Mouthwashing
| Mouthwashing | |
|---|---|
 Steam artwork | |
| Developer(s) | Wrong Organ |
| Publisher(s) | Critical Reflex |
| Producer(s) | Kai Moore |
| Designer(s) |
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| Artist(s) |
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| Writer(s) | Johanna Kasurinen |
| Composer(s) | Martin Halldin |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) |
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| Release |
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| Genre | Adventure, Horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Mouthwashing is a sci-fi horror game about a dashing-yet-troubled man named Jimmy, who must keep the crew of the Tulpar alive after a mysterious crash leaves them stranded in space. Jimmy, now Captain, must overcome a series of obstacles and lead the crew to safety, despite the dwindling supplies and hallucinations of a strange, horse-like creature named Polle which haunt his mind. Critics have praised the game for its complex, non-linear narrative, its exploration of deep themes, and its portrayal of the brooding antihero Jimmy. Fans of Mouthwashing are particularly fond of the game's narrative, including Jimmy's journey of self-discovery and inner enlightenment.
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
Players must walk around the cramped interior of the Tulpar, navigating menus, interacting with objects, and navigating menus while interacting with objects. The gameplay also includes walking, sprinting, crouching, walking, the occasional object which you can interact with, walking, talking—lots and lots of talking!—and finally, walking. Critics have lauded Mouthwashing as the best "walking-simulator" game since Death Stranding. For the best experience, players are recommended to read the dialogue slowly, giving each character a funny, semi-racist, accent.
There are also frequent interludes in which you navigate the inner machinations of Jimmy's mind, exploring his guilt over not being selfless and brave enough for the crew who must now rely solely on his smarts and willpower to survive, and epic boss-fights against the mysterious horse mutant named Polle, who uses his psychosomatic powers to inflict anxiety and stress on Jimmy. The player must accumulate enough "Self-Confidence" points to use Jimmy's ultimate weapon, The Power of Self-Respect, which takes the form of a Mateba Autorevolver.
Plot[edit | edit source]
Setting[edit | edit source]
Mouthwashing takes place in the roughneck world of Space Freight transport, in which wily, dynamic firms like Pony Express use their God-given free market rights to make a quick buck among the stars. The Tulpar, the last space freighter still crewed by people, goes from solar system to solar system, delivering smiles™ with the help of its brave crew: Jimmy, the conventionally handsome yet mysteriously sullen badboy; Curly, Jimmy's best friend; Swansea, the gruff mechanic with a heart of Gold; Daisuke, his plucky young intern; and Anya, the resident Nurse and Jimmy's doe-eyed love interest.
Story[edit | edit source]
The game starts right before the mysterious crash which sets the plot in motion: we see a shadowy figure set the ship on a direct collision course with an asteroid! Doinks! Afterwards, the Tulpar is wrecked, and Captain Curly (now more brisket than man after being horrifically maimed), is blamed for the crash. The rest of the crew unanimously vote Jimmy to be the new acting Captain, and he gets to work fixing the ship and keeping the increasingly haggard crew in line, allthewhile providing much-needed palliative care to Curly. Jimmy even finds a stash of painkillers hidden amongst the repair foam, an act which earns Jimmy high—although still insufficient—praise from Anya, who is smitten with him.
Months go by, and with food and water running low, the crew grimly decide to open the cargo hold, only to find a whole planet's worth of medically useless mouthwash. Despite the crew's effervescent breath, morale continues to plummet. Jimmy does his best, but you can't do much with a crew of loaferish ingrates! Meanwhile, an unusually attractive, horse-like figure continues to stalk Jimmy from the corner of his eye. Is Jimmy going mad too?
Several weeks later, tensions reach a fever pitch as Anya, in a fit of female hysteria, locks herself inside the Medical bay with Curly. Jimmy and Daisuke plead with the now-inebriated Swansea to let them into the Utility room, but Swansea (now hallucinating from Mouthwash poisoning), selfishly hogs the cryopod inside for himself. Jimmy is forced to spike Swansea's drink, to gain access to the door. This act of cozenage makes Jimmy shed a tear, but Daisuke assures him that his act was deeply ethical, according to all known schools of moral philosophy. Daisuke, despite Jimmy's pleading, volunteers to go up into the ship's vents to find a way into the Medical bay.
Daisuke makes it into the Medical bay, but not without injuring himself. Jimmy is distraught to discover Anya, dead! In an act of womanly cowardice, Anya had chosen to end her life via painkillers, rather than trusting Jimmy to deliver her to safety, kind of like Zoe Kazan's character in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—a bit of a tangent, but basically, Alice (played by Zoe Kazan), decides to shoot herself dead (Pictured) rather than risk capture by a band of marauding Indian braves: unbeknownst to her, Mr. Arthur (played by Grainger Hines), had already dispatched the marauding band with his trusty Henry rifle, rendering her suicide thoroughly tragic and pointless.
