Indie horror never tasted so good
I didn’t know if I wanted to review Mouthwashing, not because it didn’t look interesting but because I didn’t think it was for me. Indie horror isn’t a genre I typically dive into. When the code was offered to us, I held off accepting it until two words popped up in the press release: short game. Short game? With so many massive RPGs and action games hitting this time of year? Sure, okay. I can do this.
And I did it. And oh boy am I happy that I did it because Mouthwashing is unexpectedly cool and jarring and thought-provoking.
Mouthwashing has that Playstation 1/Dreamcast era aesthetic that developers are starting to perfect. It’s heavy on the chunky polygons and low resolution, and uses high contrast and low color count to make for some saturated and almost miserable visuals. It’s not just a gimmick, it’s an intentional design choice, setting a very distinct mood to purposely dip our toes into the past. The game mixes this retroism with shots of live action in certain sequences, really blurring the lines of what is real and what is fake in ths game.
That’s one of the project’s main narrative beats, as the crew of a wayward space freighter start to lose touch with reality. Things take a turn for the worse when the crew’s only food source becomes mouthwash (hence the game’s title). Eventually all hell breaks loose, alliances form and collapse, and we need to navigate through all of it without ever knowing if we’re in the present or in our heads.
It’s fascinating writing, and uses its lite-action gameplay to support the idea of space madness. The viewpoint takes place from a first person perspective, putting us directly into a lot of complicated conversations and situations. In one scene some of the crew is trying to bust into our room, bashing the door with all their might. This wouldn’t have the same effect if we were looking over the shoulder of our character — the developers really want to put us in the uncomfortable positions that we end up in.
It’s a story about isolationism, small, tight corridors, and interpersonal relationships, and it all ends up sideways and tense, ultimately breaking us by the time we’re done playing.
Thankfully, the game is only around three or four hours long, so its purpose is concise and focused and it doesn’t meander. This really is a concentrated experience, and it works so well because of it.
Mouthwashing is landing at the right time. It’s a terrific spooky season play, and its short length lets us blast through it in an evening. In my case I kept looking at the clock one Saturday, thinking I was going to put it down, and then it was 1AM and I had just completed it.
This review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher/PR. It first appeared on The SideQuest for September 27, 2024. Images and video courtesy publisher.
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