"This is incredibly rare": How Mouthwashing quietly became 2024's breakout horror hit

2024-12-24

GamesHorror"This is incredibly rare": How Mouthwashing quietly became 2024’s breakout horror hitWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Wrong Organ)

A crew member in Mouthwashing sat on the floor holding herself

Others loved it too, so much so that it’s become a unique indie game success story. Despite it being a few months since launch, it’s still going strong, gathering new players and selling more copies. It’s also received nominations at The Indie Game Awards for Game of the Year and Best Narrative, and as game awards season continues, we can expect to see more love incoming. Basically, if you haven’t heard about Mouthwashing before, you will very soon.

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(Image credit: CRITICAL REFLEX)

Mouthwashing screenshot of the captain Curly covered in bandages

Fancy a capful?(Image credit: Wrong Organ)Existential, weird and dark, Mouthwashing’s surreal philosophical processing of mortality hits hard

Fancy a capful?

(Image credit: Wrong Organ)Existential, weird and dark, Mouthwashing’s surreal philosophical processing of mortality hits hard

(Image credit: Wrong Organ)

Mouthwashing

Existential, weird and dark, Mouthwashing’s surreal philosophical processing of mortality hits hard

It launched on September 26, and according toSteamDB, it’s accrued new concurrent players each month ever since – with October seeing a nearly 260% jump. Granted, this amounts to hundreds of players, which doesn’t hold up against multiplayer games on Steam that can rake in millions of players over years, but for a single player title you can finish in an evening, the fact it’s grown and sales have remained steady over the following months is rare.

Simon Carless, the founder of video game sales analysis firm GameDiscoverCo, says it’s sold “at least 10-15x more lifetime copies on Steam compared to its first week sales numbers,” which is largely unheard of for a short, lo-fi, narrative horror. A game like this would’ve maybe sold most of its copies in the first week, and dropped off into obscurity.

“This is incredibly rare compared to most games, which quickly decrease in sales over time,” Carless says. “It looks like horror streamer enthusiasm in particular – and word of mouth – have really expanded its reach beyond normal.”

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(Image credit: CRITICAL RELFEX)

Mouthwashing screenshot of crewmembers at a party

These kinds of short, single player games can take off in ways more expensive projects might not. The threshold for success is obviously lower for a game that was cheaper to make, and not only was Mouthwashing made with a small team, it only took around 15 months to develop. Look at the Steam charts though, and you’ll often see games the size of Mouthwashing sneak into the top. Some of 2024’s most intriguing releases, likeBalatro,1000xResist,Indika, orLittle Kitty Big City, are all getting critical and player recognition despite falling outside of what the big studios are publishing.

Horror game influencers can take credit for Mouthwashing’s success as well. Its twisty, emotionally powerful experience makes it perfect for streaming to a wider audience.TwitchTrackersays that viewers have watched nearly 176,000 hours of Mouthwashing on Twitch, and that’s not considering the hours put in onYouTubeand TikTok. Horror games are ripe for streaming, as many popular content creators can attest to, because there’s a lot of potential for spontaneous, emotional moments that can go viral. It’s also just entertaining to watch. Without going into spoiler territory, Mouthwashing has plenty of these, and only a couple of them are jumpscares.

“One way to determine if a title will resonate is to find something that will make you go, ‘Woah holy shit!’ and then try to assess whether this game caters to your very niche tastes or if others will have a similar reaction,” said Lebedeva.

It’s done well even beyond the conventional means. Let’s go back to Tumblr, where my journey started. It’s a few months after release, and the top posts have tens of thousands of interactions. Searching for Mouthwashing on the site brings up countless pieces of fanart ranging from the thematically resonant to the distractingly adorable. It’s been consistent too, and the developer has spotlighted many entries inits Steam Q&As. Even its eerie soundtrack has hit milestones, with1 million people streaming it on Spotifyas of November.

Steering the ship

(Image credit: Wrong Organ)

Doctor crewmate Anya standing by the captain in Mouthwashing saying “He- It just hurts him so much. I can’t stand the noise.

Thrills and chills(Image credit: Capcom)Pick out your next terrifying adventure with ourbest horror gamesrecommendations

Thrills and chills

(Image credit: Capcom)Pick out your next terrifying adventure with ourbest horror gamesrecommendations

(Image credit: Capcom)

Resident Evil Village

Pick out your next terrifying adventure with ourbest horror gamesrecommendations

But what is it about Mouthwashing that has captured players? If fanart is any indication, it’s partially thanks to the complexity of its characters. There are five crew members, and at first they all seem like your standard cookie-cutter shipmates: the nurse, the mechanic, the incompetent intern. Over the course of the game’s runtime, you’re steadily let into their lives, getting to know how they ended up on the spaceship Tulpar and why they all broke down over months stranded in space. Mouthwashing is a horror game, but it’s also a tragic character study about how relationships are built and how they can transform into something bittersweet.

The imagery is also striking. The most iconic image is of Curly, the former ship captain who spends most of the game wrapped in crusty, uneven bandages staring at you with one bulging eye. It’s a bleak reflection of a person in untold pain, and you’ll get some great looks at him as you’re forced to feed him medication or carry him across the ship. The situations he’s put in while in that state are somehow worse (so much worse) than just watching him suffer on a bed, but only tangentially. Pony Express’s mascot, a brown cartoon horse named Polle, would also fit right in with any number of mascot horror titles like Five Nights at Freddy’s, with posters and statues littered across the ship smiling at the crew members with dead eyes.

However, there’s an underlying cruelty to Mouthwashing that people seem to have latched onto. Tulpar is under contract with Pony Express, but its crew are laid off during their mission.

Mouthwashing is a painful, messy experience. It won’t make you feel good either. Watching the events unfold leaves you feeling dirty or like you saw something you shouldn’t have. But that depth, those surprises, and its very human story have appealed to many players. If its steady trend continues, you’ll be hearing a lot more about it in 2025.

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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

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2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”

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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”

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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”

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