Stories about survival have always aspired to be, by nature, evocative. The ultimate question any such narrative wants the audience to ask themselves is ‘What would I do in that scenario?’. In essence, to empathise with the situation. Mouthwashing, the second game from Swedish developer Wrong Organ, features just such a narrative.
Thr game is a tale of two kinds of survival; survival against the elements, stranded on a dying ship in the cosmic indifference of space, and survival against the grind, working on a lonely ship in the corporate indifference of a mega-conglomerate. Its non-linear, bifurcated narrative is gripping, its characters speak with distinct voices that are a joy to pour through and its atmosphere is palpably bleak. Mouthwashing is as evocative as they come.
Being a first-person point-and-click adventure, Mouthwashing is a story-first type of game and its narrative is good enough that, ideally, you should experience it as unburdened by spoilers as possible. I’ll aim to keep details on the plot to a minimum here, so that you can experience Mouthwashing. Fortunately, the game’s premise is sheer lightning, palpable enough that I myself couldn’t wait to dig into the experience for review.
The game takes place entirely on The Tulpar, a freighter commandeered by the Pony Express delivery company. During a 382-day delivery job, the ship has been rammed into an asteroid and is now completely stranded. The company cannot make contact. The crew can’t rely on outside help. Pony Express, represented only by its beaming equine mascot Polle, is a delightful entry in the canon of shady corporations in horror, sitting alongside Alien’s Weyland-Yutani and Resident Evil’s Umbrella as an instantly iconic entity and effectively the game’s sixth character. As for the other five, each is charming and memorable to the point where I went out of my way whilst playing to engage with them further.
There’s Daisuke, the clumsy and affable rookie, Swansea, the curmudgeonly, veteran mechanic, Anya, the nervous and kind-hearted medic and Jimmy, the co-pilot thrust into the limelight as he takes on the mantle of acting captain after the crash. Each is characterised by different coloured text and even small touches like this do a lot to effectively communicate who they are as people. My favourite was Daisuke, his earnest positivity a strong counterpoint to the direness of the situation and, being the youngest and most innocent of the crew, you instinctually root for him to make it out alive.
Curly, however, is perhaps the most unique of the cast. The Tulpar’s previous captain, the crash tore through Curly. He lies immobile, scars bandaged, one eye poking out. His callous, intense glare offers no explanation for why one might, well, doom a ship full of passengers to a horrific death, trapped in the expanse. That mystery hangs over the game’s events, as the developer leads you through The Tulpar’s winding corridors to uncover the truth.
And what a ship it is! As a one-location game, nailing the environment Mouthwashing takes place in is a task which underpins the entire experience. Fortunately, The Tulpar is so expressive, contrasting an almost homely, retro-feeling common area with the veiny, cramped corridors that echo a low thud with every weary step. It’s a space that evolves with the story, too, gaining a different temperament after the crash and with each development following that. Wrong Organ do a lot with a little, utilising the small, but standout cast and an environment so deeply interwoven with the exploration of it to seep players in the world of Mouthwashing.
To keep it brief, the game goes to profoundly impactful places and by the time credits rolled, the narrative had both wrapped up in a satisfying manner whilst managing to linger on my psyche, leaving me to ponder the meaning of it all. There’s a lot of genuine depth to the story here and, for those wanting to dig into the psychological intricacies on offer, there’s enough here to potentially justify a replay.
For those content with the story on a first run-through, however, replay value is somewhat lacking. There’s a range of fun achievements that reward exploration and a couple of unexpected challenges for completionists. Still, the game is quite short, with my final runtime clocking in at around two and a half hours in a playthrough where I spent a decent chunk of time exploring The Tulpar and talking to characters multiple times to hear their reactions to events.
The game’s price is currently unknown (though as soon as that information is out there we’ll update this review to list it) so whether Mouthwashing will be for you is down to whether you deem the eventual price as fair in exchange for an excellent 2+ hour story. Think of it this way, though: we often pay upwards of $20 to watch a film once at the movies or to buy a blu-ray. Mouthwashing is better than most movies I’ve seen this year and I think even if you only undertake one playthrough, it is a journey well worth embarking on.
Fortunately, there are multiple routes to test out if Mouthwashing is for you; the game has a free demo, available now on Steam and itch.io and I highly recommend playing Wrong Organ’s previous title, the excellent How Fish Is Made, which is a free release on the same platforms as Mouthwashing’s demo. Although different, it captures a lot of the same charms which punctuate both of Wrong Organ’s works and will give you a feel for the often bizarre and unsettling psychological horror they weave into their games. It takes only around half an hour to beat and is absolutely worth your time.
Mouthwashing is currently only available on PC, via Steam, but Wrong Organ and publisher CRITICAL REFLEX have indicated plans for it to come to consoles in the future. Sure enough, there is controller support at launch and it works seamlessly. Technically, the game is seamless, running at a charmingly retro internal resolution and with similarly low-poly graphics. I didn’t experience any crashes or bugs during my time with the game and there’s a suitable range of options to make sure the experience is right for you. Mouthwashing is playable in several different languages and all interactables can be engaged with in your language of choice with a simple click, though some key signs around the Tulpar are left untranslated.
The only issues I have with the game itself are small and easily ignored. For instance, I imagine the scene transitions were designed to be intentionally jarring, as they interrupt events with an often hallucinatory transition effect, but the frequency and length of them worked to disrupt the pace of the experience in a way I found to be detrimental. Additionally, none of the puzzles are particularly challenging and so can sometimes feel like busywork which gets in the way of the story’s momentum rather than legitimately engaging brain-scratchers.
That being said, the game makes great use of its interactivity in other ways, playing with the structure of a video game in some genuinely exciting moments. One sequence involving a cake was quite fun, in particular.
Overall, Mouthwashing is a unique, touching, truly evocative horror title from one of the most electrifying new indie devs in the space. This is a stellar sophomore effort and the future is looking truly bright for Wrong Organ. Should you decide to step aboard The Tulpar, you’ll leave Mouthwashing with a new perspective on indie horror.
(8.5 / 10)
Great
(8.5 / 10)Rely on Horror Review Score Guide
Steam review code provided by publisher.
