As a huge fan of the original Harlan Ellison short story, I knew I had to play the point-n-click adventure adaptation released nearly 30 years later by The Dreamers Guild. Thankfully, I had somehow already owned it on GOG, so I immediately started playing it. 90s adventure games are always going to be a difficult genre to get into, due to their reputation as cruel, unfair titles with moon-logic puzzles and instant-death scenarios as punishment for daring to guess. While it is true that I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream does partially fall into these trappings, I'm glad to report that it is a largely successful adaptation of the original story that meaningfully expands on the characters and concepts from said story. The original story was only around eleven pages and didn't allow much room for character development or even significantly fleshed-out backstories. The game changes this, with each character from the short receiving their own unique campaigns, reflecting their greatest fears and insecurities. These campaigns are generally consistent in quality, with my favorite of the bunch being Benny's, as I found it to be the most interesting one narratively and aesthetically. Although a subject of censorship in its time, the game does not shy away from serious and often upsetting subject matters and handles them with genuine grace and tact. Themes such as grief, rape, murder, and genocide aren't simply used for shock value, but rather for the development and exploration of its five protagonists. Gorrister, Ellen, Benny, Nimdok, and Ted are all surprisingly well-written, each possessing distinct personalities, and the game devotes a great amount of time to exploring their internal struggles. Nimdok, for example, is inherently sympathetic due to his elderly age and the torment that AM puts him through. However, when it is revealed that he was instrumental in the torture and murder of numerous Jewish prisoners during World War 2, the player's sympathy is called into question. After all, Nimdok has been put through unquestionable hell, but when he's done the same to others, does he or does he not deserve it? These character complexities are what make this game so compelling, especially in comparison to the source material. Although sometimes the situations the characters are put in can be a little cheesy, such as representing a nightmarish man from Ellen's past as a shadowy monster with red glowing eyes, their reactions to said situations make them convincing nonetheless. The game is often disturbing and the tone is fairly consistent throughout, however, I will note that it doesn't quite match the same level of utter bleakness that the original story did. This isn't strictly a bad thing, as the game is still largely faithful, but it carries the vibes of its genre and era. Of course, how can one even mention this game without Harlan Ellison's phenomenal performance as the antagonist, AM? While AM was portrayed as a silent tormenter in the short, he's nothing short of a large ham in the game. This absolutely isn't a bad thing, as Ellison's performance is extremely convincing, breathing deep-seated insanity and utter maleficence into the character. He has become the game's most iconic element for a reason, as not only is he incredibly intimidating, but also highly entertaining. The rest of the voice actors do a surprisingly good job for the era as well, especially considering that many of them were relatively inexperienced, though I'll admit that Frederick Reynolds could be slightly overbearing with Nimdok's German accent. Overall, though, it's a great adaptation of the short story and this alone immediately makes it worth playing for fans of Ellison's work.
How does the game play though? The game certainly has a reputation for being rather difficult, if not often unfair, though I found most of the times I got stuck to be due to me not thinking outside of the box enough rather than poor design. That's not to say there aren't puzzles that are poorly designed, however, and Ted's campaign is chock full of puzzles that require literal guesswork that would be highly difficult to solve without an unreasonable amount of trial and error or a strategy guide. Despite this, there are some genuinely clever puzzles here as well, and by and large the first four campaigns just generally require some out-of-the-box thinking that while I don't find unreasonable, may take some getting used to. Sometimes the game seemingly expects you to do certain puzzles in specific orders, which can occasionally feel obtuse, but the fact that you can save as much as you want softens this a bit. Another thing of note is that the game is kind of buggy, and while not game-breaking most of the time, it can result in items that were previously in one room having their sprites disappear, but still being interactable objects anyways. The only time this ever soft-locked me was in Ted's campaign, where walking outside of the castle would occasionally prevent me from walking back inside, forcing me to reload my save. Playing the game through ScummVM doesn't seem to fix any of these, which is unfortunate. Nevertheless, I'd say the gameplay is generally quite good, but it is held back by a few inconsistent puzzles and bugs.
