Mouthwashing Review: A Twisted Descent into Madness Across Timelines

If you’re in the mood for some compact horror that messes with your mind and keeps you on edge, Mouthwashing is ready to take you on a surreal journey through time and space. This little gem of a game cleverly flips between different timelines, putting you right at the heart of a growing nightmare aboard a doomed space freighter. And trust me—it’s a wild ride.

A Crash, Mouthwash, and Madness

Mouthwashing starts off with a bang, throwing you right into the action as you steer a space freighter straight into disaster. You’re behind the controls, inserting keys into override panels, pushing the big red button, and yanking the steering wheel. Sirens blare, alarms whirr—and just as you’re wondering how you got here, the scene changes, and now you’re Jimmy, a crewmember months before the crash, hauling bottles of mouthwash on the very same freighter. Yeah, mouthwash. Lots of it.

It turns out that after the crash, the ship’s flooded with so much mouthwash that most of the areas are blocked off, leaving only a few claustrophobic tunnels and rooms accessible. As you explore, you meet your crewmates—a grumpy engineer named Swansea, his surfer-dude intern Daisuke, an anxious nurse called Anya, and the horribly disfigured Captain Curly, who’s now a tragic, blood-soaked figure lying on a stretcher. And from there, it’s only going to get darker.

Time-Bending Storytelling

What makes Mouthwashing really stand out is how it plays with timelines. The game constantly switches between the past and the present, giving you glimpses of the crew’s life before and after the crash. You’ll see the lounge in its early days, clean and well-stocked, only to later return and find it wrecked and creepy, with the ship's mascot lying in pieces. It’s these shifts that build tension and dread as you uncover the truth behind the crew’s descent into madness.

One minute, you’re closing a door in a panic, unsure of what’s chasing you. Then, the game freezes, and the PSX-style visuals glitch out, as if an old VHS tape is rewinding. It’s a brilliant effect that not only looks cool but also serves as a way to merge timelines, giving you crucial context without holding your hand.

Atmospheric Horror That Gets Under Your Skin

The real horror of Mouthwashing isn’t about jumpscares (though there are a couple), but the oppressive, eerie atmosphere. The ship itself feels like a living, breathing entity, with its tight, narrow corridors and unnervingly quiet hallways. The sound design pulls you in—the hollow clunk of your footsteps, the unsettling creak of Captain Curly’s jaw as you give him painkillers, and the constant hum of your scanner filling the silence.

And then there are the surreal moments where the ship warps, eyes suddenly appear on the walls, and reality itself seems to fray. It’s not the kind of horror that makes you scream, but more of a slow, disturbing crawl under your skin that leaves you feeling uneasy and off-balance.

Tactile Gameplay and a Ship Full of Secrets

Mouthwashing doesn’t overwhelm you with complex mechanics, but what it does, it does well. The tasks you perform are simple yet engaging, like following retro-futuristic instructions to make a cake for Captain Curly or piecing together the ship’s mysteries through exploration. Every action feels deliberate and often carries the weight of knowing it’ll probably affect something later—usually in a way that makes everything worse.

That said, Mouthwashing can sometimes be a bit too cryptic for its own good. A few puzzles are just vague enough to leave you wandering the ship aimlessly, wondering what to do next. I’ll admit, I had to consult a walkthrough once or twice when I got stuck, and some solutions felt like a stretch. But when the game hits its stride, it’s hard to pull away from it, even if the occasional directionless wandering slows the pace.

A Horrific, Surreal Experience Worth Your Time

Mouthwashing is an impressive, tightly crafted horror experience that blends surrealism with grounded psychological horror. Its storytelling is bold, constantly moving between timelines to keep you hooked on the unfolding mystery. While it’s not a game packed with traditional scares, it excels at creating a deeply unsettling atmosphere that builds tension and dread with each passing moment.

If you’re a fan of horror that gets in your head and lingers long after you’ve finished playing, Mouthwashing is worth every second. Just be prepared for a few moments of frustration when you get lost in its surreal corridors. But stick with it, and you’ll find a haunting, memorable experience that’s hard to forget.

So go ahead, dive in, and prepare to lose yourself in the twisted, mouthwash-soaked nightmare that is Mouthwashing. You’ll come out the other side dazed, disturbed, and eager for more.