If I felt right at home in Out of Words, it might have something to do with Oettinger growing up loving the same stop-motion animation. He cited Aardman Animation’s Wallace & Gromit series (particularly “A Grand Day Out”) as a major influence, as well as the more out-there work of the Brothers Quay (“Street of Crocodiles”) and my beloved Czech surrealist, Jan Švankmajer (“Alice,” “Faust”).

More than just nice to look at, the gameplay was also simple, but evocative. Oettinger mentioned INSIDE as one of his favorite games, and the influence is clear. Broadly we went from left to right through beautiful environments. Different sections we played had different mechanical gimmicks. In one part, surfaces covered in grass had localized gravity, allowing us to jump between the floor and ceiling in navigating through. Oettinger said how, in this part of the game, Kurt and Karla are feeling isolated from one another, and the mechanics reflect that by being individually focused.