Despite the fact that my friends never watch the TikToks I send them and insist on using Instagram Reels instead, I love TikTok and I’m never moving to Meta’s rip-off. I hate Meta on principle. If you ever see me on Threads, I’m being held hostage, please send help. I only still use Instagram because I’ve been locked on the platform since I was a teenager. It’s too late for me to get out of that one, unfortunately.
Another big reason I love TikTok is that my algorithm is incredibly finely tuned to my interests. In fact, my For You page knows me so well that it creeps me out sometimes. It somehow just knows what I need to see at that moment. Is it reading my texts? Listening to my conversations? Maybe, but ultimately it’s excellent at what it means to do: keep me locked in.
As we say over on TikTok, I built this FYP brick by brick.
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Mouthwashing TikToks Are Sublime
Case in point: my algorithm fed me a Mouthwashing cosplay TikTok set to a trending audio by an artist I’ve loved since I was a teenager, Imogen Heap. As an aside, this is something I love about TikTok – how it latches onto excellent music long past release, makes it viral, and people go on to make edits and videos reinterpreting its lyrics and musicality through the lens of various media. People are basically making entire mini music videos on this platform simply for the love of the game (plus maybe sponsorships and a share of the TikTok Creator Fund), and that’s rad.
In this case, it was an elaborate TikTok where creator Justin Yi cosplayed as Mouthwashing intern Daisuke. He drinks from a bottle of mouthwash. A retro TV displays an ad for the mouthwash, and then the game’s iconic TAKE RESPONSIBILITY text flashes on screen. Emptied bottles of mouthwash accumulate on the ground, surrounded by foam. We see a model of Curly, head wrapped in bandages, eye swivelling to look into the camera. The ship’s fake sunset serves as a backdrop of Daisuke’s silhouette. There’s a cake. It’s incredible.
I hit Like on the TikTok. The algorithm realised I loved what it was serving me, so it gave me more cosplay TikToks, which I also liked. Then I started getting Mouthwashing fan videos more generally. I liked a slideshow of beautifully painted fanart. Then I got a video of Anya and a bandaged up Curly shaking their butts in the medical room to La La La by Naughty Boy and Sam Smith.
Fandom Is Self-Sustaining And Powerful
Mouthwashing is already a hit. It’s got over 20,000 reviews on Steam, where it has an Overwhelmingly Positive score. It’s gotten lots of media attention. It’s no Balatro, but for a relatively niche indie game, this is a pretty big deal. It’s this kind of fandom that lives on long after a game drops out of the news cycle, though – I’m seeing Disco Elysium edits as well now, and that game came out in 2019.
Yeah, it’s probably time for me to log off, I know. But looking at this from a more macro perspective, it’s reminded me how incredible and beautiful fandom can be and how effectively fans on TikTok can evangelise their favourite games to people through their own creativity. Creativity is recursive. Art inspires people to make art in tribute or in homage to the things they love, and that’s cool as hell.
Mouthwashing is a first-person horror game following the dying crew of a shipwrecked space freighter.
Who could have known what good ol’ Captain Curly was capable of? Guess he thought his crew dying alongside him was only right. But some men can’t even kill themselves properly. Maimed, limbless and unable to speak, but alive, Curly is now at the mercy of the crew he has doomed to a slow death.
Descend into Madness
Follow the lives of the crew as they weather starvation, isolation, and each other. People were never your strong suit anyway.
Zero Chance of Rescue
The ship will run out of power within six months. Food rations long before that.
Immersive Storytelling
Pay attention to your surroundings.
Psychological Scares
Your eyes are lying.
Unforgiving Narrative
Hope to die, or for goodness sake, pray that everyone else did.