Mouthwashing Tips: Puzzles, Codes, and Early Mistakes

Early Game: Learn the Controls and Get Through the Opening

The Tulpar becomes harder to navigate when you rush past the clue you need. These Mouthwashing tips focus on finding the scanner, solving kitchen puzzles, and getting through nightmare encounters. Learn those essentials so you can follow the crew’s story without spending unnecessary time circling the same hallway.

The opening sections cover early objectives. Later sections include spoilers for encounters and nightmare puzzles.

1. Learn how to use inventory items

On PC, use these controls to move around and interact:

• WASD: Move.
• Spacebar or left mouse button: Interact.
• Tab: Access your inventory to use items.
• Shift: Run.
• Right mouse button: Back out of viewing mode.

When an objective requires a tool, open your inventory and select it. Picking up the scanner is only part of the process; you also need to activate it and aim at the relevant surface.

Mouthwashing also supports controllers, so use whichever input method feels more comfortable.

2. Check the cockpit locker when the autopilot button is locked

During the opening flight sequence, turn right when the collision warning tells you to turn left. When you need to disable autopilot, leave the pilot’s seat and inspect the locker behind you.

Take the emergency key above the employee card, then return to unlock and press the red autopilot button. Continue through the doors that open afterward. The corridor ends in a scripted crash, so keep moving instead of searching for an escape route.

Official page: Mouthwashing (criticalreflex.com)

Early Exploration: Find and Use the Code Scanner

Image: Steam / Wrong Organ

3. Look low in the damaged cockpit

After speaking with Anya in the medical bay, return through the lounge and head toward the large corridor. Find the cockpit, where crash foam covers much of the room.

Look at the floor on the left for the scanner’s purple blinking light. The supply locker on the right also opens, but the scanner is the item you need to access the cargo hold.

4. Scan dark panels before trying combinations

Select the scanner from your inventory, activate it, and point at the dark patch on the locked object. Use this process for both the cargo hold and the fire axe case encountered in the pre-crash sequence.

Locked object	Combination	What it provides
Cargo hold door	4517	Access to the cargo hold
Fire axe case	2609	The axe needed to free Daisuke from foam

Remember the scanning process after using these combinations. Other objectives also depend on inspecting surfaces with the tool.

Kitchen Puzzles: Prepare the Cake in Two Stages

Image: Steam / Wrong Organ

5. Separate the cake mixture from the icing

During the birthday sequence, flip through the recipe book beside the kitchen equipment. Use the scanner to uncover the sweetener code.

Ingredient	Dispenser code
Water	3142
Gelatin	4213
Sweetener	2341

Complete the recipe in this order:

1. Collect the water, gelatin, and sweetener.
2. Place the water and gelatin beneath the mixer’s two orange tubes.
3. Pull the lever to produce the cake.
4. Pick up the cake from the center.
5. Place the sweetener and icing base beneath the orange tubes.
6. Pull the lever again to finish the icing step.
7. Bring the finished cake to the table.

The initial mixture does not finish the objective. Complete the icing before returning to the crew.

Resources: Follow the Medical Objectives Carefully

Image: Steam / Wrong Organ

6. Speak to Anya before giving Curly his medication

When the objective asks you to find out whether Curly has received painkillers, locate Anya first. At this point, she is in the cockpit with Swansea.

After the conversation, return to the medical bay, take the painkillers from the table, and give them to Curly. Follow the requested conversation before trying to complete the treatment.

7. Take both items from the foam-blocked locker

Later, speak to Swansea in the lounge and retrieve the axe after he embeds it in the screen. Use it to clear the foam at the end of the corridor leading toward the medical area.

Inside the newly accessible locker, collect both the painkillers and the isopropyl alcohol. The medication serves the immediate objective, while the alcohol is used later in the kitchen drink puzzle. Pick up both before leaving.

Stealth and Combat: Match Your Pace to the Encounter

8. Walk in short bursts during the storage nightmare

When you enter the dark storage sequence while searching for disinfectant, stop sprinting. Move a short distance, pause, and use the scanner to locate the creature.

Your target is the Polly statue holding mouthwash. Work around the collapsed bridge on the left, stopping whenever the creature approaches. Use the scanner between movements instead of pushing ahead without checking its position.

9. Focus on landing three hits in the cemetery encounter

During the later cemetery confrontation, Swansea pursues you with an axe. You need to shoot him three times to complete the encounter.

Create room to aim, then take your shots. If he catches you, you respawn; use the next attempt to adjust your timing and positioning.

Nightmare Navigation: Recognize the Puzzle’s Rule

10. Back away from the “No way back” note

In the ventilation sequence, turning around after reaching the “No way back” note sends you back to it.

Keep facing the note and hold S to retreat backward. When you reach another illuminated vent, turn toward that opening and continue backing up. Follow the movement rule rather than repeatedly trying to leave by turning around.

11. Adjust the feeding puzzle one valve at a time

In the later scene with Curly surrounded by monitors, watch the television until the cake appears, then interact with it to take the food.

Use the monitors to follow its route. Each valve controls a different part of the feeding mechanism, and the displayed line indicates where an adjustment is needed.

Turn one valve, inspect the corresponding monitor, and follow the route onward. Changing several valves together makes it harder to track which adjustment redirected the food.

Exploration: Check Nearby Details Before Moving On

12. Inspect the shelves and floor around unusual scenes

Mouthwashing has 18 Steam achievements, and some optional discoveries sit just outside the obvious route.

During the dark sequence with a television on the floor, inspect the surrounding shelves before approaching the screen. Curly is hiding nearby.

Later, when you encounter the broken Polly statue in the lounge, look on the floor to its left for Jimmy’s employee card. Check these nearby spaces before moving straight toward the next objective.