Nintendo Switch – Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes #209

A party game that works well only when people know the book well…

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Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes – Nintendo Switch – Released: 8/16/18 – $14.99

Review

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is one of my favorite party games but the biggest issue has always been if someone doesn’t know the book well, it becomes a problem. Going to be honest, this is a game that I basically have to beg my friends to play, it is stressful, creates issues with my friendship, and yet I love every minute of it as my friends suffer. This isn’t my first time playing this game and won’t be my last. For a short period of time I had an Oculus Rift and this was the game to play in my opinion. The problem is always depending on the friend, finishing the game will create issues here and there.

If you plan on “beating” this game or at least the campaign mode, you will need a friend that has played it just as much as you have. You cannot just play this with a random group of people as the book is too thick to just jump right at any points after the first few stages. You will need to start from the beginning so the 5 minute time limit with 3 puzzles will be very common among friends. Is that a bad thing? Depends on the group of friends because the person with the manual has the easy job because the person who owns the game spent time looking over the manual already.

For the Switch, this is a great game to bring to a party but the thick manual could pose issues since unless you plan on reprinting often, it is tough to keep in good condition. I typically only play this game at home so the limiting of spills and tears is very minimal. I would love to bring this to a random group of people but it would be better if the manual was shorten by level instead. 23 pages could easily get damaged or lost in the process when in most cases they aren’t used in the earlier stages.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes suffers from one of the common issues of being an exclusively multiplayer game. It is only as good as the people you have playing with you. Like I said most of my friends hate playing this game, I’ve played with around a dozen different people and no one wants to play it. The game is too stressful for most people I know but I love it so sadly it is always a last resort sort of game. I would have loved if the game had some sort of online support or single player puzzles. It is a shame that a game this good doesn’t have a short manual to guide players before bringing the 23 page one. I would love to slowly introduce elements to people at a level 0 sort of way but there is none of that so instead people look at the manual and quickly decide it isn’t for them.

Final Thoughts

There is one thing to take away from this… If your friends aren’t interested in the trailer or any let’s play of this game, it is better off just passing this game. I own multiple copies of this game because it just means that I can eventually sucker in a new friend into trying it. In hopes that they may say that it was fun and I don’t have to bother others. Sadly that has never been the case so maybe not the best for people in their 20s since we are super stressed about college, working, or drinking until we can’t remember the first two. I love this game and wish more people enjoyed it but as it stands I typically hold out on friends that have no idea this game exist and I trap them into playing a round or two with me.

Cocktail: THE BOMB!

1/4 oz Sweet Revenge

1/4 oz Spiced Rum

1/2 oz Malibu Black

My Gameplay Footage: Better to look at people playing it on YouTube so I linked a video I really enjoyed of other playing it.

Trailer:

End Credits

I believe I’ll be able to squeeze out one more review this week so look forward to that. I really like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes but it is definitely best with an Oculus or at least motion controls to move around the bomb and really look at it. I still find it very odd not being able to hold it in my hands like before. Either way I’ll see you in the next review!