Mouthwashing was weird

A short palate cleanser between beefier articles. Minor spoilers for the game Mouthwashing.

Recently I played Mouthwashing. It’s a horror game about being stranded on a long haul spaceship after an accident, without hope of rescue, only for the crew to discover their cargo is thousands and thousands of boxes of mouthwash. It gets weird, quick.

I don’t play a lot of horror games, mostly because I’m too scared. And when I do, they’re short - like Kiosk. And I’m not well equipped to review one, hence I’m just jotting down a couple of notes about how it made me feel.

And it made me feel weird.

You’re going to die on a long haul of thousands and thousands of boxes of mouthwash.

I really enjoyed the PS1-era graphics. I grew up with a Sony PlayStation 1, and the visuals took me back. I think to a degree visuals disarmed me and took me back to a simpler time, before I overanalysed everything there is to analyze about video games. The game was scarier because it kept feeling like something oddly familiar from my childhood.

While I’m often not the one for grotesque, body horror worked well for me, too. I think that’s because of the PS1-inspired graphics.

I loved how short the game was. Clocking in under two hours, Mouthwashing respected my time. The older I get, the more I value complete, contained, short experiences. I enjoy trying out new games, and being able to experience the whole story in a short time is a gift.

I like when a game doesn’t overstay its welcome, and I think that’s especially relevant for horror games. It’s easy to get used to a game. I like Resident Evil games, but they’re not particularly scary because you spend enough time dodging your way around zombies.

Imagery and scenes can often be unsettling and a bit (or very) surreal.

I enjoyed the non-linear storytelling. Mouthwashing likes to jump back and forth across different points in time. It’s disorienting, but is a great narrative device. Getting to know the characters, getting to watch the contrast in the sense of despair across different scenes. The game skillfully communicates that feeling of despair, of inevitability, which builds as time passes.

I liked that the scariest moments weren’t shown, letting those play out in my head. My imagination is pretty good at making up scary pictures.

I didn’t like many of the gameplay-heavy sections, specifically the ones where you can lose. Mouthwashing is all about its story and vibes. And the moment you lose in one of the gameplay segments, you realize that you’ve barely been set back; failure doesn’t really matter.

Environmental design: yet another thing I liked.

Because of that, the gameplay challenges felt more like a chore. There wasn’t any tension: losing just meant having to replay the past minute or so, which took away a lot of the tension. Mouthwashing’s horror is not in its jump-scares or heart-pounding moments, it’s in the slow burn of dread, despair, and disgust slowly permeating through the screen as you play. I think the game would’ve been stronger without gameplay-heavy sequences.

Despite not being a horror fan, I found Mouthwashing to be a worthwhile, mildly unsettling, somewhat surreal experience. I think it’s worth the asking price.

Mouthwashing is available on Steam for $12.99 (non-affiliate link).