If I am being sincere, consuming any type of horror media any time of yr is all the time the very best time to take action, but it surely actually does simply hit a bit completely different when it is in October. I do know that that is as a lot an affect from capitalism, what with all these Manufacturers attempting to promote me decorations and themed sweet I undoubtedly do not want, but additionally, I do exactly love stepping into the Halloween season! There is a bizarre form of consolation that horror brings, even essentially the most uncomfortable of movies or video games, and fascinating in one thing like that because the leaves flip brown and climate will get chilly simply feels proper.
There’s nonetheless the query of what to observe or play this specific Halloween season – certain you can go for one of many classics, however personally I can not consider something extra acceptable and terrifying than Mouthwashing. Sure, significantly! OK, solely form of significantly, as a result of whereas the act of mouth washing is perhaps terrifying to some, the very actual online game Mouthwashing is not terrifying a lot as existentially horrifying, in all the very best methods doable. Let’s set the scene.
Think about you are on a spaceship, one in every of 5 crew members, towing some type of cargo midway throughout the galaxy on a visit that’ll take the very best a part of a yr (I do know this feels like the unique Alien, and it is clear some inspiration is drawn from there). Then, at some point, the worst occurs – you crash into an asteroid, leaving the ship in disrepair and sufficient energy to maintain the oxygen coming and the lights on, however the engines are totalled. On prime of that, you are left with full burns throughout your physique, wrapped in bandages toe to tip, as another person, the precise primary character, has to feed you ache meds so you are not screaming the ship down.
That is the central premise of the sport, with the crew counting on the few months of rations they’ve left to get them by means of to a hypothetical rescue mission. Fairly early on, you make the decision to see what cargo you are really hauling and discover that it is… simply mouthwash. All of it, each single field, 1000’s upon 1000’s of bottles of the stuff. And so the remainder of the sport is you studying extra in regards to the characters, and what really went down, and the methods during which everybody type of begins to lose their thoughts.
The vibes are fairly rapidly unmatched on this one, going for a type of cross between a late PS1/ early PS2 look the place all the pieces feels grimey and soiled – like simply choosing up the controller will really feel uncomfortable. You turn backwards and forwards so much between earlier than and after the crash, serving to you contextualise the extraordinarily corporation-loving ambiance (there is a horse mascot with posters all over the place you may develop to hate), and the way a lot worse that feels within the prolonged time frame post-crash.
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For essentially the most half, plenty of what you do is strolling across the journey, attempting to make things better sometimes, getting folks to do their jobs, making cake out of water and gelatin. It is virtually walking-sim, however with pockets of survival horror moments which have made me extra anxious than another sport has achieved in a protracted whereas – when you can also make me afraid of cardboard packing containers shaking, you’ve got achieved one thing proper (you may perceive while you get to that time).
With it being so impressed by Alien, minus the alien, I can not assist however really feel prefer it’s virtually a forgotten ’70s horror basic. Mouthwashing is the type of sport the place you inform your buddy that is principally simply watched Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Road who desires to broaden their palette that it is one you actually cannot miss. Pairing this with a night of different barely artsy-fartsy movies like The Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath (it is an arthouse movie, belief me) or 1977’s Home would not go amiss within the slightest.
It is all wrapped up on this unhappy however obligatory bow of feeling pissed off together with your lot in life, beholden to a enterprise that could not give much less of a s**t about you, and the methods during which you’re pressured to confront all of that. A number of the sport is humorous, in a twisted form of manner, however you need to anticipate some huge emotions too. Mouthwashing is brief as properly, at solely roughly 3 hours in size, so you actually can simply slot it in someplace amongst your annual horror Halloween film record. You simply may by no means use mouthwash once more.