Image Courtesy of Wrong Organ AB. All rights reserved.
You would expect some random game called “Mouthwashing” to be actually about mouthwash and caring for your dental hygiene or wouldn’t even expect it to be under the horror tag when looking for a horror game. This game is much darker and disturbing then you’ll actually expect it to be, only being a 2 hour game to finish through the story. This story can really stick to you like it did with me when first discovering it, when playing this game again after completing it for the first time, you realize the foreshadowing early in the game and some things that are mentioned from characters leading to what actually happens to them towards the end. Mouthwashing has so many positive things come out from others like streamers or Youtubers, some even saying that it’s the best horror game they have played this year and I can fully agree with this too from the story.
Some may expect pixelated games like Moutwashing wouldn’t do much, but from how the characters look, having different body types too even other than usual pixelated character models being almost the exact same and where the game takes place with how the setting seems, it makes the game so unique even when experiencing the few horror aspects it has throughout the game. When starting the game we know that all five of the characters are in space on a ship called the Pony Express, knowing the ship has crashed and have been stuck there for a couple months, only surviving off with the food supplies they have left. Throughout the game, we’re told that the captain of the ship before, Curly, the original captain had crashed the ship losing parts of his limbs, his skin being gone completely, and not being able to do anything at all from the crash from how much pain he is.
We play as the main character Jimmy, who declared himself as captain after the crash, he’s bitter with everyone in the ship telling everyone that he can fix any problems that happen on the ship with the others since he is captain. The other characters on the ship with them is Daisuke, who is younger than everyone else on the ship, Swansea who is much older then everyone else being bitter with everyone else as well, but we learn later on that he cares about Daisuke like a son wanting to protect him, then Anya who is seen as the nurse on the ship, but Jimmy says that she has failed nursing school multiple times, we see her as a shy woman on the ship scared about Jimmy. Throughout the game we go through transitions from present time on the ship in Jimmy’s perspective and transitioning to the past before the ship was crashed in space and how they have to handle being on the ship with little supply they had while trying to ship the supplies Pony Express wanted them all to ship. The crew finds out later on that what they were shipping throughout the whole time was all mouthwash throughout space. They were all at least hoping it would be any food supplies or other supplies that can help fix the ship to keep them going.
I’d rather recommend many people to at least play the game themselves. When experiencing this game yourself you can connect so many of the chapters that happen in the game to other chapters from the foreshadowing we even recognize. One big part of the story is Anya telling Curly about the dead pixel on day two, before the crash had happened. Both of them were sitting by the night time screen talking as they couldn’t sleep at all, which Anya’s reason was supposedly much different from Curly’s and everyone else in the crew. She would ask Curly how many days left they had from being on the ship as she counted right away to eight months, and asking Curly why the sleeping quarters weren’t locked but the medical room does instead. Curly responds back to her saying “safety” which the word flashes with a static noise and the word safety shown quite a few times in white on a black screen. This whole part is really important even as it connects to Anya suddenly sleeping in the medical room, knowing it can be locked to keep herself away from Jimmy. Later on we find out in the game that Jimmy had sexually assaulted Anya making her even pregnant. Which is why she asks Curly from how many days left they had been on the ship, being the months she had left with the baby before it was even born.
The story of this game is really entertaining, getting disturbing with certain parts of the game from the characters or the horror aspects that happen in the game even and how the characters interact with each other. People would describe the story like a drama show you would watch on TV, but instead you experience it yourself on your computer. There aren’t as many horror aspects in the game like how most horror games would usually have, but they do connect to the story so much. Connecting to the characters in a way from whatever may have happened to them and some of the parts being foreshadowed before from the first half of the game. Doing the little horror parts in the game gets really disturbing, especially with most of them always connecting to Curly having to see him with his skin gone, not having much of his limbs even, and not even being able to communicate with the crew. When Jimmy forces down the painkillers to Curly as Anya can’t do them from different reasons, Curly always gags from the painkillers being forced down to his throat, even silently sobbing from the pain that Jimmy gives him, abusing his own friend since he can’t even do anything anymore as he was the previous captain for the crew. Towards the end of the game Jimmy realizes that he should be the one taking responsibility for everything he has done to the crew and Curly. Still thinking he did everything right towards the end saying he’s the one who fixed everything after putting Curly in the cryo pod. Not even facing his own responsibility after everything he had done on the ship after crashing the ship.
The music on the game fits so well with many parts even, Wrong Organ, the developer of the game did so well with the music. The main theme of the soundtrack is where we hear it from the main menu, seeing Curly on the bed in the medical room with a sunset screen by him as he watches us. The song is so soothing to me, fitting so well with the menu before we go through the story witnessing what happens to the crew. Another song from the main soundtrack is “Absolute Travesty” played when exploring the ship for the first time looking for the code scanner that is usually with the captain. This song fits really well with where the story is taking place, which is being on the ship. It makes it sound like the player is actually on the ship with the others too, could even be what a ship may sound like after a crash or just before a crash. “What’s New On The Radio” is played with Anya and Curly talking two days before the ship had crashed with Anya asking him questions. This song really connects to them as both seem to be calm and comfortable with each other especially when they’re both struggling to sleep, but Anya seems to be at ease just sitting by the night time screen with Curly, her tone could possibly be much calmer before as she’s at a comfortable spot away from what she’s dealing with. It would seem like that this could be similar to white noise, something you could even fall asleep to. One of my favorite soundtrack from the game is “Heroes”, from where this song happens it fits so well connecting with the player as Jimmy realizes what he has done, completely ruining everything on the ship after he had crashed the ship, making himself captain realizing it’s not even that easy being a captain like Curly, wanting the old Curly to come back. This is more of an emotional scene, even if it’s short.
I really do hope at least after reading this, you can at least buy the game yourself on Steam for only $13 or watch a Youtuber play it or have a friend play it for you. I probably could be biased about this, but I really do agree that this game is most likely the horror game of the year from how disturbing it is throughout the story, and I know many others would even agree on this. Even with the music fitting with the game throughout the game, any music from any game always fits from whatever could be happening in the game. It really makes you more interested in the game from the music. When playing for yourself, I’m sure it would really stick to you for a while as it did with me even, from the five characters and what happens to them and what they had to deal with.