Daisuke succumbs to his injuries as well, but with his last breath, assures Jimmy that he is a good person, who did the best he could, and that he (not Jimmy) was fully responsible for his own death, in both a legal and moral sense. Swansea, now completely hammered, strikes Daisuke's head with an axe, confusing him for a coconut on account of his Hawaiian T-shirt. Swansea, wracked with guilt, foolishly decides to attack Jimmy.
Flashbacks reveal that Pony Express had gone out of business, and that the entire crew of the Tulpar would be left jobless and penniless after their final voyage. Curly, despite being an otherwise nice guy, decides to rudely rub it in the faces of his fellow crewmates at his own birthday party, that Jimmy organized all by himself! Jimmy politely but firmly defends the rest of the crew, putting Curly in his place. Anya tells Curly that she is pregnant, and that Jimmy is the father, after a bout of 100% consensual lovemaking. Although Anya is deeply in love with Jimmy, she can't quite abandon her carefree life of being stuck inside a rusting space tub and failing the nursing school entry exam several times, which breaks Jimmy's heart. Curly confronts Jimmy, and we discover—to our complete SHOCK—that Jimmy was the one who crashed the Tulpar, not Curly! How could our hero do this?
Back in the present, Swansea hunts Jimmy with an axe, but Jimmy coolly dispatches him with a revolver. Jimmy sheds a single tear, and Swansea—with his dying breath—assures Jimmy that what he did was an act of self-defense and not punishable in any court of law. Visions of horses continue to haunt him, including that of a grotesque horse fetus, which fans theorize is a symbol of Jimmy being way too hard on himself. After skillfully navigating a series of hallucinatory stages which take up a little too much of the gameplay, Jimmy unmasks the horse-like demon haunting him. It's the ship's mascot, Polle!
Polle reveals that he is actually an advanced AI developed by competing firms to discredit Pony Express and their practice of using human crews. Using a hallucinogen hidden inside the crew's food, Polle took control of Jimmy's mind, forcing him to crash the ship into the asteroid. Jimbo, despite discovering that he was completely blameless after all, still can't shake the guilt of the crash, until a vision of Curly tells Jimmy to take responsibility for his own actions, rather than the actions of others. With all his guilt safely externalized, Jimmy defeats Polle and places Curly inside the cryopod, ensuring his survival.
Jimmy, cheered on by the ghosts of the Tulpar crew, shoots himself in the head, a final act of sacrifice.
Development[edit | edit source]
Mouthwashing was developed by Stockholm-based games studio Wrong Organ. They were inspired by the retro, low-poly look of games like System Shock and Deus Ex. Writer Johanna Kasurinen specifically describes the character of Jimmy as "a combination of Kyle Katarn and JC Denton, but cooler, and hotter." Jack Curtis from the 1996 sci-fi game Disruptor, and Garrett from the 1998 game Thief, were also cited as inspirations for the character of Jimmy, along with Flynn Rider from the movie Tangled. Despite being a first-person game, Wrong Organ artists were instructed to make Jimmy as "hot" as possible. Curly was designed to be handsome, but not quite as hot as Jimmy, only being hot in a "Guybrush Threepwood" sort of way, according to Kasurinen.
Daisuke, Swansea and Anya are also characters developed for the game Mouthwashing. Some fans claim Anya looks like Shelley Duvall from The Shining. This makes perfect sense, as Shelley Duvall played a shirking harpy who drove a good man mad with her constant whining!
Cultural impact[edit | edit source]
Fandom[edit | edit source]
Due to a spate of "Let's play" videos by content creators like Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, the fan community for Mouthwashing is made up almost exclusively of teenagers and young children, who are completely ill-equipped to handle the game's themes. This doesn't prevent them from creating Tiktok cosplay videos and edits, all set to the song "Summer Breeze" by Seals and Crofts. Artists also make fan art of Curly, the horrifically maimed amputee with no skin and one lidless eyeball, acting like a cute dog or an interpretive dancer. You can tell you are near a group of Mouthwashing fans by the incessant, endless screeching.
Possible adaptation[edit | edit source]
Wrong Organ have sold the Mouthwashing screen rights to Yellowstone writer Taylor Sheridan. Sheridan plans to create a prequel show about a young Curly learning the ropes with a group of roughneck space freight crewmen, who all love complaining about their jobs, yet never unionize.
A direct film-adaptation of Mouthwashing is slated to be released in 2030, with Chris Pratt and Awkwafina potentially starring as Curly and Daisuke, respectively.
See also[edit | edit source]
- Among Us, another video game about being stranded in space with a monster
- Rape
- Undertale
- HowTo:Brush your teeth
