One of the best places at E3 is the IndieCade. Of course, as TheGamer’s E3 representative, I made all the appointments I could for the highly anticipated games. I managed to get some time with Ghost Recon Breakpoint thanks to the wonderful people at Ubisoft. I also saw the ambitious storytelling Techland has in store for Dying Light 2. But when I grew tired of waiting in line for Nintendo demos (turns out they don’t let just anyone into their press area) or running from one side of the convention center to the other, I popped by the IndieCade.
There I discovered the joys of Speaking Simulator, a game that challenged me to keep all my teeth in my mouth.
I passed the first level easily enough, a date with Karen from HR. I lost some teeth getting used to the controls’ sensitivity, but resolved to take on my second mission, a job interview, with more skill. I even bought upgrades as suggested by the creator - the ability to smile and move my eyebrows for emphasis. These would serve to double the fun… and the chaos.
Speaking Simulator doesn’t just challenge you with mouth movements. It distracts you with a hilarious script that pokes fun at how self-involved humans can be. The people I talked to should have seen my robot face sparking, but they were too into themselves. Meanwhile, the upgrades complicated my mission as much as they helped it. Being able to smile helped me look more sympathetic to my boss, but it also gave me another command to constantly tend to. I made it through most of the job interview with teeth intact only to knock out two at the last sentence.
Speaking Simulator is coming to Steam this year, so you can see if you’re better than me at keeping your teeth. Later levels will include dancing, politics, and delivering a eulogy.
