The final voyage in 2024 is approaching. Days elapsed: 24 Writers hired: 8.

I hope this hurts.

Gargling is a short and disturbing sci-fi horror game.

Brandi: At the beginning of Gargling, you click buttons in the cockpit of a spaceship and deliberately steer it toward a horrific collision course. Everything that happened to the five crew members on this long-haul cargo ship was your fault. It’s a short game, only 2-3 hours long, where players need to walk around the corridors of the ship and chat with the various unfortunates who survived the crash. A troubled medic, a disgruntled engineer, a naive intern. The food was almost gone and everyone was arguing constantly. None of this will end well.

But at least one cargo hold is filled with mouthwash! The game’s joyful advertising adds a lot of dark humor to what is ultimately a truly grim space story about complacency, entitlement, and resentment. While some crew members were intoxicated by the high alcohol content of mint mouthwash, others were trying to come to terms with the heinous events that had occurred. It turns out that some of these events even happened before the ship crashed.

This is a great trick for this game. It flips back and forth in time, before and after the crash, filling in details of the crew’s relationships and lives. Before the crash, the captain (your character) seemed stressed, but ultimately optimistic. It’s hard to understand why he would intentionally crash the boat. After an accident, you play as co-pilot Jimmy, who now must ensure the survival of the crew.

This included giving painkillers to the injured and incapacitated captain. Because, Chang was in the cockpit during the impact, and now all his limbs are missing. He’s burned beyond recognition and covered in bandages – his one-eyed face serving as the game’s striking visual mascot. If there’s one thing about life aboard the Tulpa that has always disturbed me (and there’s more than one thing), it’s the captain’s moans and sobs as he lay there unable to even speak.

I don’t want to spoil the story anymore. I’ve done this in a massive post about characters. But if you value good storytelling and dialogue in games (and if you don’t mind some traditional psychological horror game sequences of running away from monsters that manifest out of your own shame), then you should put your holiday cheer in Trembling with fear. Look, I’ll help, don’t worry. Keep playing the game and don’t worry about the turkey, pudding, family or friends. Never mind all this.

I’ll take care of it.

Ed: I love this idea: In this horrific tale, there’s only one guarantee: minty fresh breath for everyone on board. Every breath? It’s like what your local Subway would taste like, if Subway replaced their Southwest chili sauce with Colgate Full Fat and their hearty Italian bread with some foot-long synthetics.

Nick: It turns out that the actual Silent Hill 2 remake is only the second-best torchbearer for Silent Hill 2’s legacy this year. That’s all I have to say!

Return to the Advent Calendar and open another door!