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Mouthwashing (video game)

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Mouthwashing
Artwork for the 2024 video game Mouthwashing, depicting a large, bloodshot eye staring at the viewer amidst a dark red backdrop of other eyes staring in different directions. Several, ripple-like outlines surround the central eye, with the bottoms appearing to melt.
Steam artwork
Developer(s)Wrong Organ
Publisher(s)Critical Reflex
Producer(s)Kai Moore
Designer(s)Jeffrey Tomec, Johanna Kasurinen
Programmer(s)Jeffrey Tomec
Artist(s)Johanna Kasurinen
EngineUnity (game engine)
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release26 September 2024
Genre(s)First-person adventure game, psychological horror
Mode(s)Single-player

Mouthwashing is a 2024 first-person psychological horror adventure game developed by Wrong Organ and published by Critical Reflex. The game follows the five crew members of the freighter spaceship Tulpar after a mysterious crash leaves them stranded in space, trapped within the Tulpar as supplies dwindle. The captain, alive but severely maimed and unable to speak or move, is blamed by the remaining crew for deliberately crashing the ship for reasons unknown. The game uses a split, nonlinear narrative.[1][2]

Plot

During a routine shipment, the freighter spaceship Tulpar is sabotaged into crashing into an asteroid. The crew – consisting of captain Curly, co-pilot Jimmy, medic Anya, mechanic Swansea, and last-minute intern Daisuke – survive. However, most of the ship's resources are blocked off by airbag-like foam, damage to which could potentially breach the ship's hull and trigger lethal decompression. Curly is also mutilated by the crash and cannot speak or move; he is kept alive via a dwindling supply of painkillers. Jimmy declares himself acting captain as a result, claiming that Curly caused the crash after going postal.

When food and medical supplies begin to run low after two months, the crew open their confidential shipment, discovering that it consists solely of mouthwash. The sugar and ethanol content result in them consuming it, and the ensuing drunkenness inflames tensions further. Eventually, Anya locks herself in the medical bay. After failing to convince Swansea to help him break in, Jimmy knocks him out using a mocktail roofied with the ship's sole bottle of rubbing alcohol and coerces Daisuke into crawling through a damaged vent to reach Anya. However, Daisuke is severely injured in the process, and his wounds become infected when Jimmy uses the mouthwash as an impromptu disinfectant. Swansea, who had been treating Daisuke protectively, reluctantly and crudely euthanizes him with a fire axe before violently turning on Jimmy.

Flashbacks to the days leading up to the crash reveal that the Tulpar crew were due to be laid off following their delivery; Curly breaks the news prematurely, distressing his crewmates as he is the only one who can financially support himself afterwards. Later, in a private conversation with Curly, Anya reveals that she is pregnant with Jimmy's child. Other interactions between Curly and Anya imply that Jimmy raped her. Curly attempts to ease tensions with Jimmy, only for Anya to reveal her pregnancy to Jimmy behind Curly's back. The stress of his impending layoff and the possibility of being held accountable for Anya's pregnancy ultimately drive Jimmy to crash the Tulpar in a failed murder-suicide bid.

Back in the present, Jimmy breaks into the medical bay, where Anya is revealed to have killed herself via an overdose, and uses the ship's emergency revolver to kill Swansea, who condemns Jimmy's cowardice and selfishness in his last moments. With his sanity rapidly declining, Jimmy holds a mock birthday party with the crew's corpses, where he cuts off and consumes part of Curly's leg; he also force-feeds the captain his own flesh in a surreal hallucination. After a series of additional visions where he is accosted for his actions throughout the game and for his inability to take responsibility for them, Jimmy places Curly in the ship's sole working cryopod, which Swansea was previously guarding for Daisuke. He tells Curly that he was proud to be his friend and co-pilot for he always had his back, even though Jimmy's actions hurt him greatly in the process. Jimmy then kills himself with the revolver, still viewing himself as a hero. The game's credits roll as Curly is placed into a 20-year cryosleep, his fate left uncertain.

Gameplay

Mouthwashing is a single-player narrative-focused adventure game played from a first-person perspective with little in the way of survival or combat mechanics.[2][3] It can also be described as a walking simulator.[4] Gameplay primarily involves exploring the Tulpar, engaging in dialogue with the crew, and solving puzzles using items.[5]

Presented as a nonlinear narrative, the game plays out across disjointed scenes taking place in the weeks and months before and following the crash.[6] Jumps in the timeline are sometimes delineated by non-diegetic transitions that mimic glitches or crashes.[3] Players experience captain Curly's perspective in the scenes before the crash, while scenes taking place after the crash are from the perspective of former co-pilot Jimmy, who takes on the role of captain in the aftermath of the disaster.[5]

Development

The team behind Mouthwashing includes producer Kai Moore, audio designer Martin Halldin, art and narrative designer Johanna Kasurinen, designer and programmer Jeffrey Tomec, and technical designer Dave van Egdom.[7] The developers took inspiration from films including Alien, Event Horizon, Sunshine, The Thing, and Pandorum.[8] The game utilises a low poly, retro visual style inspired by titles released for the original PlayStation. Art designer Johanna Kasurinen credits indie developer Puppet Combo for introducing her to the style, stating that "we don’t need state-of-the-art graphics to make something impactful" in an interview with Rolling Stone.[9]

