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

Back in 1995, developers Cyberdreams and The Dreamers Guild released a video game adaptation of one of Harlan Ellison’s most famous short stories, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (IHNMAIMS), cited as one of the ten most reprinted stories in the English language. This adaptation, written and designed in collaboration with Ellison himself, would receive positive reviews and develop enough of a cult following over time that Nightdive Studios would later remaster the game for modern systems in 2013, followed by a console port in 2025. Admittedly, although I had known about the short story for the longest time, I finally checked it out after learning that a series that I like, The Amazing Digital Circus, took inspiration from it. Naturally, this also led me to playing the video game, which, for the sake of this review, I’ll mention was through the Nightdive release on Steam with all patches up to this point applied. There is some jank in the game’s design, especially one originally intended to have no win state, but it’s still worth checking out for how well it builds on the original story.

In a dystopian future, a super powerful AI known as Allied Mastercomputer gains sentience and renames itself AM (Cogito ergo sum; “I think, therefore I am”). Out of sheer hatred towards humanity, AM wipes out all life on Earth save for five individuals (Gorrister, Ellen, Benny, Nimdok and Ted), whom he tortures in an underground complex for his own amusement. After 109 years, his prisoners are brought before a monument where he wishes to play a new game with them, one that involves placing them in psychodramas specifically calculated to exploit their traumas. Now, the prisoners have an opportunity to finally outwit AM through psychological warfare and leave their pasts behind.

Gorrister, Ellen, Benny, Nimdok and Ted stand before AM.

IHNMAIMS plays out this story through the mechanics of a point-and-click adventure game, specifically through the S.A.G.A. game engine, which lets the five survivors interact with their world in unique ways, conducted through an Action Screen. As with other adventure games in this style, the Action Window shows the player character’s position within the environment and the player clicks different spots to either move the character around or perform certain actions. There are eight Command Buttons (Walk to, Look at, Take, Use, Talk to, Swallow, Give, Push) that the player can use to start a simple sentence in the Sentence Line, indicating the action to be performed. Through these actions, players can also interact with items in their Inventory that can help them solve puzzles to advance the story. The player character’s portrait is always visible in the lower left corner for the purposes of showing not only their emotions, but their Spiritual Barometer, which changes color depending on whether they perform good or evil acts. Although the player is free to control the outcome of the story, improving the Spiritual Barometer will also improve the player’s chances of defeating AM later on.

This gameplay loop is pretty easy to get a handle on, especially with the presence of visible keyboard shortcuts for each of the commands (e.g. “W” for “Walk to” or “P” for “Push”). These shortcuts also make constructing a sentence with an inventory item easier, as you don’t need to click on the item to continue the sentence (just hover over the item and press the intended shortcut). It helps that the environments not only look distinct from one another, but are fairly easy to navigate, save for some “pixel hunting” present in many '90s adventure games.

Such easy gameplay helps facilitate, and even enhance, the story, which is broken up into five parts, one for each of the five protagonists. Compared to their depiction in the original short story, each character feels significantly more fleshed-out and we get a good idea of who they are as people and the traumas or sins that they must overcome in order to become better versions of themselves. You can play these stories in any order you wish, but I went in the order in which you can select them by the Hate Pillar, which somehow felt natural based on how AM introduced Ted’s story. The psychodramas are not only underscored with great sound design and a great soundtrack by John Ottman, who would later score some entries in the X-Men film series from 20th Century Fox and win an Oscar for Best Film Editing for Bohemian Rhapsody, but really come alive thanks to great voice acting all around, with particular praise to Harlan Ellison’s take on AM, whose every word effectively drips with contempt for humans. It also helps that the game has some great animation and pixel art for the time that still looks nice today, with some unique animations and expressions between characters.

The graphics still look decent today.

Throughout each of the five stories, you really get in each character’s head through branching dialogue choices, as well as insights provided through otherwise mundane interactions. Their personalities also feel distinct and consistent, no doubt thanks to Ellison’s involvement. Certain threads also emerge that help create an overarching narrative around stopping AM and the extent to which he has tortured the five survivors, though explaining how would be too much of a spoiler for those interested in playing. Sometimes, you may have to think like the player character to wrap your head around a puzzle, which is honestly a clever design choice. Some of the writing has arguably not aged as well as it could have, but that doesn’t take away from the overall strength of the narrative, which still lets you sympathize with the survivors’ plight.

