3.5/5 ★ – jdraco's review of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
Okay, so to preface this review, I’m just going to start out by saying that the name of this game is pretty stupid and takes a while to type out
So for the duration of the review, anytime that I refer to this game by its name, I'm just going to call it “Bomb Game.”
Sounds good? Okay, good
So with that all being said, Bomb Game is a really fun time
Basically, this is a 2-player game where 1 player is looking at the screen to try and perform multiple different tasks/puzzles in order to diffuse a bomb
While the other player is looking at a manual that explains how to solve each puzzle necessary to defuse the bomb
So basically you and the other player are giving each other information back and forth to try to solve each puzzle and ultimately diffuse the bomb, all within a certain time limit
And this concept is pretty genius
It can be stressful as hell to try and solve every puzzle within these limited time frames that the game gives you
But then at the same time, you feel like a fucking genius every time that you and your partner actually do solve a puzzle and get one step closer to diffusing the bomb
However, I will say, and this is a pretty big flaw with the game, is that some of these puzzles that they make you solve are pretty much incomprehensible
Now I was controlling the game for my entire playthrough, and my girlfriend (who I played the game with) was reading the manual
Because early on I tried to be the one to read the manual and break down the puzzles for her, and I just didn’t like it at all
So, again, I was controlling the game, and my girlfriend was in charge of the manual
But to be honest, fucking Einstein could’ve been the one reading the manual, and some of the puzzles still would’ve been impossible to solve
Like seriously, there are 2 in particular that are just absolute nonsense
One of them is where there are these multicolored wires that you have to cut, and some of them are striped, and then there are also these symbols that you need to look for, and it just made no sense at all
And then the other one is a puzzle where there’s a radio with frequencies, and you have to use literal Morse fucking code in order to decipher a certain word and then change over to the frequency that matches with that word in the manual…
What the fuck, that’s just insane
Now the wires one you could maybe just chalk up to me and my girlfriend being dumbasses, but the Morse code one couldn’t even be solved by fucking YoungHoon Kim and Terence Tao
Who, according to Barchart.com, are the people who are number 1 and 2 on the top 10 highest IQs in the world?
But anyway, shifting back to the topic at hand, the two puzzles that I mentioned being as difficult to solve as they are genuinely ruined multiple playthroughs that me and my girlfriend had of certain levels
We would literally be praying before each level that we wouldn’t get the morse code or the wires one, because if we did, then, again, probably 9 times out of 10, we would lose that level unless we hit a fucking hail mary shot from the heavens and somehow guessed the right frequency on the morse code one
That one is literally impossible
Luckily, though, every bomb is randomized
So if you’re stuck on a level and you struggle with a certain bomb, then it’ll always be different when you play the level again
And I really like this because it always gives you hope when you play a level again that all the stars will eventually align and you’ll be able to get a bomb that doesn’t feature the fucking morse code puzzle in it
Seriously, I know I keep mentioning it, but seeing that certain puzzle on the bomb is an experience that I imagine is very similar to coming face to face with the Grim Reaper
It’s that bad
And one other thing that was kind of annoying and is really only featured in the later levels is this switch, or button, or sensor (I don’t remember exactly what it was) that has a timer on it, and you constantly have to keep going back and holding it over and over again so that the timer resets and the bomb doesn’t explode
Which can be extremely annoying, and I get that it’s supposed to add to the tension of the game, but I just didn’t really like it at all and, again, found it more annoying than anything
Those are really my only flaws with the game, though
This game is very fun and, again, does a fantastic job of building tension for you and your partner and making you both problem-solve and work together to get through each level
So yeah, I had a really good time with this game
And I would give it a 4, but me and my girlfriend still have waking nightmares about the Morse code puzzle
So I have to knock it down to a 3.5/5