One of my favorite parts of Mouthwashing’s writing was that it made me feel like a bad person.
Because, in the first part of the game when Jimmy is interacting with Anya, I agreed with him. I agreed that Anya wasn’t being a good nurse, and that she was a burden on the crew, and that while the situation she was in was terrible, and of course stressing her out, everyone else was in the same boat as her, so why couldn’t she shape up and try to help?
And then the reveal of her pregnancy happened, and how it happened, and I realized I’d been seeing her through Jimmy’s eyes this whole time, and worse, believing him. She wasn’t in the same situation as the other crew members, she was in a significantly worse one. Stranded in space, pregnant and facing the prospect of giving birth with no medical supplies, with the only person she trusted completely unable to help her, and she was under the command and at the mercy of her abuser.Of course she was nauseous, of course she was meek, of course she was constantly distressed. But Jimmy told me she was weak, not pulling her weight, being a bad nurse, and I believed him. And when I realized the truth I felt like a real piece of shit.
That’s some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in a video game.