Mouthwashing is a surreal horror gem about being misplaced and ravenous in area

horror recreation scares you within the second, however a fantastic horror recreation lingers behind your thoughts nicely previous the top credit. We’ve been blessed in recent times with a plethora of fantastic horror video games, however with the arrival of October comes much more spooky video games to get us good and scared earlier than Halloween. Mouthwashing instantly gripped me with its jarring, off-putting visuals, and saved me pinned beneath the load of mounting dread.

Mouthwashing is a three-hour narrative expertise that takes place on the Tulpar, a Pony Categorical courier ship in the midst of a long-haul journey via area to ship cargo. It’s your typical sci-fi capitalist dystopia; humanity trekking among the many stars has not finished something to ease company management over employees’ lives. Regardless of this, the crew are a decent bunch: There’s the grumpy veteran Swansea, the anxious and avoidant nurse Anya, and the cheerful himbo Daisuke. Rounding out the crew are the co-pilots, Captain Curly and Jimmy. The sport begins with a horrific crash, leaving the ship stranded and astray.

The sport jumps round on the timeline, displaying us the crew’s dynamic earlier than the crash, and the mounting despair after the catastrophe. Months after the crash, nonetheless misplaced in area, the crew is raring to seek out an alternate supply of meals as their provides dwindle. The captain was badly burned within the crash, leaving him reliant on a dwindling provide of painkillers. Nobody is coming for them, they’re working low on provides, and all they’ve within the cargo bay is crate after crate of mouthwash.

As Mouthwashing continues, actuality begins to smear and falter. Generally, this occurs diegetically; the Pony Categorical mascot begins to look extra typically, with motivational posters papering the Tulpar’s halls. A crew member finds an previous analog TV the place one shouldn’t be, enjoying previous firm animations. Different occasions, these surreal transitions mimic the sport crashing or a graphics glitch. A few occasions, I assumed the sport had crashed, just for the damaged visuals to segue into a brand new scene.

There isn’t a lot in the way in which of fight or survival mechanics; as an alternative, the narrative is a grim march towards an inevitable conclusion. An ax, as soon as used to deal with mundane emergencies, is used for a darker goal. Anya turns into more and more avoidant of her nursing duties, afraid to go close to Curly in his burned and maimed state. Jimmy is cracking beneath the stress. The one one who stays cheerful all through is Daisuke, absolutely the champion.

If this nightmare state of affairs has you even barely intrigued, I heartily suggest trying out Mouthwashing on Steam or Itch.io. The sport opens with a brief message with the ship’s identify, the supply standing, and an ominous observe: “I hope this hurts.” It actually did, and that’s why my thoughts remains to be caught in far area on board the Tulpar.