Use Your Words


Use Your Words is a party video game developed by Smiling Buddha Games and published by Screenwave Media. It was released for Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U in April 2017, and for Switch in August 2017.

Gameplay

Use Your Words is a game for 3–6 players and is played similar to The Jackbox Party Pack in that players play on a browser with web-enabled devices. Four mini-games are played throughout a single game:
In any given round, players vote on their favorite answer, and players whose answers receive votes are awarded points. Points are also deducted from a player's score if they vote for a House Answer. House answers are built-in answers written by the development team and designed to add an element of chaos as well as additional comedy to the mix. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins. The game also has a "Spectator Mode" where additional participants can provide "reactions" to each player answer, and their reactions contribute to various awards players can receive at the end of a party match.

Development

In 2015, designer Brent Black and veteran game developer Julian Spillane came together to create the game, which the former pitched as "a party game for funny people and their unfunny friends."

Reception

The Switch version of Use Your Words received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Nintendo Life scored the Switch version an 8/10, saying the game is best played in the comfort of a local crowd. Nintendo World Report also rated the Switch version 8/10, praising it as "accessible" and "fun," but criticizing the lack of an option to change text size for playing in portable mode. On the opposite end, Destructoid rated the game 3/10, comparing the gameplay to simply riffing on foreign films or randomly Googled images.