Games Like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes — And What We're Adding

When people ask what XenoEtiquette is, the fastest answer is: "It's like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, but instead of defusing a bomb you're navigating an alien first-contact situation." That comparison is both accurate and deeply insufficient.

Keep Talking is a masterwork. One player in a room with a bomb. One player with a manual. The bomb doesn't care if you can communicate clearly — it just ticks. That pressure creates moments of pure, panicked comedy that the game industry has barely scratched the surface of.

What We're Building On

XenoEtiquette takes the same asymmetric information architecture and asks: what if the "bomb" was a sentient being with opinions? What if failure wasn't an explosion but a diplomatic incident? What if the manual wasn't about wires but about cultural norms that change based on how many suns are in the sky?

The field Agent sees an alien. They describe what they see to Mission Control. Mission Control has the cultural dossier, the cipher wheel, the species handbook. Together, they have to figure out what the alien wants, how to respond, and whether they're about to commit an interplanetary faux pas.

The Key Differences

Where Keep Talking is about precision under pressure, XenoEtiquette is about communication itself being the puzzle. The alien doesn't speak English. The manual is written for someone who already knows the basics. The Agent is describing things they can barely understand. Mission Control is interpreting a description that may be completely wrong.

The comedy emerges from the gap between what's happening and what the players think is happening. That gap is the game.