#i really hope its swansea or daisuke actually

[pigeons-with-jello]

watching a playthough of mouthwashing (i cant afford the game xoxo) and daisuke is my child ive avoid spoilers so far but im almost certain hes gonna die tragically but you can NOT stop me from getting attatched to him

[jams-sims]

I've been seeing people asking for Swansea analyse- I gotchu.

I think the real reason a lot of people don't talk about Swansea is because he is older. As a old head on tumblr, a lot of young folks are gonna be more attracted to the 4 most youthful characters. Swansea characters also is more staright forward (or it appears to be.) Its complicated because Swansea suffers from the "Jimmy prespective."

No one knows about the secert ending where if you let Swansea kill you 10 times in the grave yard you get a achivement called Good Ending.

While Swansea's was able to over come his addiction. He never really addressed the reason why his addiction got started in the first place. It's clear that there's some underlying depression and other issues that he never really worked through. Is something about working in Corporate America that just destroys you. And Swansea is your typical cis male, old man, angry but has an actual gentle heart. Cares a lot, but is unable to in the narrative of the story, provide that care in enough time or effectively communicate that care until the last moments. I think some parts of him knew if he told Diasuke about the cryopod. Diasuke in his good nature, would try and put any other memeber of Tuplar above himself. I can see an ending where, Jimmy, Curly are dead. An Daisuke tells Swansea Anya should go inside. Daisuke nature is that last bit of hope for Swansea.

Swansea use to be a Jimmy. Not in the sexual assulate way, but in the Endless Grind way. You think its going to fix anything climbing that ladder. You'll end up sad and miserable but sober. Swansea had nothing outside of work. Jimmy has nothing outside of work. Yet swansea found value and love and care in another person. That he could try an teach something too. Even if its a warning and nothing else. Swansea was a better version of Jimmy.

[crumbazaar]

Mouthwashing (spoilers)

I've watched a few people play Mouthwashing, it's a really fun watch as the way the story unfolds you get to see all the different reactions to the characters. Shout out to FroggyLoch and AtlasAnarchy's playthroughs, Atlas especially nails the VA of the characters so well.

CW for sexual assault, self-harm, gore, drugging w/o consent, violence and lots of eye stuff.

I'm gonna just fire some shots at Curly in this post. I love the man, I think he has his heart in the right place, but goddamn does he have the worst taste in friends and he enables way too much. The game really benefits from a second playthrough or watch as you know what's going to happen. But seeing Anya pour her heart out to him only to have Curly respond that he can talk to Jimmy and fix things is gut wrenching.

Dragonbreath X kills 99.9% of germs, but what about that final 0.1%? When it's left to fester and do what it wants? I think that's in part what the game is about. Weirdly enough, none of the people who knew Jimmy was bad try to stop him but Anya. She tells their superior who she has the utmost belief in (Anya and Curly's interactions over the game are really sweet, he's the only character who treats her well, and she gets to express her joy and humour and inner self with him that you DO NOT get to see as Jimmy.) From her perspective, he lets her down and then crashes the ship. Maybe because he didn't want to deal with the consequences? Anya is very smart so I hope she figured out that Curly didn't do it, but it's very sad to think that she died thinking her revelation to Curly lead to him to take the actions that lead to the crew's demise. Instead of just reprimanding and confining Jimmy.

Swansea immediately dives back into alcoholism, his admitted most enjoyable time of his life, all while genuinely trying to stay safe, keep their wages and the remaining crew safe. I think he knew that things were fishy and did not believe that Curly did it. He never takes any action towards him. He even refers to Curly's orders as still being the prevailing ones over Jimmy, although he doesn't fight him much. When Anya tells him that she was abused by Jimmy, he doesn't take any action. Doesn't even tell Daisuke. It's only after Daisuke and Anya die due to Jimmy's behaviour that he finally attempts to kill him. Although with the way the narrative flows, it's not even clear that he did try to kill Jimmy. We "see" Swansea ends up attacking Jimmy in the cockpit where he seems to have the gun, and in the medical room, but in his final moments he's tied to a chair, says his last words and Jimmy executes him. It's possible Jim got the gun in medical, ran to the cockpit, sealed himself in and then shot Swansea when he breaks through the door. Either way it's too little too late.

The actual way to get the Tulpar crew out of this situation seems like it would've been LISTENING to Anya and then as a team restraining Jimmy, or locking him in a room, or in cryo until they got back from the job. Screw Curly's legacy as a perfect captain (not that Jimmy's actions really would've marred that as much as Jimmy says), screw Curly's friendship with the creep and screw trying to keep decorum or keep Daisuke innocent.

At least that's my takeaway, it's definitely an amazing story on its own. It does an incredible job of evoking an array of emotions and for me that makes it Art. But for me it's also a good moral for anyone with power and how it's important to be fair and just with it.

[thecoolerliauditore]

jesus christ okay. thoughts below. spoilers. im gonna mention rape/sa and cannibalism fyi

I love it when horror games are more or less bait and switches with what the "real horror" actually is. Like when godzilla movies are more about government apathy than the monster, Mouthwashing's premise immediately had me jumping to conclusions on where the story was going to go.

Surely, I thought, the stranded crew would turn to cannibalism. Especially with the imagery in the trailer, I was under the impression they would start eating the heavily injured captain bit by bit and the crew would then begin to break down due to the moral quandaries. And that does eventually happen too but like.

Jimmy being the real source of horror as well as your POV as the player is. so incredibly well executed. There's just enough in there to hint towards him being. The Problem but at the same time as the player you're so preoccupied on figuring out everyone else's deal and waiting for the cannibalism to start that I at least didn't really realize the extent of Jimmy's awfulness until I was well into the game (the thing that finally got me to go "oh huh that's..!" was him getting mad at Anya for wanting to give Curly painkillers but being unable to do it herself). It

It twists the survival horror convention on its head -- in a game where you have to constantly expect everything and everyone around you to be a threat, your character is the most destructive in the end. The repeated flashes of TAKE RESPONSIBILITY suddenly take on a new meaning the more you recognize that is the one thing Jimmy is incapable of doing.

I think the moment that made me realize Jimmy was truly the monster was the moment it clicked that Jimmy raped Anya BEFORE they were even stranded. Like I mentioned before, with the premise being what it is I kept waiting for the morality slippage that comes with these stories usually (and that does kinda happen) but Jimmy is not a monster because he is forced to be by his circumstances, or because of some innate human instinct that comes alive when freed from the shackles of societal expectation, he was ALWAYS a monster from the very start and you just didn't see it that way because you're looking through his eyes.

What sticks with me is the horror that Jimmy must've inflicted on his crewmates, the more I became more sympathetic to them than the guy I was looking at them through. Anya having to show up to work and be courteous to her rapist (her line at the start of the game about worst moments not defining people as monsters goes from being hopeful to horrifically sad as the game goes on -- I at least get the feeling that mindset is less for Curly and more a coping mechanism she's developed to continue being as nice as she is to Jimmy) and Curly having to weather Jimmy's abuse while helplessly laying there in agony watching him kill off the others one by one, knowing he should've gotten rid of him a long time ago most of all.

Swansea and Daisuke's relationship is so awesome. I love how the game leads you into being afraid of Swansea, only for him to end up being arguably the most genuine and vulnerable guy on that ship. The achievement for letting Swansea shoot Jimmy 10 times being "good ending" is hilarious. Yeah it really is.

Mouthwashing uhm goodgame I'm going to go play that funny card roguelike now