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GOTW: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, where you have to disarm a bomb without seeing the instructions

Posted on May 5, 2024

Since the semester is wrapping up and summer break is almost here, I thought I’d give a game that’s fun and chaotic, just like how this semester feels.

This game is one of the funniest, nerve-wracking, and stressful games I’ve played.

The game of the week is…

“Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes”

Photo from store.steampowered.com

I played this game a few months back when I first started using this website. I thought “Omg this would be such a fun game to write about, I’ll write about it first.”

Well, OBVIOUSLY I DIDN’T! A few other games overtook its place on my notes and I kept pushing it off. 

But since the semester is wrapping up and I have all these finals and final projects due, I thought this was the perfect time to write about this game (since I’m having some last-minute fun with friends but extremely stressed about my classes).

You can play “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” on a bunch of different platforms like PC, console, mobile, and of course, virtual reality (VR).

I played this game with my boyfriend on his VR and if I had to say which platform you HAVE to play this game on, it’s VR.

Being able to literally hold the bomb in my hands and bring it as close to my face as possible, makes the game so much more realistic and terrifying.

“Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” is a puzzle game where one player is disarming the bomb in front of them and the other player(s) are telling them how to disarm the bomb. 

Photo from Steel Crate Games

 The other player(s) who are not disarming the bomb, have a manual that tells them the instructions to successfully disarm the bomb

Photo from dev studio.dartmouth.edu

It sounds pretty simple, right? WRONG!

The bomb can have up to 11 different modules that you must disarm within the time limit. 

If you think you’ve disarmed the modules, listen for either a click noise or a green light on that module.

If you think you’ve disarmed one of the modules and heard a different noise, you definitely didn’t disarm the module and instead, you will receive a strike. 

You can have up to 3 strikes so try not to mess up. You’ll be able to see how many strikes you have above the timer. Once you hit 3 strikes, BOOM! You have unsuccessfully disarmed the bomb and are now destroyed. 

But the real question: HOW DO I DISARM THE BOMB IF I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING???

That’s actually pretty simple. You have to be playing with another player or players. 

That could be your friends, your family, heck even your dog but I don’t think they’d help you much.

The other players will be reading off of the bomb defusal manual. 

https://www.bombmanual.com/web/index.html

The manual has 23 pages, including 2 different sections. 

Section 1: Modules

The modules can be seen as having an LED in the top right corner. If it’s not lit, you haven’t disarmed the module. If it’s lit up green, you have successfully done that module and should move on to the next module FAST!

There are 11 different modules:

  1. On the Subject of Wires
  2. On the Subject of The Button
  3. On the Subject of Keypads
  4. On the Subject of Simon Says
  5. On the Subject of Who’s on First
  6. On the Subject of Memory (I hate this one)
  7. On the Subject of Morse Code (I also hate this one)
  8. On the Subject of Complicated Wires
  9. On the Subject of Wire Sequences
  10. On the Subject of Mazes
  11. On the Subject of Passwords

The manual goes more into depth about this so you’ll have to take a look at that which is linked towards the beginning of this post. But you can guess what these might be all about.

I will say I HATE THE MEMORY, MORSE CODE, AND COMPLICATED WIRES ONE! 

They are either super confusing or involve memory, which I have a terrible memory of so it sucks for me.

Section 2: Needy Modules

These suck. Needy modules are exactly how they sound, NEEDY!

You can’t actually disarm them but when you interact with the bomb, they become activated. Once they are activated, they will keep annoying you throughout the time you have disarmed the bomb and if you don’t tend to them within their time limit, you will receive a strike. 

The 6 different modules include:

  1. On the Subject of Venting Gas
  2. On the Subject of Capacitor Discharge
  3. On the Subject of Knobs
  4. Appendix A: Indicator Identification Reference
  5. Appendix B: Battery Identification Reference
  6. Appendix C: Port Identification Reference

I’m not gonna get into these because I hate them so much but the manual obviously goes into detail so it’s best to look there.

And that’s the game.

Sadly I have no clips to share because with VR you simply can’t record which sucks but here are a few videos I’ve watched and laughed my butt off. 

https://youtu.be/BYunaBkn9Ng?si=8mzhm1FHM-45xh2k 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLQKkyvF/

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLQK6caH/

Making sure you disarm the bomb within the time limit and not making any mistakes seems easy but when you get to the challenging ones, it becomes intense.

This being said, when you play with other players make sure you choose people that will actually help you. 

I’m thankful I played with my boyfriend because he’s so smart and we disarmed a lot of bombs but when I was assisting him and looking at the manual, well let’s just say we went KABOOM a lot.

This game WILL bring out the nerves and become a stressful situation almost instantly. Especially when the music kicks in and you start to scream at each other because you’re so stressed about blowing up. 

All in all, this game is one of the best games to play if you’re interested in playing a puzzle game.

I recommend 100% to play this game on VR. It makes everything much more fun (and stressful).

To rate “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” on Crystal’s rating, I would give it…

5 out of 5 golden stars!