Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PC
Release date: September 26, 2024
Mouthwashing has made a statement in late 2024. I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen it all over social media, as more streamers and gaming fans are diving straight into the latest indie horror game. It's easy to see why, even just saying the name of the game makes people go "Mouthwashing? What kind of name is that?". Well, nothing can quite prepare you for the next two hours or so worth of gameplay, I can tell you that much. A game with a title so strange deserves to be a wild ride and god, I'm going to be thinking about this for such a long time alongside many of the other best horror games out there.
Indie game developers Wrong Organ are the ones to blame for the inevitable onslaught of nightmares I'll have over the coming days, as they've burned their horrifying imagery into my retinas and they're probably feeling pretty gleeful about that. In fact, it's so utterly disturbing I've had a hard time picking out images for this article for fear of scaring away half our audience. I've spared you the worst of it, whether or not you go and see the rest for yourself is up to you.
In space no one can hear you... drinking mouthwash?
Mouthwashing has a wonderfully sadistic premise. The five-person crew of the Tulpar, a freighter spacecraft owned by Pony Express, find their ship in a state of emergency. It was intentionally crashed, causing irreversible damage, and now its crew is stranded in space. We learn this in the first 30 seconds of the game where a little tagline in the captain's log reads I hope this hurts. It only gets darker from that moment on.
Not only are they stranded, and they've had their personal credits docked due to navigational incompetence (you will quickly learn Pony Express likes to dock worker's pay), but food and supplies are rapidly running out. But, hey, they're transporting cargo! Surely there's something of value in there right? They'll be penalized if they take a little peek at what they're transporting, but surely it's worth the risk if you're literally stranded?
Well, as the title foreshadows, their cargo is useless. It's just boxes and boxes of mouthwash. No food in sight, nothing useful. As if being stranded wasn't cruel enough. Sanity is in short supply too, and that soon begins to dwindle.
We play as Jimmy, the co-pilot of the Tulpar. He's Curly's second in command, and the captain has seen better days. When we meet Curly, we learn he bore the brunt of the damage from the crash, rendering him mute, physically scarred, and without any hands or feet. He's in a terrible condition and has a frightening appearance, something the game does not shy away from.
The rest is made up of Anya, the nurse and sole female member of the crew (yes, that is an uncomfortable experience), Daisuke the cheerful, naive intern whose parents forced him to get the job, and Swansea the gruff, recovering alcoholic mechanic. The game is non-linear and moves before and after the big crash, where we get to see the dynamics between the characters and Jimmy's worsening mental state. His inevitable breakdown is where the real horror comes in.
The descent into madness
During the height of Jimmy's frightening breakdown, he hallucinates a party scene. I'm not going to include an image from the real scary moment, that would be a spoiler, but Curly looking ominous next to a cake should do the trick. You will know the party scene when you get there, and then you'll end up wishing you were anywhere but.
It's important to note that Mouthwashing is a very surreal game. You find yourself in impossible locations, you see things that don't exist, and much of the game is Jimmy hallucinating the most horrible stuff. There are a few jump scares here and there, especially the climactic vent scene near the end of the game, but much of the horror comes from the psychological aspects. Horrible visuals, sudden text popping up on-screen, and Jimmy's often deranged decisions are far scarier than things that go bump in the night. Or day. Frankly, it's hard to tell what time it is onboard the Tulpar and that's also pretty scary.
One of the Steam tags does describe the game as a walking simulator, but don't be surprised if it's more of a "frozen on the spot" simulator because you're bracing yourself for whatever horrors await behind closed doors or hidden inside vents. The game is dialogue-heavy in a lot of places - you'll read a brilliant monologue from Swansea late in the game - but the scares are in abundance too. It's hard to wax lyrical about how great this game is without going into full spoilers, so you're just going to have to see for yourself.
There's a limited amount of voice acting here but the sounds we do hear are crafted in such a way it'll make your skin crawl. Curly's wails and moans of pain, screaming sounds, and eerie corporate jingles are all this game needs to pack a very effective punch. It makes way for the haunting soundtrack to do most of the legwork, which only elevates the horror.
The less said about this, the better, as it really is a game you should go in and experience for yourself. You'll learn so much about the characters for better and for worse, and it leaves a lasting impression. You play for a couple of hours, but it will stay with you for much, much longer.
Should I play Mouthwashing?
Play it if...
Don't play it if...
Accessibility
Mouthwashing is very easy to navigate. There are different language and subtitling options, and since 99% of the dialogue is not spoken and comes up as text, it's very clear and easy to understand. You can adjust your camera sensitivity too, but I played on the default settings and had no issues.
There are also quite a lot of flashing images and things suddenly popping up that are unavoidable, and visually it can be jarring and distorted, but that is simply the nature of the game rather than a technical issue. If you do find yourself affected by these things, just be aware it's a very unforgiving game in that sense.
How I reviewed Mouthwashing
I tested Mouthwashing for around two hours and finished the main game. I played the game using a Lenovo Legion 5-15ACH6H gaming laptop with Beats Flex wireless headphones and a PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller. I also did additional testing with the laptop’s built-in keyboard and Steelseries Aerox 9 wireless gaming mouse, to check that the game ran smoothly in both modes.
