I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

 

Based on a short novel published in 1967 by Harlan Ellison, this point and click adventure has a grim tone and a dark presentation, and with it's sci-fi horror background, it surely will spook your imagination.

At least, if you had experienced it in 1995. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream has disturbing ethical choices to be made, but nowadays it can be considered an exceptional horror title from the 90's which actually expanded on the overall plot of the short novel.

AM, the supercomputer created after another world war broke loose between the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R. and China, entraps and tortures the last 5 living human characters for over a hundred years, and then finally lets them play a "game" with it. Selecting their scenarios can be done in any order, and they all take place in different time era's.

The adventures are implied to be metaphorical, which reflect back on the character's weaknesses. The chapters portray moral and ethical dilemmas dealing with dark topics like genocide, rape, paranoia and fanaticism.

It has the unique feature(apart from arcade video games) to be unwinnable, because this was a decision made by the creator of the story. It's not entirely unwinnable, but rather, the story can only end badly despite their being different outcomes.

Gameplay wise, it's nothing special, you've got your classic inventory screen, your various choices of interacting with the environment, objects and NPC's, and there are dialogue trees available. The game also employs impressive voice acting for it's time.

One odd feature sticking out is the so called spiritual barometer. It symbolically represents the character's mood and moral status. If you perform good deeds through the journeys, you will increase your chance at destroying AM. If you perform evil deeds, you will fall further down into hell.

Can't say I have a favorite adventure sticking out, as all five of them seemed to do just fine on their own merits. The final adventure afterwards triggers how it will all end, and for the most of us, they all seem to have an annoying afterthought, which is intended.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream has been on my to do list for years merely because of it's weird title alone, and after beating it, I can say that I did not miss out on much, as there are better point and click adventure games out there.

Still, if you dig psychological sci-fi horrors full of despair, check this out.

Rating: 6.9