Of all the games I’ve played so far in 2024—and there are a lot—the one that made me feel the absolute worst was Mouthwashing. I mean this as a compliment. This short narrative game from developer Wrong Organ is an emotionally and mentally taxing game with a clear story to tell. It might not be the easiest game to get through at times due to its tough themes, but it’s remarkable nonetheless and stands out as one of this year’s best games.
Despite what Mouthwashing’s first sequence may suggest, this isn’t really a horror game that thrives on adrenaline pumping jump scares. After running through the twisting halls of a spaceship, chased by a horse mascot, the game turns into something much more surreal and narratively dense. You will be introduced to the five person crew of the freighter ship Tulpar, which has been stranded in space with no hope of rescue after the captain (Curly) nearly destroyed the ship in the midst of a mental breakdown. That leaves him and the four other crew members of the Tulpar left to deal with their own existential crises over the likelihood of their impending deaths.
This is, to say the least, a pretty big bummer of a plot. It’s also a set up for what becomes a surrealist trip through each crew member’s lives, hopes, and struggles. While the game loosely guides you through its walking simulator-esque structure, the writing sharply dissects each character and puts their insides on display for you. You’ll come to empathize with the nervous nurse Anya, the young intern Daisuke, and even the grouchy elder Swansea.
The two remaining crew members, Curly and Jimmy, will take up a majority of the game’s focus. Curly survives what appears to be a suicide attempt in the form of crashing the ship, but is now bedridden. Unable to speak or move, you interact with him only by giving him medicine. You do this in the shoes of JImmy, the co-pilot and current captain following the crash. Jimmy, at times, appears to be the only person on the Tulpar who still has some sanity. While the rest of the crew is coping with their imminent deaths in unique ways, Jimmy tries to hold the crew together. But Mouthwashing digs into Jimmy even further.
While not traditional horror, Mouthwashing still has hallmarks of psychological horror in its claustrophobic atmosphere and dark themes. In that way it evokes Silent Hill 2. That comparison becomes even more apt when the truth about Jimmy becomes clear. Like Silent Hill 2’s James, Jimmy is not the hero he is made out to be. Rather, he is the root of the issues on board the Tulpar. By flashing between scenes prior to, during, and after the crash, Mouthwashing slowly reveals that Jimmy, not Curly, caused the crash in an attempt to kill the entire crew. This was in response to discovering Anya had become pregnant after he sexually assaulted her.
While Silent Hill 2 eventually forgives James for his crimes, and encourages the player to see him as a flawed but redeemable character, Mouthwashing takes no such approach with Jimmy. Despite living in his mind for the majority of the game, Jimmy is shown to be a disease amongst the crew who, even in his final moments, cannot take responsibility for his actions. As the game progresses, the slowly decaying state of the Tulpar and its crew members act as a reflection of Jimmy’s decaying mental state, which is further illustrated by the story’s structure becoming fractured and twisted as you progress. By Mouthwashing’s end, there is nothing that seems to be based in reality about Jimmy’s existence on the Tulpar. He cannot live with the reality of his actions.
In a year of great games, many of them lengthy AAA RPGs that will take you dozens of hours to beat, Mouthwashing is a short but highly impactful title that you shouldn’t miss.
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