Review: Mouthwashing (Switch) - A Disgustingly Beautiful Port That Brings You Even Closer To The Horror

Psychological, Captain

Mouthwashing was an instant indie darling when it launched on PC in 2024. It’s the kind of game that inspires more discussion and analysis than its relatively short runtime, so it feels long overdue to finally be able to play it on console.

Now, having played through the new Nintendo Switch port, I can wholeheartedly say that Mouthwashing has found a perfect new home. Better yet, it plays perfectly in handheld mode, letting you get even closer to the off-puttingly intimate horror story, unable to separate yourself from the atrocities you’re committing on screen.

For the few uninitiated among you, Mouthwashing takes place aboard the Tulpar, a space freighter, with an aesthetic best described as Alien meets BioShock. The game centres around the survival of a long-haul delivery crew after one of them crashes the ship into an asteroid. With dwindling supplies and rising tensions among the crew, it is clear that something is going to go very wrong very soon.

The story is non-linear and, oftentimes, told by unreliable narrators or through abstract nightmare sequences. You jump between events before and after the crash, playing as two different members of the crew. Gameplay is, for the most part, very simple: walk around the ship, interacting with items and your crewmates. It’s very much a walking simulator, but when it’s this good at building a constant feeling of growing dread with every step, it’s allowed to be.

With its faux-retro graphics, Mouthwashing is right at home on the Switch. Playing on Switch 2, I noticed no issues to speak of — both in docked and handheld mode — as the console is more than enough to handle these very stylised visuals. It feels like it should have been on Switch all along.

The only aspect of Mouthwashing that doesn’t do so well in the leap to Switch is the controls. Walking around and interacting with (most of) the environment is fine, but anything that requires more precision, which is admittedly quite rare, can prove frustrating. I often found myself having to readjust the sensitivity in the settings depending on what the game was throwing at me, which can really take you out of an experience best played in one sitting without any interruptions.

The worst segment of all, without giving too much away, is the game’s single 'combat' sequence, which requires you to aim and shoot a gun at an enemy. No matter how I played around with the sensitivity, I could never find a way to make this feel intuitive on Switch. In fact, I had to cheese the segment slightly, camping out in a corner and waiting for the enemy to come to me. Otherwise, it felt like I was fighting against the controls.

With that said, some of these more intricate gameplay sequences were an issue in the original release, too, as they stand out so much from the rest of the game. But having Mouthwashing shoved right into your face on Switch only exacerbates how the game stands perfectly fine as a walking simulator, making the inclusion of these sequences all the more unnecessary.

Still, even that frustration is not nearly enough to detract from the experience, and I daresay this port makes for one of the best ways to experience Mouthwashing, whether it’s your first run or you’re looking for an excuse to play it again. It is all too easy to hoover it up in one go as you sit on the sofa, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Simply put, Mouthwashing is a game best played when you’re lost in its grim setting, feeling like you, too, are stuck on the Tulpar and living this nightmare. Its rich horror is found in every corner of the game and through every tool at the devs’ disposal. So it stands to reason that making it even easier to get lost in Mouthwashing — without sitting at your PC — only helps the game sink its teeth into you.

I can see a renaissance in Mouthwashing analysis on the horizon, with new players able to play it themselves through the console ports. The Switch port in particular does a great job of making it more accessible than ever, without compromising on quality. As soon as my run was over, I wanted to delve back in and be disgusted all over again, and I’m relieved that’s never been easier.

Conclusion

Mouthwashing on Switch is a strong port of an incredible game. Fans and newcomers are well served here, as developer Wrong Organ doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel - it just uses the Switch to bring us even closer to the Tulpar crew.

While some segments are frustrating to control, it is nothing that wouldn’t also be a problem in the other console ports, or if you were playing on PC with a controller. And even then, the parts that frustrated me were over quickly and couldn’t detract from the horrifying experience the devs unleash upon us.