I love a short but sweet horror experience, especially when it is as lovingly crafted as Mouthwashing. From developer Wrong Organ and publisher CRITICAL REFLEX, comes yet another experience where you, lucky player, can once again be taught the lesson that it may be hard to hear screaming in space, but that does not mean there is not a ton of it going on. Mouthwashing is what I would be describe as a point and click first person adventure game where a long-term cargo ship trip has gone from horribly boring to horrifically wrong.
I do not want to reveal much of the story, as that is the game’s biggest draw. What I will tell is that you switch between the perspectives of the captain and co-pilot across the timespan of around 6 or so months. The story plays this out in random, yet significant order. You may go back in time one day to see what happens, then fast forward four months in the next chapter. It not only gives an effective slow drip to the storytelling to keep you wanting more, it also ups the tension but never being consistent. You may get a twisted psychological experience one moment, and then be attending a birthday party the next minute. Overall, the story is very well written and effectively told, and while I will not personally rank it as one of the scariest games, I would definitely rank it as one of the more unsettling ones that I have played through. Mouthwashing takes a more Japanese style of psychological horror approach than most horror games on the market, and is all the more unique for it.
The gameplay is simple yet efficient. Bar a few sequences that serve to change things up, it really does play more like an adventure game. You will move around and explore specific areas of the ship each chapter, acquiring items to solve puzzles and advance the story. The areas are the same for the majority of the game, but their state of function and the psyche of the characters will change.
The visuals hit the nail on the head and the team excels at the aesthetic they go for. Many a game tout their retro aesthetic these days, and Mouthwashing does wear its original Playstation style-graphics on its sleeve, but it is its atmosphere and world building that carry the experience. The developers specifically based their characters and aesthetics on 1970s and 1980s horror and color palettes for the most part, and they combine to form a retro futuristic style that was prevalent at the time in movies such as Alien and A Clockwork Orange. The sound effects are also directly sampled from games of the late 1990s and early 2000s in order to double down on this approach. The world of Pony Express and its workers, though mostly left to the imagination, gives the player just enough to fill in all the blanks, being a case in point of a story being more effective when you leave parts to the imagination.
Overall, Mouthwashing is a short, but sweet journey into a horrific psychological spiral of space haulers. It is a well-paced and haunting adventure game that wears its inspirations on its sleeves and has been crafted with homages and love for the genre and never takes its audience for granted. The story never wastes your time and it always leaves a lasting impact. Definitely check it out, especially as we enter Halloween season!
Score: 9/10
Mouthwashing launches today for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Matt O’Toole
Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
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