The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 24th

Here we are, the last journey of 2024. This is the latest entry in the advent calendar of the computer gaming site Rock Paper Shotgun. Days passed: 24. Writers worked: 8.

I hope it hurts.

This is a short and suspenseful sci-fi horror game. Mouth rinse.

Brandy: At the beginning of Mouthwash, you’re pushing buttons in the cockpit of a spaceship and deliberately sending it on a terrifying collision course. Everything that happens next to the five crew members aboard this long-haul cargo ship is your fault. This is a short game, just 2-3 hours of walking along the corridors of a spaceship and communicating with various unfortunate survivors of the disaster. An anxious medical worker, a disgruntled engineer, a naive intern. The food runs out and everyone is constantly arguing. None of this will end well.

But at least there’s a cargo hold full of mouthwash! The hilarious advertising that highlights the game adds a lot of dark humor to a truly dark space story about complacency, entitlement and grievances. While some members of the crew get drunk from the high alcohol content of the menthol mouthwash, others try to simply come to terms with the disgusting events that took place. And, as it turns out, some of these events happened even before the ship crashed.

This is one neat trick in the game. He moves back and forth in time, before and after the crash, filling in the details of the crew members’ relationships and their lives. Before the crash, the captain (your character) appears to be under pressure, but is ultimately optimistic. It’s hard to understand why he deliberately crashed the ship. After the crash, you play as co-pilot Jimmy, who now has to keep the crew alive.

This includes feeding the wounded and incapacitated captain painkillers. Because, oh, the captain was in the cockpit at the time of impact, and now all his limbs are missing. Burnt beyond recognition and covered in bandages, his monocular face is the game’s striking visual mascot. If there is one thing that constantly disturbs me about life aboard the Tulpar (and there is more than one thing), it is the groans and sobs of the captain lying there, unable to even speak.

I don’t want to spoil the story anymore. I already did this in big post about characters. But if you appreciate good storytelling and dialogue in games (and if you don’t mind a few traditional psychological horror games where you’re on the run from a monster manifested by your own sense of shame), then you should put off the holiday cheer for a while . vague fear. Listen, I’ll help, don’t worry. Go ahead, play the game and don’t worry about turkey, pudding, family or friends. None of this matters.

I’ll take care of it.

Ed: I like the idea that throughout this horrific story there is only one guarantee: everyone on board will have fresh minty breath. Every breath of air from your mouth? Like the smell of your local Subway, if Subway replaced its Southwestern chipotle sauce with Colgate Total and its hearty Italian bread with foot-long synthetic fibers.

Nick: It turns out that it’s real Silent Hill 2 The remake was only the second best torchbearer for Silent Hill 2’s legacy this year. That’s all I’ll say!

Head back to advent calendar open another door!