Mouthwashing – The Results of Being A Bystander

Trigger Warning: This article includes conversations of sexual assault, suicide, self-harm, depression and violence.

The five crew members of the Tulpar are stranded in the empty reaches of space, shrouded in perpetual sunset. God is not watching.

Mouthwashing is a psychological horror game released in September of 2024, created by indie developer Wrong Organ. The story of Mouthwashing revolves around five crew member of a space freighter which has mysteriously crashed, leaving them stranded in space with supplies dwindling. The captain of the freighter is alive but seriously maimed and thus unable to speak or move, and is blamed by the crew for deliberately crashing the ship.

The five crew members are captain Curly, co-pilot Jimmy, medic Anya, mechanic Swansea and intern Daisuke. For this piece I will be focusing solely on Curly, Jimmy and Anya. Sorry to Daisuke and Swansea, maybe I will write about you in the future.

My reasoning for writing this is because, like many others who have played this game, I can’t stop thinking about it. That is the true beauty of a well told phycological horror story with other games like Omori holding a similar space in my head upon completion. There is a specific part of this story that holds space in my head, and that is the accountability of being a bystander.

I appreciate that this is very different to the usual articles I post on here, but as someone who champions mental health and works with Safe In Our World, a mental health video game charity, I feel that this is a topic I would love to discuss and write about. If you are one of my cosy game readers, please feel free to skip this article. I have listed some trigger warnings below, so if you feel you do not want to read about these topic, please look after yourself, keep safe, and I will see you soon. 💖

Trigger Warning: Discussions of sexual assault, suicide, self-harm, depression and violence.
Heavy Game Spoilers Ahead!

---

The Event Which Starts It All

The way that the story of Mouthwashing is told is through jumping back and forth to before and after the crash of the space freighter. This allows for hints and conversations to be shown from before the crash which results in you learning what truly happened and why the crash took place.

If we were to go in chronological order rather than the order in which the game shows the events, the story starts with the reveal that the co-pilot Jimmy had sexually assaulted Anya, resulting in her falling pregnant. Once Jimmy finds out about the pregnancy, he realises that once this freighter job has been completed he would have to face the consequences of his assault, and due to the pregnancy would not be able to hide what he had done. This results in him purposely going into the cockpit of the freighter and crashing the ship in hopes of killing himself and the rest of the crew. Captain Curly hears the alarms and upon realising what Jimmy had done, runs to the cockpit to stop the crash but unfortunately couldn’t prevent it which causes his injuries.

Reading Behind The Lines

There are a few scenes between Anya and Curly that imply that she is not comfortable being around Jimmy and each of these concerns and discussions are brushed off by Curly.

One of the first scenes we see between them is Anya completing a psych evaluation on Curly. Anya explains that she only has one psych evaluation left to do but is putting it off as Jimmy doesn’t take it seriously such as saying answers like “I have found myself sexually excited at the sight of cartoon horses.” This makes Curly laugh and offers to do the psych evaluation on Jimmy instead of Anya which gives her a sense of relief. The captain writing this off is the first sign of Curly not taking a situation seriously. Looking closely at Anya’s dealings with Jimmy, we see a woman whose crossed arms, hunched shoulders, and stuttering responses indicate discomfort.

Another scene we see is Anya and Curly chatting during a sleepless night. Anya tells Curly about a dead pixel on the big screen. Curly says that he can’t see it and remarks that it doesn’t ruin the illusion and is peaceful, saying that he can see the bigger picture. This symbolizes his incapability to notice imperfections in his surroundings, including any issues within the crew. At the end of this scene, Anya queries why there aren’t any locks in the sleeping quarters, but there is a lock on the medical room. In response Curly says safety, not grasping what Anya is implying.

The Results of Being a Bystander

Some could note that the previous scenes are subtle in a way that Curly may not have picked up what was being said. However in this final scene we are going to talk about, we will go into depths about Curly’s inability to act, which results in him being a bystander.

Curly finds Anya distraught in the cockpit where she confides that she is pregnant. When Curly asks by who she responds that she had already told him. Curly says that he can fix this and has known Jimmy for a long time. This shows us the bias that Curly has towards Jimmy as them being long term friends.

Instead of Curly making Jimmy take responsibility, he tries to play it off, even saying he has gotten through bad times before so he can get through this. He attempts to comfort Jimmy and prioritize his feelings rather than protect Anya.

Jimmy doesn’t show any remorse for this actions and instead tries to manipulate Curly and shift the blame onto him:
“You were supposed to be the one who had everything under control. You said so yourself. The ship, this crew, everything that happened here… This was your responsibility, Captain.”

Jimmy offers to crash the ship in order to save Curly’s reputation as captain, and be remembered as an acclaimed captain who tried his best. He is willing to take out everybody on board to cover his tracks rather than take responsibility for his own actions. After this Jimmy says that he will take care of it, and Curly does not stop him and stays silent.

Obviously Jimmy is the main cause and his cruelty and inexcusable actions are 100% his fault, however, Curly brushed Anya aside and took no action. Curly being a bystander and not acting to protect Anya or stopping Jimmy causes Curly to forever be a bystander to what Jimmy does next. Curly is now always watching, unable to move, talk and is helpless to stick up for his crew and save them, thus the results of being a bystander.

---

Mouthwashing is truly a stunning piece of work with so many different themes and topics, and this article only really covers a portion of what this game is really about. I could go on and on about this game, and I may write more articles in the future. I felt like the topic of enabling and being a bystander was worth a discussion, and I hope people enjoyed my interpretation of this portion of the game.

If you are struggling with mental health: please check out some resources listed here at Safe In Our World: https://safeinourworld.org/find-help/

Thank you again for reading my thoughts. Some more cosy gaming content will be coming soon. 💖

---

SUPPORT THE TEAM
Developer: Wrong Organ
Publisher: CRITICAL REFLEX

SUPPORT THE GAME: 
Steam

Written by Amber (Cherebi)
Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Twitch
cherebi@outlook.com