I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995)

**Preliminary:**With a name like this (I need to read the short story it's based on!), I had high expectations. Plus, I had somehow heard so much about this over the years.

It definitely is beautiful in parts, but kinda muddled and meh in others. Meh dialog, and what I first most noticed was meh voice acting. I was hoping for a more mood-setting vibe to the voice acting.

But the QoL aspects are very nice, especailly how switching to different commands is fast and easy with keyboard shortcuts and how it acts as you are clicking when you do that (that at first confused me, I kept thinking "I didn't click yet!" but then I pieced it together). I also really liked that as Ellen, you fight your rapist, and there were other implied good messages.

But for the most part it felt, well, meh. Meh music, meh voice acting, disappointing overall. I suppose this happens a lot when I have too high of expectations, but it didn't even meet a lower bar tbh. I suppose when it comes to the music, Look, and concept of a graphic adventure game, I prefer the absurdity of Eastern Minds (which in many ways this felt like a less absurd and fun version of, with the multiple scenarios etc), or the fun playful Humongous Entertainment/Monkey Island 2 vibe.

Still, I pushed through all of Ellen's scenario. It was disappointing to just go right back to selecting the next person, but I still felt accomplished enough. Not sure if I'd return to it for the other scenarios, as neat as her resolution and goals were, it just never felt particularly fun to play, and without spectacular music or Sound to captivate from the just-okay Play, it's unlikely.

Look: 8/10 Nothing phenomenal but still some really neat screens.

Sound: 7/10 As mentioned, not a fan of the voice acting or most the music.

Play: 7.5/10 Fine enough, but its weakest point along with Sound. Well I gave it a .5 boost for the QoL features and the fact I solved some of the puzzles on my own.

Feel: 7/10

Attachment: 7/10

Overall: 7.3/10

Completion: Finished Ellen's scenario

Playtime: 30 mins

In 1967 Harlan Ellison wrote I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, a short story about a post-apocalyptic world where a computer conquered planet Earth and used its power to torture endlessly the same five people in really gruesome and explicit ways. 28 years later, in 1995, someone decided it was a great idea to adapt that story into a point-and-click adventure game, and thus I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, the videogame, was created.

Ironically, the game probably has as much or more text than the original story, which is only 40.500 words long, and with it being point-and-click, most of the gameplay is clicking and reading what happened after that.

However, having experienced both versions, I must say... The story in the video game is way more interesting and expanded upon. Not to say the original is bad, I think it's great, and anybody who cares about sci-fi should read it at least once in their lives, but it's so short you are left wanting more of it, which is what you have here.

But here's the thing: Playing this thing is a nightmare. Have you ever heard about how point-and-click games died because they were plagued with obtuse gameplay, moon logic, needing a guide to understand what was happening, and points where you could hard-lock just because you didn't do things in the exact order they were expecting? Well, I Have No Mouth has all of that and more! So unless you use a guide 100% of the time, you will never get to the ending, which requires you to complete the five scenarios in the best way possible, and any bad choice you make will ruin your whole playthrough.

For this reason, I recommend watching a full playthrough of this instead of playing it, because the story is amazing, full of great sci-fi, taboo topics, and psychological terror that you don't find often, but you can't admire all of that when you are reading a walkthrough, or get stuck because you don't know what to do, or are worried that your choices will kill you and force you to restart. And this isn't a long game even by the genre standards, as you can complete it in three hours or less, so a walkthrough won't be as long as you would expect.

In conclusion, should you play it? Unless you are very patient and don't care about having to use a guide most of the time, not. Should you experience the story in any other way possible? If you don't mind the heavy topics discussed (nazism, sexual abuse, suicidal tendencies, domestic abuse, and the list goes on and on...) and like dystopic sci-fi, then yes. Far from being a good game, but I still enjoyed playing it, and am glad that it exists.

