I first became interested in I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream about ten years or so ago when it had its first re-release on Steam (having originally been released almost thirty years ago on MS-DOS). I didn’t persevere for very long when I played the game on Steam, but I love classic point-and-click adventures just as much now as I did then, and this time I’ve seen Harlan Ellison’s dystopian adventure through to the very end.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is now available on Xbox and PS5 thanks to Nightdive Studios — who have developed quite the reputation for exactly this kind of re-release. Whilst in some cases the original games are reworked or at least remastered, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is very nearly a straight port of the original game — with few of the modernisations we’ve become used to in this genre.
With that said, I feel that this review needs to cover two key areas. Firstly, there’s the technical standard of the re-release and how it felt to be played on a relatively modern 4K television using a controller. Secondly, there’s the game content itself which — as I’ve already suggested — is largely, if not completely, unchanged from the original release.
Let’s start with the technical side of things then. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream features very few technical options or upgrades, other than whatever effort (not to be understated) that it took to get the game running on consoles at this resolution in the first place. Players can choose to enjoy the original pixelated art style, or to use a smoothing filter that makes relatively little difference.
The former, original style is my preference, though if I am honest it makes hardly any difference. The change in visuals isn’t as profound as it is in games like the Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle remakes, and if you hadn’t chosen one or the other in the menu, you probably wouldn’t even realise there was a difference,
The other main visual option you can change is that of the visual format. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream can be played either in a boxed 4:3 format that reflects the original (albeit with large borders) or it can be played in a stretched widescreen view. The second looks all wrong to me, and even though it fills your screen, it stretches the graphics in a way that I found awkward and unappealing.
So, whilst I am a bit critical of the changes made (or rather, not made) to the visuals, it’s important to remember that it’s being sold for about eight pounds. This means that it can hardly be expected to have the same expensive upgrades as some of the other games I’ve mentioned, but the game itself actually runs very well.
In terms of gameplay, while it has been discussed many times, but it still runs the risk of being a game you’ve never heard of. Quite the labour of love and based on a sci-fi short by Harlan Ellison, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is set in a dystopian future ruled by a sadistic AI called AM. AM has “won the war” between various AI’s in some future conflict, and now stands alone as the ruler of Earth and its self-proclaimed God.
Whilst we don’t necessarily know how AM has been in charge or how long it has been since humanity fell, we do know that there are only five humans left alive. These humans — all playthings for AM — have been imprisoned for some 109 years, and now live in torment. Perhaps as part of another game, or maybe as a legitimate offer, AM now promises these dismal beings a chance to escape, in return for completing one final game.
That game takes the form of five separate and more or less entirely unique puzzle sequences set around AM’s victims. Ellen, for example, has an irrational fear of the colour yellow, and in her story we must understand why and then face that fear. In another storyline, a character who I shan’t spoil here faces perpetual hunger whilst also battling with the possibility that they have committed cannibalism.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is unrelentingly grim. The locations are still as uniquely mid-late 20th Century Sci-Fi as they were upon release, and with the exception of a few familiar concepts (such as Ancient Egypt) being woven in, they remain quite unique and interesting. AM is said to live underground (in the centre of the Earth) and so there’s an element of Journey to the Centre of the Earth (among other, similar ideas) to it, but broadly it’s all so crazy that it still feels quite new.
AM is quite fond of killing the player as well, and frequent save-scumming is recommended. Anyone who played 90’s adventures like this at the time will remember how easy it can be to die (often for no good reason) but I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is even more brutal than you’ll be used to.
Equally, it has puzzles that are as often confusing and nonsensical as they are logical and rewarding. In one of the stories I felt I was making good progress towards the proposed endgame when I seemingly hit a dead end. After much backtracking I noticed a new object in a room that I’d previously spent a lot of time in… The explanation for that object arriving there was non-existent, but nonetheless it was the critical item needed to complete that particular chapter. That kind of thing is common here.
Whilst I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream has many of the issues that games of this kind had back when they were released, it also has a few unique ones of its own. The level of obtuse here is off the chart, and unlike say a Monkey Island game, there’s no sense that it actually wants you to play it.
With that said, though, that’s kind of what makes Ellison’s dystopian nightmare so appealing. It is unrelentingly dark and bleak — even more so in a world run by imbecilic, warmongering billionaires and the rising use of AI to replace humans without proper controls. I don’t think that I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream was ever intended as a warning, but it’s looking increasingly likely that it is one.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is far from a game for everyone to enjoy, but it is a relatively cheap experience that I think everyone should have. The story is smart and sharp, whilst the original voice acting (including AM who is voiced by Ellison himself) is absolutely top draw. This technical adaptation is absolutely adequate (without being remarkable) and played on the comfort of your sofa, I have no doubt that it will get your family talking.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is now available for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One X/S & PS5
