Mouthwashing is game about being comfortable with the uncomfortable. The characters are complex, intriguing, and psychologically unnerving to interact with. There’s a persistent level of creep where you can’t tell truth from fiction, and the taste that’s left when the credits roll are sure to linger. Mouthwashing gave me one of my favorite experiences of the year by showing that guilt is a heavy burden, and we have to live with the choices we make; Wrong Organ’s sophomore outing operates at the varsity level.
Up front, the best parts of Mouthwashing are best left to experienced, and I’ll do my best not to spoil this for you. But if you don’t read any further than this, know that Mouthwashing is worth every dollar.
You work for Pony Express, captaining the intergalactic hauler known as the Tulpar. For motivations unknown, your ship crashes and the crew is slowly dying as supplies are dwindling and madness is creeping in. The cast of characters you encounter are shallow, but their personalities are deep. You’ve got Curly the Captain, Jimmy the second in command, Anya the medical officer, Daisuke, and Swansea. All the characters’ likeness are based on characters from popular media like “Akira” and “The Shining”. Every character is grounded, and reacts differently, very much how people would react after an incident such as this.
You’ll go between the past and future where events converge for an ending that’s anything but anti-climactic. In the past you’ll play as the captain, Curly and in the future you’ll play as the distraught Jimmy because the captain is indisposed. The ship uses foam as a fire suppression tool, which has made areas of the ship inaccessible. Finding tools and ways around the hardened foam is part of the horror.
The game has puzzley bits, but all of it is rather straightforward. The game does give you some slight direction in what to do, but everything else is left up to you. There’s some really great tools the game gaves you, and you’ll even want to make some notes of door codes and the like, it has a fair bit of nostalgia while playing.
Mouthwashing is the good kind of horror game, because there’s no tricks, and not a single jump scare to be found. It’s unsettling as hell, but it blends first-person horror with adventure. Even the fact that pausing the game doesn’t actually pause the game helps add to the disturbing nature. There is one section where you have to use environmental details to learn about where something is and how to avoid it, and this repeats once more for two really hair-raising scares and tension I’d love to experience again.
The game has a fair bit of replayability. You’ll want to mainly because of missed achievements, but the story and what unfolds is so captivating. The fact that the game isn’t very long makes whatever reason you choose to replay the game anything but a chore.
It’s unfortunate that this doesn’t have any ultrawide support, nor does it really have any graphic options to speak of. It looks and runs great with it’s PlayStation 1 aesthetic, and wonderful use of dithering. It’s a gorgeous game with bright colors and excellent use of lighting. There’s nothing I would want to tweak about it, anyway.
My PC Specs:
– Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
– Intel Core i9 13900K @ 5.8GHz
– ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360 ARGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
– G.SKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ 64GB (32×2) DDR5 RAM
– ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4080 16GB GDDR6X
– WD_BLACK SN850X M.2 (4 TB)
– LG UltraGear 34GP950B-G (21:9 Ultrawide @ 3440×1440)
The horror is pervasive, and it’s absolutely worth the three hour runtime and $13 price tag. Every character is complicated and interesting, and you’ll have to pay close attention to every detail or you’ll miss something. There’s so much to revisit and deconstruct, it’ll have your brain buzzing long after credits roll. Mouthwashing is as compelling as it is unsettling, and this psychological sci-fi horror has heart that beats for this genre.
A Steam code was provided in advance by the publisher for review purposes