Gingiva is, like Middens, another trippy RPG Maker XP game from myformerselves, another adventure with another protagonist (check HERE for another story in the same setting)!

This time the protagonist is not a nomad, like in Middens (yes, because there were more than one) but a female worker drone (whose name is Gingiva) that had her head replaced by an old fashioned clock winding key ... yes, you heard me, that's not her real head, and this is just the beginning of weirdness. Losing the head she has lost all her memories, thoughts and feelings connected to that head and previous "life", but since things aren't bad enough for her the game starting with a punishment for poor workmanship by the cruel owner of the factory that produces useless goods, the "Queen Mother". This giant ball of static with lips and eyes that is constantly crying sends oput protagonist to a prison, however in the cell she meets a sentient, disembodied mouth called "the Chatterteeth" who helps her escape.
Now on the run from the evil corporate executives, our protagonist wanders a bizarre, corrupted world filled with danger, to regain both her freedom and humanity.


Ok, now I understand why this game is called Gingiva!

The gameplay is very simple: like in Middens you explore a surreal world talking to some npcs (there are few friendly creatures) and facing many hostile beings in classic rpgmaker combat (you can attack, defend, use items, use magic and so on) that includes earning experience points to level up. The protagonist can restore her and her allies' "Vim" and "Verve" (that are other names for"health" and "mana", basically) by twisting her head key around, so yes, she need help from some weird beings: aside for the already mentioned Chatterteeth there's Himmler, a sentient TV with legs, Vermillis Maximus the worm, Kharms the animated sculpture and there's even the return of the gun from Middens, because as I wrote before this is set in the same universe of the previous game. And yes, you will find the Nomad too.

Like Middens the game has no shops and all consumables can be collected around the game world (they all look like sheets of paper being blown around). So yes, there's a finite number of them, obviously, but unlike Middens there is no "karma system" and combat is much more time-waster and less important concerning the story (ok you fight to survive, but it's not like Middens where it had more impact and gave some important choices to the player... here is just "random guy asks for your hand, accept or defeat him!").


Well that's a difficult choice! Isn't it?

This game is a more story driven adventure than simple exploration like Middens, there's even a part in which you can choose different routes (will you take the ferry or the train to go to the Rift?) that will also lead to encounter different party members that will join the team. Despite this the linear sections are sometimes interrupted by more Middens-like esplorative segments where you can really get lost, so it's not structured differently in some parts.

And it's also not really different from the previous game visually, of course! The Rift is still the Rift, a bizarre mix of weird things that often makes no sense and probably insane people that speak nonsense... or riddles and philosophic sentences. Anyway that's where the game stand out, with a mix of sprites taken here and there, edits and probably custom made resources. The finar result is a creepy, dystopian world, surely not a happy place. Some items are also repeated, like for example guns (do they have meaning? Well probably but play and see by yourself). This game is also a probable a critic to consumism and the corrupt corporate executives that serves as the villains of the story (the boss Holy Mother Most High and her hired hands, the Reptile Twins).


In this game there is the return of guns. Yeah, not just one like in Middens!

Final Verdict
While I liked Middens more for its originalyty and some clever ideas, I did not mind Gingiva. Despite some spelling errors (maybe done on purpouse? Hm I do not know), some items that made little sense and had no use in-game (maybe done on purpouse for some reason too?) and other minor nagging things that aren't real flaws or errors or problems that are detrimental to the enjoyment, I liked this game too. Combat is simple and not too difficult, dialogues are bizzarre but not meaningless, and overall this is an interesting game even if I admit I expected a bit more, after the Nomad's adventure. But if you liked that one you will like this one too (since some themes and many characters return in this game). Probably. Anyway itìs not bad at all, really!