In the 90s, the original PlayStation was a great machine for horror. It saw the rise of survival horror, and helped make it possible. That was the console we first experienced Silent Hill and Resident Evil on, not to mention other similar titles. As such, it’s no wonder that modern developers — mostly smaller and indie ones, that is — have been going back to that motif with some of their games. Titles like Mouthwashing, which made waves when it released on PC in 2024, and will thankfully be available on consoles just in time for Halloween.
Since I don’t own a PC, and cannot play Steam games, Mouthwashing honestly wasn’t on my radar. Then, when it released, I started seeing things about it online, due to its shocking and disturbing content. Hell, the game’s screenshots did enough there. I hoped to be able to play it, but didn’t really expect to; at least until I got a PC or Steam Deck, or something. However, it was a surprise announcement at a recent Xbox presentation.
For the purposes of this review, I played the PlayStation 5 Pro version of the game. Xbox wasn’t available at the time.
Set sometime in the future, Mouthwashing is a science fiction horror game that you won’t soon forget. It begins as a cargo ship that is on an eight month mission to deliver an unknown item is about to crash into something. The pilot is warned to steer clear of it, but doesn’t follow orders and turns off the autopilot. This results in a crash, which burns and disfigures the captain and leaves him in constant pain. It also causes safety foam to come out of the walls, and that makes parts of the ship inaccessible. As a result, the crew end up sleeping in the great room, which is a mixture between a kitchen and eating area, a reading nook, and a living room.
In this PS1 styled horror experience, players mostly control Jimmy, who’s second in command. Having fled a tough life on Earth, he’s made something of himself on this cargo ship, and is trusted by the company, whose talking horse mascot appears as an animatronic and in many inspirational posters. It’s all experienced from a first-person perspective, where you explore the ship and deal with extreme situations. When something is able to be interacted with (like a cupboard or food machine), a border appears around it.
Although the brief campaign begins just before the crash, its story isn’t told in chronological order. It jumps between the present and the past, such as days before the catastrophic event. In doing so, it provides insight into the small crew (all of whom must be talked to, and whom play important roles) and what’s been happening. In-between, Jimmy experiences strange visual hallucinations and doesn’t seem to have a great grip on what’s going on.
Out of fear of spoiling things, I’m going to stop there.
Mouthwashing is a visceral, disturbing and very adult game. What happens over the course of its couple of hour-long runtime is tough to describe, and won’t leave you anytime soon. The sights and sounds herein are unsettling; especially later on. However, giving the deformed and suffering captain his medication — which involves opening his mouth and shoving pills down his throat — is a particularly disturbing highlight. Things get more unsettling near the end, though.
This is the type of game where you find an item like a key, an axe or painkillers, and then open your inventory and select them when it’s time to use them. Jimmy also carries a scanner, which can be used to find hidden codes that are needed to unlock a door and one other thing. Plus, players must read basic recipes and use strange food creation machines to make a couple of particular concoctions. The scanner helps you uncover one of those numerical recipes.
The gameplay found within Mouthwashing isn’t deep, and it isn’t difficult. It’s not meant to be, and doesn’t need to be. I almost never got lost or stuck, and liked that. It was more about the experience, and unravelling this descent into madness.
As mentioned, this game uses the PS1 motif, but is first-person. As such, you can expect environments, items and character models that are designed to look like a game from that era, albeit with better resolution. This isn’t a visual showcase to show off any device’s power. It’s a stylized experience, and is better for it.
The audio is as unsettling as you’d expect, and it fits well. The soundscape adds to things, and helps create the disturbing atmosphere the developers were going for. There is no voice acting, though, as talking to crew members is handled through text, and it’s all well written. The only real dialogue comes from old fashioned cartoons, strange commercials, and the unsettling mascot animatronic.
All of this adds up to create a game that packs a punch, both visually and content wise. It’s unique, it’s dark and it’s visceral. Those who like disturbing games that push the content envelope will enjoy and appreciate it, but Mouthwashing definitely isn’t for everyone. I certainly enjoyed it, though, and am glad that I was finally able to play it.
This review is based on the PlayStation 5 Pro version of the game, which we were provided with.