🎮 How to play Swordspeak

Swordspeak is an adventure you win by talking. Here's everything you need for your first hour.

Getting started

1. Open swordspeak.com and pick the language you want to learn.
2. Allow the microphone when your browser asks: that's how the game hears you (in Chrome, Edge and Safari). In battles you can also type an answer.
3. Play as a guest right away, or make a free account (👤) to save your hero to the cloud and keep playing on any device.
4. At the town gate, tell the guard your name out loud, then head out: monsters roam the meadow outside town.

Moving around

• On a computer: click to walk, talk or attack. WASD or the arrow keys also move, Q and E turn the camera, and the mouse wheel zooms.
• On a phone: tap to walk, drag to turn, pinch to zoom, and press and hold any word to see its translation.

Battles

Click or tap a monster to fight it. Each turn, pick your attack:

• ⚡ Quick: a word you know. A lighter hit that builds a combo.
• 💥 Heavy: a harder word or phrase. A big hit, but a miss hurts more.
• 🛡️ Defend: the easiest, by ear. It blocks the next hit.

Then answer: translate a line, repeat a new word after the character, or pick what you heard. Saying your answer out loud lands a critical hit, and the better your pronunciation, the harder it hits. Some monsters only speak: listen carefully and pick what they mean. Take too long and the monster nips you, so think fast. With a keyboard, keys 1 to 3 pick your attack and 1 to 4 pick an answer.

Each language has its own legends to beat as you level up: the Chupacabras and Kukulcán in Spanish, the Tarasque in French, Fafnir in German, Yamata-no-Orochi in Japanese, the Gumiho in Korean, Smok Wawelski in Polish and the Bakunawa in Tagalog, among others.

Listening tools

• 🔊 Repeat plays the last line again. In a battle it also buys you time on the ⏳ clock.
• 🐢 plays it slowly.
• 🧑‍🏫 Clearly replays a natural voice in a clear teacher's voice.
• 🔤 translates a line (naturally, literally and word by word), and ❓ lets you ask your companion anything about it. Both use the AI tutor, which needs a free account and ⚡ coaching energy.

Getting better

• ⭐ XP: speaking earns double (up to triple with great pronunciation), listening one and a half times, and writing the base amount.
• Level up to meet harder words and bigger monsters.
• Try new food in town to collect stamps in your 🛂 passport.
• At level 50 you can ⭐ prestige: start a new run with a crown, keeping your words.

⚡ Coaching energy

Free accounts get 30 ⚡ coaching energy, refilling 1 every 12 minutes. It pays for the extras that cost us money: 🎯 detailed pronunciation scoring (1 ⚡ a spoken answer) and the AI tutor (2 ⚡ an explanation). Out of energy? Keep playing: speaking and typing are always free, and you can watch an ad for +10 ⚡ (up to 6 a day). ⭐ Sylladin makes coaching unlimited (fair use). See pricing.

Keyboard shortcuts

• R: radio mode (pause the game and play the radio)
• H: go home to your house
• P: talk to your companion
• L: readings (stories and your ⭐ saved lines)
• F: full screen

Tips

• Speak in a quiet place, close to the microphone, at a natural pace.
• Missed a line? 🔊 Repeat it or 🐢 slow it down before you answer.
• On a phone, press and hold a word to see its translation.
• A little every day beats a lot once a week.

Questions? support@swordspeak.com · About & contact