The criticism I have seen around the game is fair. Gameplay-wise the game is a chore and significantly dated. It didn't revolutionize the point-and-click genre and in many ways highlights the worst facets of the genre. Most puzzles are obtuse and you are given little context to push you in the right direction. Beating the game with the "good" ending requires a trial of patience, attrition and grit. You will have to thoroughly experiment and replay every scenario numerous times to discover the good ending on your own. I didn't have the patience for it, so I typically would try to beat each scenario without a guide, then replay immediately with a guide for the optimal outcome. Most puzzles will involve you finding the right pixel to click in a given room and then use it on the right object (that may also be small and hard to see). Most of the time you simply need to fail to understand the right order and course of actions. I think Gorrister is the most challenging of all scenarios, not only because his puzzles are the most complicated but also because he is likely the first scenario you will try. Thus you are learning what the game is expecting from you while also playing the most challenging scenario. I found all subsequent scenarios to be much easier and I attribute that to this "tutorial" scenario. There is an interesting mechanic that is never clearly explained to the character. There is a tome you can click on for a vague hint on your current objective to advance the plot. Every time you use it, your character loses health and can eventually die. This is communicated (poorly) to the player by the background of the character portrait changing from green (high health) to red (low health). I didn't figure this out until the endgame scenario. While I think tutorials can be tricky to implement well, since they can cause subsequent playthroughs to feel tedious based on length and execution, I do think this game needed one.

Where this game shines is with it's complicated themes, narrative, characters and rich atmosphere. While morality played a large role in Harlan Ellison's body of literature and in the original short story this game is based on, it takes a much larger role in this adaptation. At the heart of each scenario, morality is explored and dissected. Whether through Gorrister's guilt and suicidal intent, Ellen's trauma, Benny's brutality, Nimdok's quest for scientific advancement or Teds' exploitation of women. The game will force you to make challenging moral decisions.

The narrative is faithful, yet significantly different from the original short story. Playing through the game, Ellison's heavy involvement is clear. The tone and abrasive style is still intact. It's campy, poignant and philosophical. The game acts as an alternative universe from the novel, with the events (from the book) being heavily referenced. Some notable changes are with Benny. He wasn't a soldier and was gay in the original story. The later does feel a bit odd to change given how tacked on his wife feels during the end game scenario. His sexual orientation is leveraged for psychological torture in the novel. Ellen wants him physically (the most) and while he obliges her, he doesn't do it from a place of affection, thus making Ellen's affection unreciprocated and vacuous. The change to being a soldier I think is greatly leverage for the larger theme of morality. The scenario explores the brutal nature of humanity and forces you to make interesting moral choices. In the original cut of the game, the devs went so far as to allow the player to eat a baby. The other characters aren't really labeled with professions in the novel, so the added character arcs serves as enrichment.

My favorite scenario was Gorrister's. While it was the most obtuse with its puzzles, I thought the narrative contained within was the most interesting and its style and atmosphere were top notch. It felt like a fever dream filled to the brim with complex allegory. While I think each scenario (except for Ted's) all have great moments, Gorrister's stuck with me the most. Ellen's use of the color yellow as a symbol for her trauma was brilliant and has excellent pay off, making it a close number two for me. Benny and Nimdok have the most complicated moral choices that you have to make. I would consider both a tie. Finally, Ted was the biggest let down. It has some interesting ideas but also contains the most tropes. Kind of the point, but it doesn't do anything subversive or interesting in my opinion.

I personally liked the art style, music and voice acting, but I understand why others would have a differing opinion on the matter. It set an oppressive, grimy and disturbing atmosphere that fits the themes and narrative of the game. I also loved that Harlan Ellison voiced AM. You can tell he had a blast with it. I thought overall the performances were strong, except for Nimdok's. On one hand, he's meant to be a senile old man on the other his accent is terrible.

In conclusion, I have no Mouth was a missed opportunity. It had great writing but was held back by game play. A part of me wishes that Harlan Ellison had his way and the game was unbeatable. It may not have made it fair better commercially, but it would have led to a more interesting game.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is an old point-and-click adventure with a rangy & dirty aesthetic that is well suited to its overall theme. The voice acting is great and the game addresses themes that were exceptionally mature for its time. You learn a lot about the characters, their personal stories and the demons they battle inside themselves. Well worth a playthrough.

We covered the game on one of our podcast episodes, available here: Factory Sealed - Episode 82