Out of Words Director Details Stop-Motion Art Style, Co-Op Story at Shacknews E4

The director behind upcoming co-op adventure Out of Words has pulled back the curtain on the game’s distinctive stop-motion look and its emotionally driven story. Speaking during the annual Shacknews E4 event, director Johan Oettinger explained why bringing tactile, handcrafted animation into an interactive format has been a career-long ambition for him.

A childhood dream two decades in the making

According to Shacknews, Oettinger told interviewer David Craddock that the stop-motion aesthetic wasn’t a passing creative whim but something he’s wanted to build since he was a kid. “This is a big dream of mine,” Oettinger said regarding the art direction for Out of Words, “to make this game particularly, or games like this. My studio is turning 20 this year. We’ve always made all kinds of stop motion [media], but this is [our] first stop-motion game,” as reported by Shacknews.

That detail matters because it frames Out of Words not as a studio chasing a trend, but as the culmination of nearly two decades of experience working in stop-motion media outside of games. Oettinger also revealed a much more personal timeline, telling Shacknews he’s dreamed of making a hand-crafted stop-motion game since he was 11 years old.

Blending two mediums into one tactile experience

Oettinger described the appeal of fusing stop-motion filmmaking with interactive design as something closer to alchemy than simple art direction. “I think there is a magic to both mediums , and bringing those mediums together… I can feel the tactileness… that energy is really something else,” he said, according to Shacknews.

That emphasis on “tactileness” is worth paying attention to for anyone who’s grown fatigued by increasingly photorealistic, digitally sterile game worlds. Stop-motion, with its visible seams, imperfect textures, and physical presence, offers a different kind of immersion — one built on craft rather than raw processing power.

What we know about the co-op story so far

Beyond the visual philosophy, Shacknews notes that Oettinger used the interview to speak more broadly to the game’s general plot and what players can expect from Out of Words as a co-op adventure, though specific narrative details from the conversation were kept largely under wraps in the published summary. The framing so far suggests a game built around shared discovery, with the stop-motion presentation likely playing a functional role in how the story is told and experienced between partners.

Co-op-focused adventure titles with strong artistic identities have found a receptive audience in recent years, from narrative puzzle games to atmospheric two-player journeys. A stop-motion co-op adventure slots into that lineage while offering something visually unlike anything currently on shelves, which could help Out of Words stand out in an increasingly crowded indie release calendar.

Why it matters for players and the indie scene

For players who gravitate toward games with a strong handmade identity — think Little Nightmares’ dioramic dread or the paper-craft charm of Tearaway — Out of Words represents a new direction rooted in real-world animation craft rather than purely digital stylization. A studio with two decades of stop-motion media experience bringing that skill set into games for the first time is a notable crossover, and it signals growing interest from traditional animation studios in interactive storytelling.

It also raises the stakes for execution: stop-motion is famously labor-intensive, and translating that texture convincingly into a playable, co-op-friendly format is no small technical challenge. How Oettinger’s team balances that handcrafted look with smooth multiplayer gameplay will likely be one of the biggest questions reviewers and players alike will be watching once more of the game is shown.

Read also: Mouthwashing Dev’s Next Game Is 3-Player Co-op Tank Chaos in a “Defiled City”

What’s next for Out of Words

Shacknews indicates that the full interview with Oettinger is available to watch as part of its ongoing Shacknews E4 2026 coverage, alongside other developer conversations from the event. No release date, platforms, or pricing details were mentioned in the discussion, meaning fans hoping to get hands-on with the stop-motion adventure will need to wait for further announcements from the studio.

In the meantime, the interview offers a rare, candid look at how a genuine passion project — one that began forming in a director’s mind as a child — can take shape after twenty years of studio experience finally converge on a single ambitious game.

Source: Shacknews.