In Ginger, you craft an unfamiliar language with your keyboard to shape a world.

I’m still learning how to say “ginger” in Ginger, which was recommended to us by Maw feeder Fachewachewa. It’s listed in the game’s dictionary, and I have worked out how to say “er” – A + space + down arrow – and “g” – shift + S + space + up arrow. But I’m struggling to string together these consonants and vowels into words. It turns out computer keyboards are not an intuitive way of operating the human voicebox. This, of course, is what makes Ginger fascinating.

Ginger isn’t just a striking interfacial experiment, mind you. It’s a “novella within a dictionary”, written by somebody called Kevin, who “wants to know what a home is”. It contains a whole, made-up language you must translate using internal cross-references – the best place to start, probably, is by deciphering the dictionary’s tutorial pages, which include controller and keyboard maps.

The speaking part, meanwhile, makes use of WASD, space bar, shift and arrow keys to operate your character’s tongue, lungs, vocal cords and lips – or at least, that’s my read of the anatomical pixel diagrams hovering over the pages – with input order shaping the results of button combinations. As you sputter, moan and hiss your way to fluency, lines, dots, and textures appear on the screen, forming what could be a map. It’s as though you were composing some geography by means of echolocation. Like Mu Cartographer, but you can sing to it.

Here’s the full blurb from Steam. Hmm, “blurb”. I can say the middle part of that.

Ginger is a language adventure game where every word is pronounceable, even without understanding its meaning. Step into a labyrinth of interconnected meanings and immerse yourself in a one-person subculture.

– Embark on a journey to understand a language using only its internal cross-references.

– Join Kevin on an adventure to explore the essence of knowledge.

– Master the art of speaking a completely new language.

– Explore 1000+ entries in an expansive dictionary.

– A promised ending awaits those who persevere.

– A subtle tutorial and story lie within.

I’ve never played anything quite like this. Maybe Mask Quest, with its breathing mechanics. Maybe Heaven’s Vault, in which you pieced together alien script to solve a galactic mystery. The demo is live now on Steam and the full game launches on 20th March. I’d have written this up for release day, but I’ll be away from the office.

Let me know if you figure out the button combinations for “ginger”. The next step, of course, is working out what “ginger” means.