A language learning game for adults, played by talking

The two games you can play today

Defuse the Bomb opens with a simple brief: find the bomb before time runs out to save the town. A timer starts counting. The commander debriefs you, an informant has intel if you can get it out of him, a shop sells wire-cutters, and a professor knows the disarm code but isn't keen to share it. Once you have what you need, you race to the factory.

In The Dungeon you're locked up with an old prisoner, a nervous merchant, a dramatic ghost and a bored guard, and you have to escape. You can bribe your way past, flatter the right person, or crack a three-number combination.

More games are on the way.

What makes it a language learning game

Nothing moves until you say something that works. A locked door stays locked until the guard is convinced, and the gold sits in the chest until someone decides to hand it over. Meanwhile the bomb timer keeps counting while you work out how to ask the professor for the code, so you can't spend forever polishing a sentence.

There are no multiple-choice buttons and no tiles to tap. You hold to talk or you type, and the character answers you in the language. The game judges what you meant rather than whether you hit the exact wording, so a clumsy sentence that gets the point across still counts.

Say you're learning Spanish and you've just offered the guard a coin. The exchange might go something like this.

Why it suits adult learners

A lot of games to learn a language are made with children in mind, and you can tell from the vocabulary. Here you bribe a guard, flatter a ghost and buy wire-cutters against the clock. You still learn the basics, and you use them to get something done.

The characters are built to be understood by sight as well as sound. They gesture, pull faces and hold up props, so the guard shakes his head when he says no, and you can often tell what's going on before you understand every word.

You also set the difficulty. On beginner the language is simple, the characters take the lead, hints appear when you freeze, and when you make a mistake the character repeats what you meant, correctly, and carries on. Intermediate uses natural speech and gives hints only when you ask. Advanced is full native speed and register with no hints and no correction. Those levels are only starting points, and every setting can be changed on its own, even in the middle of a game.

Help you can switch on and off

On beginner and intermediate you can answer in your own language when you're stuck. The character understands you and replies in the language you're learning, so the conversation keeps going instead of stalling on one missing word.

There is an interpreter panel, response suggestions and hints, and each one has its own switch. You can replay any line, slow the pace down, and save lines to your notes. Every playthrough lands in your notes afterwards, which makes a good list of what to review before the next one.

Runs in the browser, phone included

If you came here from Steam or Switch listings, this one works differently. There is nothing to download or install. The games run in any modern browser on a laptop or a phone, and you need a free account to play.

You can play in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian and Bengali, with more languages in beta. The voices are life-like, and the site also has free grammar walkthroughs if you want to read up on a language between games.

What it costs

A new account comes with enough free credits for one full game, so you can finish the bomb or the dungeon before deciding anything. After that you can take a monthly plan or buy a credit pack that never expires. Play costs about one credit per minute.