Mouthwashing is a 2.5 hour retro-visual game that explores medical horror and psychological stress when faced with uncertain death.

The game is set on a cargo spaceship which you steer into an incoming asteroid for some suicidal reason, causing it to crash and be stranded in the vastness of space. The game then plays out in a series of non-chronological sequences that gradually uncover the mystery surrounding crash. You play as Captain Curly leading up to the crash and Jimmy (former co-captain) afterwards who now has to take his position. Post-crash, Curly is reduced to a limbless husk of meat, unable to explain his intentions and forever dependent on a limited supply of pain killers to keep the torture at bay. Jimmy loses his sanity as he's suddenly forced into middle management.

The premise and story that unfolds is the highlight of the game as you interact with five crew members that gradually decent into madness in the hopeless confines of the ship. It's interesting to see how the unique individuals cope with the ever looming dread; My favorite is Daisuke, an intern who lightens the tension with his naive attitude. There's also Anya the queasy medic and Swansea the older mechanic who's jaded at everything but mainly the intern.

There's a nice variety of horror including slow-burn hallucinations, strange imagery and a few genuinely tense encounters with enemies. The visual and audio design, like the suffering of Curly permeating the ship, contribute to an atmosphere of genuine discomfort that weighs down on the entire journey.

Unfortunately the actual thing you're doing is often mundane; Go here and click on the one thing that's interactable to progress the script. It feels like around a third of the sequences have about the same amount of engagement as a video clip which make them forgettable in the overall picture. I would've preferred if segments had more interactivity overall and took advantage of the video game medium to incorporate interesting decisions into the gameplay. Pressing buttons and using items in designated locations can only be so interesting. The insta-death consequences are immersion breaking as usual too.

Verdict

Mouthwashing delivers a fantastic story and exploration of characters in a unique format but doesn't have enough meat on it's bones to waive the 'walking-simulator feel' often associated with indie horror pieces.

⭐⭐⭐/5