Mouthwashing

Lore & Background

Mouthwashing is played from a first-person perspective with little in the way of survival mechanics or combat, often described as a walking simulator. Gameplay primarily involves exploring the Tulpar, engaging in dialogue with the crew, and solving puzzles using various items. Presented as a nonlinear narrative, the game plays out across disjointed scenes taking place in the weeks and months before and after the crash. Jumps in the timeline are sometimes delineated by non-diegetic transitions that mimic glitches designed to briefly trick the player into believing their computer or console has crashed. Players experience Curly's perspective in the scenes before the crash, while scenes taking place after the crash are from the perspective of his co-pilot Jimmy, who takes on the role of captain in the aftermath of the disaster.

The plot follows the crew of the Pony Express freighter spaceship Tulpar after it crashes into an asteroid. The crew members—captain Curly, co-pilot Jimmy, medic Anya, mechanic Swansea, and intern Daisuke—survive, but most of the ship's resources are blocked off by airbag-like foam. Curly, unable to speak or move after being severely mutilated by the crash, is kept sedated via a dwindling supply of painkillers. Declaring himself acting captain, Jimmy accuses Curly of going postal and causing the crash. As food and medical supplies dwindle, tensions escalate, leading to violence, suicide, and murder. Flashbacks reveal that the crew were due to be laid off, that Anya was pregnant as a result of Jimmy raping her, and that Jimmy crashed the ship in a failed murder-suicide bid after Curly failed to hold him accountable. The game ends with Jimmy placing Curly in the ship's only cryopod and killing himself, leaving Curly's fate uncertain.

The developers took inspiration from films including Alien, Event Horizon, Sunshine, The Thing, The Shining, and Pandorum. The game utilises a low poly, retro visual style inspired by titles released for the original PlayStation. Art designer Johanna Kasurinen credited indie developer Puppet Combo for introducing her to the style, stating that 'we don't need state-of-the-art graphics to make something impactful.' The initial concept was inspired by a previous project, with Kasurinen explaining that 'it was that state of a team of people trying to convince ourselves, 'We can still fix this if we just try harder,' when everything was already limping and on fire, that eventually planted the seed.'

Reader's Guide

Mouthwashing was first announced as part of a free update (inspired by Katamari Damacy) to developer Wrong Organ's debut title, How Fish Is Made. A demo released during Steam Next Fest in February 2024 received positive reception, with the full game releasing for Windows via Steam on 26 September 2024. The game was well received by audiences on release, achieving an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam within the first two weeks, the highest possible rating on the platform, and was nominated for Game of the Year at the 2024 Indie Game Awards. On February 19, 2025, developer Wrong Organ and publisher Critical Reflex announced that they would be releasing Mouthwashing on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2025. As of August 2026, the ports haven't been released.

Mouthwashing received 'generally favorable' reviews from critics, according to review aggregator platform Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received 'mighty' approval, being recommended by 92% of critics. The game's narrative structure received praise from critics. The opening, which puts the player in control while the viewpoint character crashes the Tulpar, was praised for creating an immediate sense of tension and prompting curiosity. Critics felt that the nonlinear narrative enhanced the sense of intrigue, created an air of mystery, and kept the player uncertain about the true nature of events. The nonlinear narrative was also praised for adding depth to the cast of characters and for immersing the player in the setting of the Tulpar.

Gameplay & Narrative Architecture

Mouthwashing presents itself as a first-person walking simulator with minimal survival mechanics and virtually no combat. Players spend their time exploring the cramped corridors of the Tulpar, conversing with the remaining crew members, and working through item-based puzzles. What sets the experience apart is its fractured storytelling. Rather than unfolding in a single linear thread, the narrative is scattered across disjointed scenes that jump between the weeks and months preceding the crash and the long, deteriorating aftermath. Transitions between these temporal leaps are deliberately designed to mimic system glitches, briefly convincing the player that their console or computer has frozen. The game also shifts its point of view: pre-crash sequences are filtered through captain Curly's eyes, while the post-crash horror is experienced from the perspective of co-pilot Jimmy, who assumes command in the wake of the disaster. This dual-POV structure means the player gradually assembles the full picture of what truly happened, piece by piece, across a timeline that refuses to stay in order.

The Crew's Slow Collapse

The Tulpar is a Pony Express freighter that, during what should have been a routine delivery, slams into an asteroid. All five crew members survive, but the ship's resources are sealed behind airbag-like foam, and damaging it risks a fatal hull breach. Captain Curly is left alive yet maimed, unable to speak or move, kept sedated on a shrinking stockpile of painkillers. Co-pilot Jimmy immediately seizes command and publicly blames Curly for the crash. As two months pass and food runs thin, the crew opens their confidential cargo in desperation and find nothing but mouthwash. Swansea, a recovering alcoholic, drinks it for its fourteen percent alcohol content, and his escalating intoxication poisons every interaction. Jimmy, already straining under the pressure of force-feeding Curly his medication, eventually snaps and hallucinates an axe murder. By the fourth month, Anya has locked herself in the medical bay, Daisuke is fatally wounded crawling through a damaged vent, and Swansea performs a crude mercy killing. The slow, suffocating unraveling of five people trapped in a metal shell becomes the game's emotional core.

Aesthetic Choices & Creative Lineage

Wrong Organ, a Swedish studio, built Mouthwashing around a deliberately low-poly, retro visual language that echoes the look of early PlayStation-era titles. Art and narrative designer Johanna Kasurinen has credited indie developer Puppet Combo with first exposing her to that aesthetic, and in a Rolling Stone interview she summed up the philosophy behind the choice: state-of-the-art graphics are not a prerequisite for making something that hits hard. The team's cinematic touchstones are equally specific, drawing on the claustrophobic dread of Alien and The Thing, the existential terror of Event Horizon and Pandorum, the psychological unraveling of The Shining, and the quiet humanism of Sunshine. The core creative group includes producer Kai Moore, audio designer Martin Halldin, designer and programmer Jeffrey Tomec, and technical designer Dave van Egdom. Published by Critical Reflex in 2024, the game was widely praised for the way its narrative ambition and visual restraint work in tandem, proving that a small team with clear artistic convictions can produce a horror experience that feels both intimate and vast.

Jimmy's Unraveling & The Final Reckoning

Flashbacks eventually expose the true cause of the crash: the crew were slated for layoff after their delivery because Pony Express was going out of business. At his birthday gathering, Curly learns he has been recommended for a better position, and Anya reveals she is pregnant, hinting the child is Jimmy's and the result of his assault. Curly confronts Jimmy, but a threat about mutual accountability and the weight of their friendship lead him to let it go. Jimmy, crushed by jealousy, the looming job loss, and the fear of exposure, deliberately crashes the Tulpar in a botched murder-suicide; Curly is maimed trying to stop him. In the game's final stretch, Jimmy's sanity shatters completely. He hallucinates the ship as a labyrinth, fights Swansea in a graveyard, kills him with the ship's revolver, and holds a grotesque birthday party surrounded by corpses. The Pony Express mascot Polle appears to mock his refusal to own his failures. Convinced that keeping Curly alive is the only path to redemption, Jimmy places his friend in the cryopod, offers a final apology, and ends his own life. Curly enters a twenty-year cryosleep, his fate left deliberately unresolved.