First Impressions: MOUTHOLE (NS1 & NS2)

[Disclaimer:  I received a review key for MOUTHOLE through Keymailer, a third-party website/company that connects publishers and developers with content creators.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience.  Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.]  

MOUTHOLE
Release Date: April 1, 2024
Systems: Windows, Steam OS, PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2
Publisher: Sometimes You
Developer: Anything Nose
Time Spent: 3+ Hours
Highlights Playlist on YouTube

First off, I recently discovered that the developers, Anything Nose, are no longer in business as of May 2025.  The game was delisted on Steam shortly after the studio closed, although it's still being released on consoles, so Sometimes You is now receiving the money for their work on their ports.

Anyway.

MOUTHOLE is a bit of a strange game.  It's kind of a 3D walking-sim, point-and-click adventure game with some light puzzles, time management, and a touch of not-quite-a-rogue-lite since there is a New Game mode that retains some progressions from previous playthroughs.  I had originally thought that I was going to write a Game EXP article, but then I noticed that there are 11 possible endings, and while I was putting together videos, I was again noticing all of the things that I had either missed or just altogether skipped on my first playthrough.

The premise of MOUTHOLE is that you go to see a dentist who tells you that your teeth are in horrid condition and that you likely have only five days before they completely rot out of your head.  You're asked a couple of questions that may or may not have some impact on your particular playthrough.  You wake up each morning in wonderful Majora's Mask style, with the game telling you how many days you have left before your teeth all fall out.  Your day is then filled with activities that often take an absurd amount of time, such as an hour to brush your teeth, drinking beer for two hours, or taking six hours to build a door.  You only have so many hours in a day, and once you reach 21:00 or later (you can start a task before 21:00), then the game tells you you're too tired to do whatever it is you're trying to do and gives you the option to sleep on the floor.  Or you can just continue to wander and then go to sleep in your bed.  Very respectable.

You can also crawl inside your mouth to access environmentally different areas to find items to use in the real world that can help you progress through the story and puzzles.  Did I not mention that you can crawl inside your mouth?  That's a thing you can do here, and it's just as weird as it sounds.  You stand in front of the mirror in your recently cleaned bathroom and crawl into your mouth.  Once inside, there are four, possibly five portals to other areas accessible by different parts of your body.  I think.  One portal takes you to a desert mesa with a sentient worm (RFK Jr. be jealous) while another takes you to the space where two eyes look at each other, while black mushroom-like polyp-things can sprout while green fluid gushes down from one eye to the other.  I don't quite know what to make of it all.

And then there are things that I don't have an answer for, like what the red glove behind the white caution fence on the mesa is all about.  Or what 17:00 has to do with the sundial in the room just off of the kitchen; yes, I visited there specifically at 17:00, and nothing happened and I couldn't trigger anything.  Or what happens if you drink all of the beer?  Or if you only brush your teeth.  Or what that little platform with the church-like-building in your stomach (was that area your stomach?) was about?  Or the eight other possible things that could have led to eight of the other endings I didn't see.  The end of your run, be it from your teeth decomposing in your mouth, collapsing on the ground, or dying in a car crash, the end game text gives some hints as to what you're capable of completing during your five days in your house before you see the dentist at the end-end of the game.

I have no doubt that there are overly complex endings that will require a detailed walkthrough, while others can be triggered simply by falling off the stairs; I found that one at least, testing to see if fall damage was a thing.  MOUTHOLE is a bizarre and surreal experimental game that likely won't land with everyone, and its weirdness was just enough to be mildly gross, but still entertaining.  I was entertained at least.  So mission accomplished?

Now to figure out how to lead a balanced life where your teeth don't fall out in the end.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Rejoice the Dreams