My spouse and I expect our first baby quickly, so I’ve spent the higher a part of a 12 months reflecting on massive ideas like management, duty, accountability, and belief. I’m contemplating who I’m and the way precisely I’m supposed to lift one other human and never go on all of my worst traits. It was on this emotionally uncooked state that Mouthwashing got here alongside and punched me within the face. Whereas mechanically easy – there’s not a lot to do moreover speak to different characters, decide issues up, and search the spaceship you’re confined to – it tells its story in a means that couldn’t be performed with out the burden of interactivity, taking full benefit of what units video games other than the likes of films or TV. And I don’t use the phrase burden evenly, as that’s exactly the way it felt to maintain taking part in at occasions (in a great way). “Please don’t make me do that,” was usually my prevailing thought, however uncovering the mysteries of how issues acquired fairly so unhealthy on this ship all the time compelled me to proceed.
The premise is simple: A bunch of individuals in a protracted-haul area freighter, the Tulpar, take care of the aftermath of a catastrophe, along with your perspective bouncing round between a number of completely different occasions over the span of a few 12 months. To enter extra specifics concerning the story would spoil extra about Mouthwashing than I’m prepared, because the shock of choosing aside what occurred right here and why is a driving power. However suffice to say, it wrings out as a lot dread, character exploration, and physique horror as one conceivably may over the 2-to-three-hour runtime.
The surreal tone all that takes is heightened by Mouthwashing’s PS1-esque visible model. Characters are recognizably human, but additionally simply off sufficient to be dismissed as one thing else totally. It’s a funhouse mirror, a twisted depiction used to precise how we see individuals as instruments in actual life, and the way simple it’s to disclaim the humanity in somebody staring straight at you. It’s an awesome selection, as hyper-reasonable or extra stylized graphics would have robbed it of the uncanny valley feeling it’s going for. The equally distorted sound and restricted, muffled voice appearing make it really feel like you may have cotton in your ears, doubling down on the impression that you just’re driving by way of fog, attempting to see what could also be occurring simply out of sight.
The identical goes for the construction. Leaping backwards and forwards between occasions each earlier than and after the catastrophe is disorienting, however I by no means misplaced the story’s thread. Dreamlike sequences are equally spliced in, providing you with easy duties like opening doorways or mixing drinks that all the time carry an undercurrent of menace, making the mundane unsettling. You’re all the time ready for evil across the nook, however it usually seems in reasonable and boring ways in which appear completely regular out of context: small interactions, barely off-coloration questions, and statements that tickle the a part of your mind answerable for recognizing hazard. And that’s how actual-life evil usually presents itself, by way of a masks of seeming sincerity till you acknowledge it for what it’s, hopefully earlier than it’s too late.
Typically, the evil is extra specific, particularly as Mouthwashing reaches its conclusion and extra arms-on mechanics are used to drive residence the detestable actions and worldviews of the Tulpar’s crew members. Nonetheless avoiding spoilers, one character particularly was so loathsome I needed to step again and take into account why I used to be having such a visceral response to them – I may solely concede that folks like this actually exist, and in my worst moments, I can nearly perceive the place they’re coming from, whilst they’re painted in extremes right here. It’s a deeply uncomfortable feeling, resonating with characters you hate a lot, and seeing the harm somebody could cause once they refuse to take a look at themselves in a significant means (or just by way of inaction).
And whereas these characters is likely to be excessive of their habits, they’re not over-written. Lots is left to be inferred, and the crew speaks plainly. There are moments when display flashes, loud noises, or accompanying messages can have a tendency towards the extreme, however in addition they by no means really feel like bounce scares, simply methods to intensify story beats. One particularly got here with a realization that each gave me context for the title “Mouthwashing” and arrange simply how darkish this story was about to get.
That stated, when it does enterprise outdoors of its compelling conversations and into a few barely extra motion-targeted sections, it is not all the time the smoothest transition. Temporary forays into survival horror and even first-particular person capturing, whereas initially novel, grew a bit irritating because the imprecise controls require extra persistence than the remainder of the story. These sections appear to be irritating by design, however they have been nonetheless irritating. Fortunately, they’re additionally quick lived, in order that they didn’t hamper my enjoyment a lot.
And whereas it would go with out saying at this level, if you happen to’re squeamish or simply disturbed (particularly with regards to a lack of bodily autonomy), Mouthwashing won’t be simple to play, nor was it supposed to be. It’s an uncomfortably shut have a look at deeply flawed individuals, and it’s not stingy about holding up a magnifying glass – or, on this case, a literal ultrasound – to gaze even deeper.
In order I await the delivery of my daughter, an event that fills me with unbelievable pleasure, that anxious a part of my mind continues to be yelling at me, and Mouthwashing has given phrases to these worries: “Who’re you in your worst moments? Is that particular person adequate to be trusted with a baby?” Few video games have hit me as laborious at such a selected time in my life, however that’s what good artwork does – it holds up a mirror. And hopefully you want what’s trying again.