Alright. Mouthwashing is done and dusted. I played through this last night and then slept on it to really sort out what I thought about the game. I think the first thing I would say is that while it is a quality experience, it isn't a particularly fun one. If you enjoy body horror and very dark story topics in general, this is gonna be your cup of tea. If not, you might want to chew on whether this game is for you or not. Also, I will be including some spoilers in this review to complete a couple thoughts I have about the game, but they will be blacked out. Don't move your cursor over them and you will avoid revealing them.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427619115

I want to address the biggest negative for this game first. The developer used the product description to intentionally mislead people buying this game. S/He used it as misdirection so it would hopefully take you longer to figure out what was really happening in the game. This is a poor way of handling things and is demonstrative of a lack of confidence in his ability to tell this story without resorting to cheap methods like that. Which is a real shame. Thing is, it became obvious very quickly, not only who the real antagonist was while playing this, but also that the product description was written specifically to mislead the player, and as a result, it ended up being pointless misdirection anyway. But yeah, if you're a developer, don't do that. It's pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

As a result, the story really is not what is represented on the product page. Rather, this is almost entirely a story about taking personal accountability for your actions, and watching as one of the characters devolves into complete madness, initially trying to avoid personal responsibility, and then taking insane and extreme measures to make up for it, lol. In the end, I ended up thinking that this character was the personification of what you would in today's world call "a little ♥♥♥♥♥". Only, and unfortunately for everybody else involved, an insane and deadly one.

As to the game itself, the story, with all the twists and turns was handled immaculately IMO. It did a fantastic job of keeping you on edge, never quite knowing what was going to happen next. It accomplishes this by jumping around different times over the course of like six months. Back and forth, sideways, what have you. By jumping into the past, back to the present, and some surreal places in between, it really does keep you on your toes. Yes, I thought it was very obvious, very early on, what the overarching premise of the story really was. But you could never predict what was actually going to happen next. And some of that stuff was wild. Kinda what you would expect from movies like Hostel or House of 1000 Corpses or some such in certain areas, maybe some Event Horizon in others. There is even a bit of an homage to Aliens/Alien 3, absent the Xemomorphs of course. And yet somehow, this story was uniquely its own. Oh, and the actual mouthwash story reveal? Peak stuff. I laughed. There is in general some comedy added to break up the oppressive atmosphere a bit, which is always appreciated.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427619407

And something else I appreciated is that, despite the tension and uncertainty to go along with body horror and general psychological f u cke ry, there are no jump scares. If anything, whatever moments you might find to be sudden is more about the build-up of tension and less about the actual scenes.

Most of the gameplay is what I would consider to be somewhere between an adventure game and a walking simulator. It's a linear experience, and most of what you will be doing is walking around, talking to the crew and examining objects. There are a few lite puzzles throughout the game. There is a survival stealth section that I died twice in before I realized the note you find at the beginning of that section was to be taken literally. There is also one lite combat section where you have to find and kill someone before they find and kill you. More on that in the spoiler section. And there is one particularly disgusting puzzle in the final chapter that was fairly trial and error for me.

Visually, this is very PSX horror, but maybe a bit more refined than you would be used to seeing from your standard PSX horror. Everything is gritty and grimy, often bloody, and in a state of shocking disrepair. And depending on where you are in the shifting timeline at any given moment, there are stark differences between what you've come to expect from an area and what you are now seeing. This is probably one of the most effective uses of the PSX horror experience I've seen in a game. It is, for good or bad, a visually stunning game. And it really drives home the claustrophobic nature of being stuck in a starship that is drifting lifeless through space. The audio is also very stark and evocative, providing an experience matching the visuals and helping to create a completely visceral experience. And a special shoutout to the devs for creating some very cool television vignettes that you will watch at two different points in the game. Very thoughtful and nice touch.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427619239

And now for the spoilers section. Like I say, try to avoid running your cursor over this if you don't want to read it.

So, the first thing I want to mention is that there are actually two endings for sure. Maybe more, but the reason I mention it under spoilers is because the section where you have to hunt Swansea while he is hunting you is where another ending can be found. But comically, you have to be inexperienced or just flat out bad at this style of gameplay in order to meet the criterion for finding the ending, which is to allow Swansea to kill you ten times. Generally speaking, and indeed in my own playthrough, you're going to figure out how to kill him before you get to that ten-death threshold, making it kind of a funny way to hide an ending. Also, Jimmy setting the events in this game in motion simply because he was upset that Anya was pregnant, that is almost definitely going to alienate and piss off a lot of players, and not just in the "I hate Jimmy" sort of way, but more in the "why would you even make that the central theme as the writer" type way. Especially if the implication is that he also had raped Anya to begin with. Just sayin'.

Anyway, this is definitely not a game for everybody. The dark topics, the insane imagery, the things the game makes you do to continue advancing the story; you should think long and hard about your tolerance for this sort of thing. If, as mentioned earlier, you enjoy or at least can handle body horror and truly messed up psychological horror scenarios, then this is the game for you 100%. If not, it should be considered a hard pass. I bought this in the Fellow Traveller Mega Bundle for 74% off. Which was perfect. Although, the $12.99 retail price does seem appropriate for the depth of experience you're gonna get here. It's only around three hours long, but it feels like you've been playing it for more like six hours due to its emotional weight and constantly shifting timeline. It's not really fun, but it is what I'd consider "an experience". YMMV.

Pure art. The closest a game came to a movie. If you enjoy psychological horror it is a must play. If you enjoy horror in general - it is 90% must play. If you don't like horror games, but you don't mind it too much - it is 70% must play.

Sharply, bloody brilliant. Though technically little more than an on-rails adventure game, the sheer clarity of vision and intentionality of its design choices leaves me baffled. Mouthwashing genuinely feels like gaming growing up. In its short run-time (games should be shorter!!) it manages to deliver a harrowing experience that leaves a bad taste in your mouth (ha!) long after it's done.

I have some quibbles with bits of story here and there, but none of those detract from the overall experience. Most of all, I was stunned by the visual presentation. The stylization, the text, the character designs, the blurry glowyness! I bow.