Mouthwashing is a psychological horror filled with visions and delusions exhibited by our crew members. Each vision reveals the character’s current mental state and the demons they’re battling.
Here is our rundown of Mouthwashing’s story and ending.
Warning for spoilers and themes of violence, self-harm, and sexual assault.
Mouthwashing plot, summarized
Stranded in space, a small crew of five attempts to deal with the uncertainty of survival. Low on food, starvation is inevitable at this point. With another eight months of barely hanging on, how will they adjust to the suffocating isolation of space? Mouthwashing takes place on a shipwrecked freighter.
The captain has sustained critical injuries, spending the rest of his days in the Medical Bay. It’s too much for the average person to bear, but with the cyro pods out of action, it’s only a matter of time before someone succumbs to the madness.
The Tulpar is damaged 147 days into the haul—where foam fills most corridors—blocking off access for the five-member crew. All that remains are the Sleeping Quarters, Medical Bay, Lounge, and Cockpit. You must work together if you want to find a way to survive the rest of the journey. But what happens if the person you can’t trust is yourself?
Mouthwashing story, explained
The story of Mouthwashing swaps back and forth between Curly’s and Jimmy’s perspectives. On top of this, the narrative jumps from before the crash to months afterward. Our leading man, Jimmy, takes over Curly’s position as captain due to his injuries, which worsen with each passing day.
With four months of food left at best, the crew check their haul in hopes of sustenance, only to discover that they had been transporting millions of mouthwash bottles. We learn that the corporation behind the haul and the crew’s employer, Pony Express, is set to let the team go once this haul is concluded.
Out of a job and likely out of time, the crew resorts to desperate measures or gives into the impending doom altogether. Swansea breaks his 13-year sobriety, while Jimmy desperately searches for a solution to restore hope in the crew. We learn that the Utility room (what Swansea was busy guarding) had working cryo pods after all, with one still remaining. Only one crew member would be able to use it and sleep for 20 years, increasing their chances of being found in space by a passing freighter.
Sure of himself, Jimmy gives Curly painkillers and later tries to save him when Anya attempts to do what others couldn’t—and end Curly’s suffering. He comes up with a plan to enter the Medical Bay and sends naïve Daisuke into the ventilation shaft to get inside and stop Anya.
Daisuke gets badly injured, however, and with all the medical supplies used to free Curly of his pain temporarily, Swansea kills him out of mercy. We later find out that Anya had taken her own life with the remaining painkillers. Swansea’s mind breaks from his guilt as he targets Jimmy next. Jimmy has no choice but to kill him, too.
Only Jimmy and Curly remain. Jimmy succumbs to his own madness, seeing visions of his past mistakes and coming to terms with them. He must take responsibility for his actions rather than pass the blame onto others. But does he learn?
In the end, Jimmy puts Curly inside the cryopod and activates it. You hear a loud bang off-screen as the perspective switches to Curly. The game ends where we presume Jimmy took his life, putting his friend first.
Mouthwashing twist and ending, explained
Turns out, the main character was posing as the protagonist all along. Jimmy is far from the hero he thinks he is. Treating his crew members terribly and being jealous and resentful towards his friend, Curly, the twist reveals that Jimmy was the cause of every bad event that happened on the Tulpar.
Captain Curly sustained his injuries from the freighter collision at the start of Mouthwashing because he was trying to save his crew from Jimmy’s actions. Taking the role of Curly, Jimmy assumes control of the freighter and condemns each member, either by his words or actions.
Sexually assaulted and impregnated, Jimmy is the reason Anya took her own life. Hints towards this revelation appeared early on. Examples of these are Anya’s nausea (even though she’s a nurse), her fear of being alone with Jimmy, and her nervousness about the Sleeping Quarters not having any locks. She sought comfort from Curly, but due to his friendship with Jimmy, he couldn’t do enough to protect her. Instead of taking responsibility and coming up with a plan, Jimmy abandoned Anya once he heard the news.
Jimmy is manipulative towards the youngest crew member, Daisuke. He exploited Daisuke’s and Swansea’s relationship, tricking him into risking his life, only for it to get him killed. He belittled Anya constantly and made her so fearful that she hid a gun when she discovered she was pregnant. This was to protect herself and the baby.
Worst of all is Jimmy’s pure denial and lack of acknowledgment that the fault lies with him and him alone. He blamed the crew members for the terrible events that occurred during the crash and after it. Living in a fantasyland, his visions tested him with repeated reminders of his actions. He battled his conscience and fought against the pressure to take responsibility. In the end, Jimmy’s delusions won as he believed he was the hero of the story, having sacrificed himself to save Curly.
He believed this good moment outweighed his many, many worse moments.
