The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 24th

Here we are, the final voyage of 2024. This is the last advent calendar entry of PC gaming website Rock Paper Shotgun. Days elapsed: 24. Writers employed: 8.

I hope this hurts.

It's short and unsettling sci-fi horror game Mouthwashing.

Brendy: At the beginning of Mouthwashing, you click buttons in the cockpit of a spacecraft and intentionally steer it on a terrible collision course. Everything that happens afterwards to the five crew members aboard this long-haul cargo ship is your fault. It's a short game, only 2-3 hours of walking around spaceship corridors and chatting to the various misfortunates who've survived the crash. A troubled medical officer, a disgruntled engineer, a naive intern. The food is running out and everyone is constantly bickering. None of this will end well.

But at least there is a cargo hold full of mouthwash! The jolly advertising that punctuates the game adds a lot of dark humor to what is, ultimately, a truly grim space tale about complacency, entitlement, and resentment. As some members of the crew get drunk on the alcohol-high content of the menthol mouth cleanser, others try simply to come to terms with the heinous events that have unfolded. And, as it turns out, some of those events happened before the ship even crashed.

This is one neat trick of the game. It flips back and forth in time, pre-crash and post-crash, filling in details of the crew's relationships and their lives. Before the crash, the captain (your character) seems under pressure, but ultimately optimistic. It's hard to see why he would crash the ship on purpose. After the crash, you play as co-pilot Jimmy, who now has to keep the crew alive.

That includes feeding the injured and incapacitated captain his painkillers. Because, ah, the captain was in the cockpit during the impact and is now missing all his limbs. He is burned beyond recognition and covered in bandages - his monocular face the striking visual mascot of the entire game. If there's one thing that consistently unsettles me about life aboard the Tulpar (and there isn't just one thing) it's the groans and sobs of the captain as he lies there unable even to speak.

I don't want to spoil any more of the story. I've done that already in a massive post about the characters. But if you value good storytelling and dialogue in games (and if you don't mind a few traditional psychological horror game sequences of running from a monster made manifest by your own sense of shame) then you should put aside your holiday cheer for a little dithered dread. Look, I'll help, don't sweat it. Go on, play the game and don't worry about the turkey or the pudding or the family or your friends. Never mind all that.

I'll take care of it.

Ed: I like the idea that throughout this horrifying tale, there is only one guarantee: everyone on board has minty fresh breath. Every waft of mouth air? Like the smell of a local Subway, if Subway replaced their southwest chipotle sauce with Colgate Total, and their hearty italian bread with some footlong synthetic fibers.

Nic: Turns out, the actual Silent Hill 2 remake was only the second best torchbearer for Silent Hill 2’s legacy this year. That’s all I’ll say!

Head back to the advent calendar to open another door!