Familiarity with the short story also enhances the experience in subtle ways. During Benny’s chapter, for instance, there’s a piece of optional dialogue that references the events of the source material, though with a different outcome implied. The game also opens with AM’s famous “Hate” speech, transitioning into a new monologue that organically sets the stage and ends with the initial character select screen where the survivors stand before a pillar with the speech inscribed on it (hence “Hate Pillar”). I will mention, however, that the game doesn’t explain the origin of Nimdok’s name, nor does it explore Benny’s homosexuality outside of subtle nods (a decision that the developers have since regretted).

A nod to the original short story.

Completing all five stories brings the player to the final confrontation with AM, which involves a new set of interactions and puzzles that lead to one of seven different endings depending on how the player has acted throughout. Though I won’t spoil it here, the “best” ending, which Ellison had approved, may not feel as bleak as the original short story, but feels hopeful in its own way.

Unfortunately, where the writing is this game’s greatest strength, the gameplay leaves something to be desired. Not the easy gameplay loop, but the experience of playing the game yourself as opposed to watching someone play it. I will admit that I largely played the game with the aid of a guide, partly out of a lack of patience for older game design, but I did try playing at least one of the storylines (Ellen’s) without the aid of a guide and found going in with one even more justifiable afterwards. Apart from the “pixel hunting” that was the style at the time, it’s shockingly easy to run into a dead end or soft lock if you have no idea what you’re doing and some of the puzzle solutions are unintuitive (this originally hailed from the era of Hint Books, a close equivalent of modern strategy guides, so one may wonder if games were intentionally made difficult to sell more Hint Books). Ellen’s puzzles were mostly pretty easy, but I just narrowly avoided an unintentional soft lock and there was a glitch that spawned a non-interactable version of a key item too early, which only led to some flailing around for a minute until I saw that it was, indeed, an unintentional event. I also figured out some amount of the other stories on my own, but still wondered how I would have figured out the proper sequence of events in places without a lot of trial and error (Gorrister’s psychodrama comes to mind). The fact that you can always access each character’s Psych Profile in the inventory is also a trap. It acts as an in-game Hint Book, but just reading it lowers your Spiritual Barometer enough that you’ll never see the best ending unless you save scum (it’s best to create multiple save files as you go anyway).

While I did find the game far more enjoyable with a guide, as I could focus more on the excellent writing without the frustration, I will mention that following a guide to the letter can have the side effect of removing some of the story, both for the individual psychodrama and for the worldbuilding and buildup for the rest of the game. For example, looking at various objects or locations gives the player a window into the player character’s inner thoughts, which can include information or insights that add pathos to their character or give more context to certain plot threads. Once, looking at a certain object in one psychodrama actually acts as a hint for another psychodrama. Speaking to NPCs and exploring dialogue options can sometimes lead to a bad ending for the player character on the spot, but can also add additional insights or help contextualize your actions. As such, while I would recommend using a guide while playing, I would also encourage taking the time to really look around or explore as much dialogue as you can that won’t affect your intended ending.

If you don't explore, you'll also miss gems like this.

As for the endings themselves, the conditions for obtaining them largely rely on the exact sequence of actions you perform during the final confrontation against AM, which give players a unique look into a visualization of various aspects of AM’s mind. You wouldn’t necessarily know the proper sequence for some of them without some guidance, most of which end in a similar fashion to the original short story but with some unique twists that take advantage of the expanded setting. However, while there are two more positive endings, you can still fumble the route for the “best” ending on the final screen of the game if you make the wrong decision. Completing this route without a guide will require great observation of the story on the player’s part, which arguably rewards paying attention and immersing yourself. It’s also rather fitting for the story that AM can pull the victory out from under you just when you think you’re safe.

For players who may not have patience for 1990s adventure game design, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream won’t really change their mind. For those who love the original short story or have worries about the future of AI, however, this game is worth playing for its great writing and timeless reminder of the indomitable human spirit. Just make sure you play with a guide.