Release

Mouthwashing was first announced as part of a free update (inspired by Katamari Damacy) to developer Wrong Organ's debut title How Fish is Made.[7] A demo for the game released during Steam Next Fest in February 2024 to positive reception,[10][11][12] with the full game releasing on Steam on 26 September, 2024.[13][14]

Mouthwashing was well-received by audiences on release, achieving an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam within the first two weeks.[15][16] "Overwhelmingly Positive" is the highest possible rating a game can earn on the platform, indicating that a game has received at least 500 user reviews with at least 95% being positive.[17]

Reception

The game's narrative structure received praise from critics. The opening, which puts the player in control while the viewpoint character crashes the Tulpar, was praised by critics for Bloody Disgusting and Rock Paper Shotgun for creating an immediate sense of tension in the player and prompting them to be curious about what has just happened.[2][20] According to Paste, the game's nonlinear narrative enhanced the sense of intrigue by driving speculation on preceding events.[6] The nonlinear narrative was also praised for adding depth to the cast of characters by revealing different aspects of their personalities,[2][6] and for immersing the player in the setting of the Tulpar.[20][21]

The graphics and visual style were also received well. The low-poly graphics were called "beautiful" by Bloody Disgusting and Paste said they "invite us to imagine the finer details for ourselves".[2][6] Hardcore Gamer likened the graphics to fifth generation video game consoles, arguing that they complement the Tulpar's retro style.[19] Rock Paper Shotgun and Bloody Disgusting also praised the "cinematic" framing of shots in cutscenes and transitions between scenes.[2][20] However, Rely on Horror felt the transitions disrupted the flow of the game.[1]

The setting was generally well received. Rock Paper Shotgun called the Tulpar a "brilliantly realised space", citing the game's use of twisting, narrow corridors, but argued that certain scenes tended towards "surrealist tunnel meandering".[20] In contrast, critics for Bloody Disgusting and Rely on Horror felt that the small, cramped setting at the beginning of the game set up the transition to hallucinatory shifting hallways well.[2][19] PC Gamer noted the inclusion of "great character details" left throughout the ship such as notes, pamphlets and half-finished boardgames.[22] Not all critics agreed, however, with Hardcore Gamer arguing that the limited number of locations made the game end up being repetitive.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Hanson, Katy (24 September 2024). "Review: Mouthwashing". Rely on Horror. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Boehm, Aaron (24 September 2024). "[Review] 'Mouthwashing' Is a Surreal Trip Into High Tension Horror". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b Marshall, Cass (6 October 2024). "Mouthwashing is a great horror appetizer in the lead-up to Halloween". Polygon. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b Lopez, Azario (24 September 2024). "Mouthwashing Review: A Haunting Space Horror With Deep Psychological Themes". Noisy Pixel. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  5. ^ a b Golmohamadi, Shahrbanoo (25 September 2024). "Mouthwashing Review: A Deep Dive into Descent". Gazettely. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e Gonzalez, Elijah (24 September 2024). "Mouthwashing Is A Suffocating Lo-Fi Horror Game About Slowly Dying in Space". Paste. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  7. ^ a b Donovan, Imogen (4 September 2023). "'Mouthwashing' is a retro horror where "God is not watching"". NME. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  8. ^ Graves, Dylan (11 September 2024). "In Mouthwashing, You're "Cursed To Live and Forced to Think" - Discussion With Producer Kai Moore". EIP Gaming. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  9. ^ Bardhan, Ashley (16 October 2024). "How Indie Horror Games Are Bringing Back Retro Grime". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  10. ^ Castle, Katharine (5 February 2024). "15 Steam Next Fest demos you should play first this February". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  11. ^ Gerblick, Jordan (7 February 2024). "What goes down in this Steam Next Fest demo is too dark to put in a headline, but this PS2-style indie horror has my full and undivided attention". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  12. ^ Allen, Eric Van (6 February 2024). "Mouthwashing is sublime space horror that burrows into your brain". Destructoid. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  13. ^ Gardner, Tyler (26 September 2024). "Story-Driven Psychological Horror Game Mouthwashing Launches Today on Steam". Games Press (Press release). Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  14. ^ Sheehan, Gavin (26 August 2024). "Psychological Horror Game Mouthwashing Reveals Release Date". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  15. ^ McHugh, Alex (1 October 2024). "Psychological horror game from Buckshot Roulette publisher soars on Steam". PCGamesN. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  16. ^ Fischer, Tyler (4 October 2024). "New Steam Horror Game Has a Nearly Perfect Review Score". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  17. ^ Morris, Daniel (6 October 2024). "New Steam Horror Game Has 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Reviews". Game Rant. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Mouthwashing Reviews - OpenCritic". OpenCritic. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  19. ^ a b c d LeClair, Kyle (24 September 2024). "Review: Mouthwashing". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  20. ^ a b c d Thorn, Ed (9 October 2024). "Mouthwashing review: converging timelines make for an impressive and succinct descent into madness". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  21. ^ Kuhnke, Oisin (19 October 2024). "The perfect game for this Halloween season is all about... uh, mouthwashing". VG247. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  22. ^ Litchfield, Ted (19 October 2024). "I had to lie down for awhile after finishing Mouthwashing, a vile horror game that's become my feel-bad favorite of Halloween 2024". PC Gamer. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
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