Words at Summer Game Fest. The co-op adventure follows two childhood friends who lose their words and enter a world called Vokabulantis. The game uses stop-motion animation with digital twins in Unreal Engine 5, and 40 animators from Aardman, Laika, and LEGO are working on it.
Creative director Johan Oettinger and poet Morten Søndergaard showed a demo of Out of Words at the Epic Games booth during Summer Game Fest: Play Days 2026. The game is the first project for Oettinger's studio Wired Fly, which previously made stop-motion puppet theater. Game studio Kong Orange, known for Felix the Reaper, is also involved.
The story follows 13-year-old childhood friends Kurt and Carla, who lose their ability to speak at the onset of adolescence and are pulled into Vokabulantis, a world of words and meaning. Players solve puzzles and platform without verbal communication.
Out of Words uses a hybrid technique: physical puppets and sets are scanned via photogrammetry to create digital twins in Unreal Engine 5, preserving the jitter and warmth of stop-motion while allowing free player control. Forty animators from Aardman, Laika, and the LEGO Group are contributing. Oettinger said the process allows corrections four times faster than typical 3D graphics games.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.