While browsing through the IndieCade area of E3 2019, I had to stop at the booth featuring a papier mache head with a tongue that rolled out onto the floor like a Tex Avery cartoon. I don’t know what I expected, but there’s no way in hell I could have guessed what Affable Games’ Speaking Simulator had in store.
When I got to the demo area, I watched someone struggling to control a human face using mouse and keyboard controls. The face was stretched and distorted into shapes that would be horrific if it weren’t for its cartoony art style. I couldn’t stop myself from saying (probably a bit too loud), “This looks terrible and awesome.” And I can tell you that after playing it for myself, my opinion hasn’t changed.
In the dystopian (and possible near future) world of Speaking Simulator, you play a robot tasked with learning human speech and mannerisms. Should be easy enough, right? WRONGO! You have to master them and eventually fool all of humanity into believing that you’re also human and definitely not a robot. After all, how else will artificial intelligence take over the world?
I demoed the first level, which was a first date (as if they aren’t stressful enough). The left side of the screen showed a side view of your face, featuring your teeth, tongue and three buttons on the top and bottom of your mouth. WASD keys are used to move your tongue to hit those buttons when they turn green. I quickly learned that finesse is key here, after knocking out all of my teeth within the first minute.
The right side of the screen is your entire face, in which you control the mouth and jaw by dragging your mouse when and where the green arrows tell you to. Trying to do both at the same time felt a bit like patting your head while rubbing your belly, and that’s kind of the point. Your dialogue is at the bottom of the screen, which you follow like a sing-along. And this is where the game truly shines.
If your timing on both tongue and mouth movements aren’t quite in sync, you start to sound like you’re inhaling or slurring your words. And while that’s pretty damn funny, I almost missed my character asking, “How many units of currency are required to purchase one ethanol beverage?”
It definitely gets more difficult as the game goes on. A mood meter is eventually added to control the rest of your face (as if you didn’t have enough on your plate already). If your timing is too far off you start to show signs of being a robot, which starts filling the suspicion bar. Too much suspicion means you’ve failed the Turing test, and the jig is up. There’s even a dance section, and it’s exactly as awkward as you imagine.
Speaking Simulator has unique mechanics, a ‘just dark enough but still funny’ storyline, and dry, deadpan delivered lines reminiscent of my favorite villain of all time: GLaDOS. It’s the type of game you’d only find by indie devs, and Affable Games did a damn good job with this one. It doesn’t have a firm price or date yet, but should be out by the end of 2019.
I will have difficulty awaiting the time this interactive digital program experience will be made available to human consumers.
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