Mouthwashing

Mouthwashing (2024) is a horror narrative game where you play a crewmate of a crashed spaceship as everyone descends into madness. Jumping erratically between characters, times, and locations, you must explore each new space for useful items to progress through the unnerving story. It stands out for the unflinching way it places you at the heart of the action, forcing you to commit acts of violence as you're funnelled towards an inevitable ending.

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You play the crew of a spaceship hauling tons of mouthwash across the galaxy. When an unknown person sabotages the ship, and it crashes into an asteroid, the captain is left alive but disfigured, unable to speak or move. As supplies dwindle, each crew member becomes increasingly desperate, with blame being passed around and increasingly horrific actions of self-preservation taken. You play as different crew members both before and after the crash in a disjointed order. In this way, you slowly uncover the disturbing truths of what happened until you arrive at the dark yet unavoidable climax.

Play involves traversing the ship's narrow, psychedelically shifting hallways to search for items and solve environmental puzzles. Throughout, you are left with no choice but to face horrific actions head-on, from forcing someone to swallow painkillers to cruelly ending a crewmate's life. Throughout, and at a moment's notice, the time can change, forcing you to adapt to the new context you find yourself in and carefully parse through clues to uncover the mystery of what's happening.

The result is a game that makes you complicit in, and often culpable for, acts of violence and cruelty that will likely turn off many players. But look further, and there's a tense thriller that interrogates desperation and actions taken due to lack of choice that creates an unnerving experience, with your direct involvement forcing you to confront its themes head-on.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Mouthwashing 9 days ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 4 days ago.