If I am being sincere, consuming any type of horror media any time of 12 months is all the time one of the best time to take action, nevertheless it actually does simply hit a bit completely different when it is in October. I do know that that is as a lot an affect from capitalism, what with all these Manufacturers attempting to promote me decorations and themed sweet I positively do not want, but additionally, I do exactly love stepping into the Halloween season! There is a bizarre type of consolation that horror brings, even essentially the most uncomfortable of movies or video games, and interesting in one thing like that because the leaves flip brown and climate will get chilly simply feels proper.
There’s nonetheless the query of what to observe or play this specific Halloween season – positive you would go for one of many classics, however personally I am unable to consider something extra applicable and terrifying than Mouthwashing. Sure, significantly! OK, solely type of significantly, as a result of whereas the act of mouth washing is likely to be terrifying to some, the very actual online game Mouthwashing is not terrifying a lot as existentially horrifying, in all one of the best methods attainable. Let’s set the scene.
Think about you are on a spaceship, one among 5 crew members, towing some type of cargo midway throughout the galaxy on a visit that’ll take one of the best a part of a 12 months (I do know this seems like the unique Alien, and it is clear some inspiration is drawn from there). Then, someday, the worst occurs – you crash into an asteroid, leaving the ship in disrepair and sufficient energy to maintain the oxygen coming and the lights on, however the engines are totalled. On prime of that, you are left with full burns throughout your physique, wrapped in bandages toe to tip, as another person, the precise principal character, has to feed you ache meds so you are not screaming the ship down.
That is the central premise of the sport, with the crew counting on the few months of rations they’ve left to get them by means of to a hypothetical rescue mission. Fairly early on, you make the decision to see what cargo you are really hauling and discover that it is… simply mouthwash. All of it, each single field, hundreds upon hundreds of bottles of the stuff. And so the remainder of the sport is you studying extra in regards to the characters, and what really went down, and the methods by which everybody type of begins to lose their thoughts.
The vibes are fairly rapidly unmatched on this one, going for a type of cross between a late PS1/ early PS2 look the place all the pieces feels grimey and soiled – like simply choosing up the controller will really feel uncomfortable. You turn forwards and backwards rather a lot between earlier than and after the crash, serving to you contextualise the extraordinarily corporation-loving ambiance (there is a horse mascot with posters in all places you may develop to hate), and the way a lot worse that feels within the prolonged time period post-crash.
For essentially the most half, a number of what you do is strolling across the journey, attempting to sort things often, getting individuals to do their jobs, making cake out of water and gelatin. It is nearly walking-sim, however with pockets of survival horror moments which have made me extra anxious than some other sport has completed in a protracted whereas – when you can also make me afraid of cardboard packing containers shaking, you’ve got completed one thing proper (you may perceive if you get to that time).
With it being so impressed by Alien, minus the alien, I am unable to assist however really feel prefer it’s nearly a forgotten ’70s horror basic. Mouthwashing is the type of sport the place you inform your pal that is largely simply watched Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Road who desires to broaden their palette that it is one you actually cannot miss. Pairing this with a night of different barely artsy-fartsy movies like The Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath (it is an arthouse movie, belief me) or 1977’s Home would not go amiss within the slightest.
It is all wrapped up on this unhappy however vital bow of feeling pissed off along with your lot in life, beholden to a enterprise that could not give much less of a s**t about you, and the methods by which you’re pressured to confront all of that. A variety of the sport is humorous, in a twisted type of method, however it is best to count on some large emotions too. Mouthwashing is brief as nicely, at solely roughly 3 hours in size, so you actually can simply slot it in someplace amongst your annual horror Halloween film record. You simply would possibly by no means use mouthwash once more.
