The Burning Within - Mouthwashing

 

I was influenced by TikTok to play Mouthwashing! The community it has stirred up on TikTok is so creative; I’ve seen amazing edits, art, and cosplays that made me want to be part of the fun. I think TikTok has been great marketing for Mouthwashing, and now I’m jumping on the train—you should play it! I enjoyed seeing firsthand how scary good dental hygiene could be.

Mouthwashing is an indie horror game developed by Wrong Organ, which is a fun developer name for a game with more eyeballs than mouths. The crew of the Tuplar—a spaceship operating under the shipping company Pony Express—are left to survive on their own after an intense crash that leaves them stranded. Eyewitness co-pilot Jimmy informs the crew that Curly intentionally crashed the ship in a suicide attempt. Curly survived the crash but is unable to give his side of the story due to being intensely mutilated. He is barely alive and has become a fandom favorite. You even get an achievement for opening and closing his mouth, which made me giggle.

As the days go by with no hope of rescue and supplies dwindling, madness begins to set in, mostly for Jimmy. Deciding to check the secret cargo they were shipping, the crew discovers boxes upon boxes of mouthwash. Their rational decision? Why not drink it? Things get much scarier from there, unfolding a story of resentment, responsibility, anger, and fear.

I enjoyed the way you get to play as both the unreliable narrator and the more reliable, but not perfect, narrator, allowing you to see the full picture that the crew will never grasp. Everyone hears Jimmy’s side of the crash but will never know Curly’s perspective because he’s stuck in a charred, immobile body that knows the truth—an utterly terrifying concept. Watching a man lie and manipulate people you care about, slowly killing them while you can do nothing—not even warn them—is haunting. The pain Curly is forced to endure is both physical and mental until the very end. It’s a shame Curly was a good man; he wanted the best for his crew, even if he couldn’t always provide it correctly. His crew died with some resentment toward him, and I can’t imagine the hell that weighs on his conscience.

Through large time skips back and forth between Jimmy and Curly’s perspectives, it’s slowly revealed that Jimmy crashed the ship. He did it as a last-ditch effort to avoid facing the repercussions of the future. Jimmy was set to be fired along with the rest of the crew after they successfully shipped the mouthwash. Additionally, Jimmy is a rapist, having attacked his crewmate Anya, who becomes terrified of him. This detail is never explicitly stated, but it is heavily alluded to. Playing as Jimmy, we watch his mental state deteriorate further and further.

If you’re worried about the time skips, each point in time is clearly labeled, so you’re never left guessing who or where you are in the story. I like how the time skips create more sympathy for every character. When you see characters interact with Curly, there’s a light air of friendliness and a sense of respect from the crew toward their captain. They all trust Curly and his abilities. In contrast, when you view the situation through Jimmy’s eyes, it feels stressful; every interaction with him is cryptic and underlined by anger. The crew doesn’t even fully believe Jimmy when he claims Curly was the one who crashed. The mechanic, Swansea, doesn’t respect Jimmy at all and fights with him every step of the journey.

After finishing Mouthwashing, I’ve been haunted by thoughts of the crew and how they slowly seemed to lose all sense of choice. Each crew member is trapped not only physically in the spaceship but also in their minds, with endless time on their hands and nothing to distract them from their thoughts. They cling to past regrets and pains while chugging mouthwash. Each crew member is cornered into their own end. Anya is forced into a mental breakdown, being stuck with and interacting with her rapist. Daisuke is trapped by his own past mistake, coerced into crawling into a grate he had previously damaged, just trying to prove he was helpful. Swansea is haunted by the realization that his life of sobriety hasn’t necessarily made him happier. In the end, Curly is trapped in his body, forced to watch them all die, unable to do anything to stop it. Ironically, he was contemplating retirement and leaving them all after the voyage. In a way, they all left him.

Playing as Jimmy, you don’t experience the same feeling of entrapment; he’s in charge, pulling the strings. If anything, he was more trapped before the crash. Jimmy liberated himself, and the moment his crew makes him feel trapped again, asking for more, he pushes back, and they disappear. He will do anything to live the life he thinks he deserves.

From start to finish, Mouthwashing was an uncomfortable experience. The game features a lot of gore portrayed in a retro style, and I adore the PlayStation-like graphics. It only added to the discomfort as you’re forced to remove limbs and feed them to people. Seriously. Also, Curly looks horrifying—like something out of an actual nightmare covered in burns. Speaking of nightmares, while the whole game is unsettling, the scariest parts that made me pause involved chase scenes with the company’s mascot, Polle the Pony. That’s the scariest horse I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting! I found myself pointing the camera down as I ran, hoping for the best. It was genuinely terrifying.

If you enjoy birthday parties planned by the Texas Chainsaw family, this game might just be for you. I recommend it to any horror fan looking for something creepy with layers to the story—Silent Hill-style, to an extent. It’s a short play, taking me about three hours, and that’s factoring in the cowering I did in the corner. You can cower with me or face Polle bravely—just don’t forget your favorite mouthwash!