Mouthwashing
Games review
As of Jun 23, 2026, Mouthwashing is rated 95% positive on Steam (37,224 reviews), and 88/100 on Metacritic (21 critic reviews). Each source is shown in its own units, never blended into one score.
Opens Mouthwashing's own site, not a review site.
Is Mouthwashing worth it in 2026?
A 95% positive Steam rating from over 37,000 reviews and an 88 on Metacritic reflect a genuine critical consensus: Mouthwashing earns its reputation through exceptional writing, a suffocating atmosphere, and sound design that makes the horror feel lived-in rather than performed. Its deliberate rejection of jump scares gives it a psychological identity that lingers well past the runtime. That runtime, however, is a real structural problem, the game's central strengths are its characters and narrative, yet multiple reviewers specifically name Anya and Daisuke as underdeveloped, and nearly as many flag the story as too opaque to follow without outside help; for a game selling itself on writing, exiting confused is not a stylistic quirk, it is a meaningful failure for some players.
Players drawn to psychological horror built around a small crew, fragmented time-glimpse storytelling, and atmosphere over action, and who are comfortable sitting with ambiguity rather than demanding resolution.
The runtime is short enough that character development is genuinely incomplete, the story is deliberately murky to the point that several reviewers felt they needed a video essay to decode it, and some sequences frustrate.
ReviewPond's conclusion, drawn only from the verified scores and review themes below. Not a paid or editorial opinion.
Different sources measure different things, so each is shown in its own units and never merged into one number.
Pros
- strong writing and narrative16
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- Thoroughly unpleasant, impeccably written, and chock-full of creativity from beginning to end. Astounding in its ability to seamlessly blend gameplay and narrative, where even your...
- [h2] One of the most well written games ever. [/h2] It introduced a cast of 5 Crew members, each of them getting their own bit of story through time glimpses and the game never re...
- This game messed me up. I wasn’t sure what to think at first. The blocky, retro-style graphics and surreal, dream-like sequences make a weird first impression, but the game complet...
- distinctive visual style10
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- [h2] One of the most well written games ever. [/h2] It introduced a cast of 5 Crew members, each of them getting their own bit of story through time glimpses and the game never re...
- This game messed me up. I wasn’t sure what to think at first. The blocky, retro-style graphics and surreal, dream-like sequences make a weird first impression, but the game complet...
- One of my more liked horror games. It's got a high level level of surrealness to it, which I love. That goes for the story itself, but also the unique graphics. Sometimes it felt l...
- atmosphere and sound design9
see reviews +-
- [h2] One of the most well written games ever. [/h2] It introduced a cast of 5 Crew members, each of them getting their own bit of story through time glimpses and the game never re...
- This game messed me up. I wasn’t sure what to think at first. The blocky, retro-style graphics and surreal, dream-like sequences make a weird first impression, but the game complet...
- One of my more liked horror games. It's got a high level level of surrealness to it, which I love. That goes for the story itself, but also the unique graphics. Sometimes it felt l...
- lasting emotional impact7
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- I bought this game and didn't get around to it, until one night I didn't know what to play, I sat down and played it for an hour before sleeping, as I had to go to work, but whilst...
- This game messed me up. I wasn’t sure what to think at first. The blocky, retro-style graphics and surreal, dream-like sequences make a weird first impression, but the game complet...
- Made me sad and uncomfortable. Multiple times I just kinda stared at my screen for a few moments taking it all in. 10/10
- memorable characters6
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- [h2] One of the most well written games ever. [/h2] It introduced a cast of 5 Crew members, each of them getting their own bit of story through time glimpses and the game never re...
- i wish anya and daisuke were fleshed out better, but otherwise this game is amazing and i would recommend it to anyone who sees this. theres no jumpscares in your face, but there a...
- Biggest gripe with this game is that it's way too short. That isn't usually a bad thing in terms of telling an effective story, but a good chunk of the game's content is linear hor...
- no jump-scare horror4
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- i wish anya and daisuke were fleshed out better, but otherwise this game is amazing and i would recommend it to anyone who sees this. theres no jumpscares in your face, but there a...
- This game is something else, not your typical jumpscare horrer game, wich for me is good because if i have a hearth attack every 2 minutes i play i will likely not finish the game....
- Knowing from the opening scene that this game is going to be a masterpiece. Lock-room mystery, catastrophe, everyone carries their hidden agenda, in an parallel narrative that horr...
Cons
- too short for depth5
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- Biggest gripe with this game is that it's way too short. That isn't usually a bad thing in terms of telling an effective story, but a good chunk of the game's content is linear hor...
- The only thing I liked was the weird transition effect between scenes. The "story" was trite and by the end I just got annoyed whenever there was another scene instead of it just b...
- Very boring story written either by a bunch of teenagers or people from suburbia who doesn't know what's struggle or difficult is. Characters are bland and flat, like if you ask a...
- underdeveloped characters4
see reviews +-
- i wish anya and daisuke were fleshed out better, but otherwise this game is amazing and i would recommend it to anyone who sees this. theres no jumpscares in your face, but there a...
- Biggest gripe with this game is that it's way too short. That isn't usually a bad thing in terms of telling an effective story, but a good chunk of the game's content is linear hor...
- Very boring story written either by a bunch of teenagers or people from suburbia who doesn't know what's struggle or difficult is. Characters are bland and flat, like if you ask a...
- confusing or unclear story4
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- Lowkey hard as hell to understand, this the kinda game you gotta watch a video essay about after you finish it. Ig I was pulling 4000 frames tho so that's cool
- insane narrative, atmosphere creation, and story plot, some of the puzzles don't make sense to me tho but overall incredible game and looking forward to the next game!
- I normally like narrative heavy games like this one but it just didnt click for me. The "game" is not engaging at all, and it just felt like a puzzle that i didnt want to put toget...
- horror feels overrated3
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- This game had potential but is way overrated for what it is, in my opinion. The characters are all interesting, and the game tries to view them from a psychological lens, but never...
- Cool game, but definitely buy it on sale. I got it at 40% off, which is the absolute max I'd pay. It's a tight 2, 3 hour narrative with little gameplay depth or achievement replayab...
- Wendigoon brought me here and I am so glad I played the game before watching his video. 100% recommend, though it is not for the faint of heart. It wasn't absolutely terrifying but...
- story not engaging3
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- The only thing I liked was the weird transition effect between scenes. The "story" was trite and by the end I just got annoyed whenever there was another scene instead of it just b...
- I normally like narrative heavy games like this one but it just didnt click for me. The "game" is not engaging at all, and it just felt like a puzzle that i didnt want to put toget...
- Very boring story written either by a bunch of teenagers or people from suburbia who doesn't know what's struggle or difficult is. Characters are bland and flat, like if you ask a...
Themes and quotes are drawn from 40 sampled reviews with text; the scores above reflect all 37.2K ratings. Counts are how many of the sampled reviews mention each point.