Four hours is a generous amount of time. One could watch “The Bee Movie” twice. They could take four back-to-back power naps. But, if one is feeling up to it, they could spend four hours exploring the Tulpar, the setting of Wrong Organ’s psychological horror game Mouthwashing. 

In the world of Mouthwashing, the company Pony Express sends massive shipments between planets. Think ‘space Amazon.’ Don’t worry, the commentary isn’t subtle. The game follows the crew of the Tulpar, a Pony Express ship that has crashed.

Mouthwashing jumps back and forth between pre-crash and post-crash scenes. In the pre-crash scenes, the player controls Curly, the ship’s captain. He’s been working for Pony Express for a long time and wonders if he was destined for more in life.

That said, he’s well-liked by his crew. He’s considered sociable and responsible while also keeping things operating the way they should be. However, he tends to avoid conflict and confrontation, instead choosing to only see the best in people. 

The game actually begins with the crash, getting the player’s attention immediately. We are put into the shoes of the person piloting the ship. The ship’s control center tells us how to avoid the crash, but our character seems to purposely direct the ship into oncoming danger.

In the post-crash segments, the player controls Jimmy, Curly’s co-pilot and friend. Jimmy is impulsive, passive-aggressive, jealous and manipulative. He takes up the mantle of captain after the Tulpar’s accident, as the crash completely incapacitates Curly.

The other three members of the crew are nurse Anya, handyman Swansea and his intern Daisuke. And that’s the entire cast of this game. Other people in the world, save maybe Daisuke’s parents, are barely mentioned at all. 

During the Curly segments, the crew’s problems and anxieties begin to pile up. Above all, they find out that Pony Express is laying all of them off, save Curly. Despite this, Curly promises to take care of his crew through their final assignment, which does little to alleviate their worries. 

The crash releases insulating foam throughout the ship, blocking off a good amount of resources such as medicine and food. The crew can’t risk cutting through the foam, considering that the vacuum of space would indiscriminately kill them all given the slightest opening.

Jimmy struggles with the responsibilities of being captain. He opposes just about everything that Curly says, seemingly just because he can. He completely disregards objections from the crew and forcefully demands his orders be followed. 

If this review seems light on the plot, it’s because Mouthwashing is a game built on its story. It’s a walking simulator: a game where the actual gameplay consists of little more than walking from location to location as the story unfolds. In fact, I feel I may have shared too much already. 

This game is a disturbing and surreal use of four hours that other games struggle to capture in 40. The interpersonal conflicts are scarily human, the anti-capitalist messaging is blatant and the unpredictable results leave an impact that can’t be put into words. 

Mouthwashing asks for $13, which I think is an extremely fair price. It’s especially worth picking up if it’s on sale, which happens on occasion. This game gets a 4/5.

Tolbert can be reached at [email protected]. Send him stuff in space.