Visuals are very important for an adventure game, as narrative aside it's your primary method of engaging with the game's world. Thankfully, I Have No Mouth delivers on portraying an insane, warped world of decay and psychodrama. Environments are creative, with varied and interesting locations such as a flying steampunk zeppelin, an abandoned roadside bar, an ancient Egyptian tomb, and a techno-hell native cave civilization being particular highlights. This does lend the game a rather artificial feeling, such as the vegetation in Benny's campaign being robotic, reminding the player that the lands they traverse are nothing more than products of the active imagination of an insane computer. Backgrounds can have almost a painted look to them at points, which distinguishes the game from the pixellated look that most mid-90s games possessed. I even like how the character sprites can scale in quality to make them appear larger or smaller, allowing for a grander scale to many of the game's environments. If there's anything that could use some work, however, it's the animations, which while generally serviceable occasionally come across as awkward. This can occasionally disrupt the game's tone, especially when characters are speaking, as they suddenly appear overly cartoonish rather than somewhat stylized as usual. Another positive aspect of the game's presentation is the score, composed by John Ottman. What makes this game's soundtrack unique compared to a lot of games at the time is its cinematic quality, being composed similarly to films rather than what was expected from gaming. This does make sense, as Ottman would later make a name for himself working on The Usual Suspects and the X-Men films. The game's score makes great use of recurring motifs for each track, with each of the characters' themes sounding completely different but carrying said motifs, giving the game a unified sound. Even within the constraints of old-school MIDI music, the use of strings and more unconventional instruments such as xylophones and harmonicas do lend this game a unique feeling that not only complements the atmosphere but also allows it to stand out. It's a great score and probably one of the most impressive uses of classic MIDI I've seen.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is often considered a classic of the adventure game genre. While I do think it's a flawed game, it deserves that title. Its storytelling is its strongest point, expanding upon the source material in meaningful ways, giving the characters more depth, and elaborating on many of the sci-fi concepts it originally posed. The characters are interesting, the antagonist is extremely memorable, and the tone is depressing and disturbing. Its presentation is unique for its time and still presents an immersive atmosphere so many years later, even if some relatively minor aspects could use some work. Sure, the gameplay may be difficult, perhaps excessively so at points, and Ted's campaign may be an uninteresting slog, but overall this is a very solid adventure title with many memorable aspects that make this a must-play for fans of the original short story, and easy to recommend to fans of adventure games.
How does the game play though? The game certainly has a reputation for being rather difficult, if not often unfair, though I found most of the times I got stuck to be due to me not thinking outside of the box enough rather than poor design. That's not to say there aren't puzzles that are poorly designed, however, and Ted's campaign is chock full of puzzles that require literal guesswork that would be highly difficult to solve without an unreasonable amount of trial and error or a strategy guide. Despite this, there are some genuinely clever puzzles here as well, and by and large the first four campaigns just generally require some out-of-the-box thinking that while I don't find unreasonable, may take some getting used to. Sometimes the game seemingly expects you to do certain puzzles in specific orders, which can occasionally feel obtuse, but the fact that you can save as much as you want softens this a bit. Another thing of note is that the game is kind of buggy, and while not game-breaking most of the time, it can result in items that were previously in one room having their sprites disappear, but still being interactable objects anyways. The only time this ever soft-locked me was in Ted's campaign, where walking outside of the castle would occasionally prevent me from walking back inside, forcing me to reload my save. Playing the game through ScummVM doesn't seem to fix any of these, which is unfortunate. Nevertheless, I'd say the gameplay is generally quite good, but it is held back by a few inconsistent puzzles and bugs.
Visuals are very important for an adventure game, as narrative aside it's your primary method of engaging with the game's world. Thankfully, I Have No Mouth delivers on portraying an insane, warped world of decay and psychodrama. Environments are creative, with varied and interesting locations such as a flying steampunk zeppelin, an abandoned roadside bar, an ancient Egyptian tomb, and a techno-hell native cave civilization being particular highlights. This does lend the game a rather artificial feeling, such as the vegetation in Benny's campaign being robotic, reminding the player that the lands they traverse are nothing more than products of the active imagination of an insane computer. Backgrounds can have almost a painted look to them at points, which distinguishes the game from the pixellated look that most mid-90s games possessed. I even like how the character sprites can scale in quality to make them appear larger or smaller, allowing for a grander scale to many of the game's environments. If there's anything that could use some work, however, it's the animations, which while generally serviceable occasionally come across as awkward. This can occasionally disrupt the game's tone, especially when characters are speaking, as they suddenly appear overly cartoonish rather than somewhat stylized as usual. Another positive aspect of the game's presentation is the score, composed by John Ottman. What makes this game's soundtrack unique compared to a lot of games at the time is its cinematic quality, being composed similarly to films rather than what was expected from gaming. This does make sense, as Ottman would later make a name for himself working on The Usual Suspects and the X-Men films. The game's score makes great use of recurring motifs for each track, with each of the characters' themes sounding completely different but carrying said motifs, giving the game a unified sound. Even within the constraints of old-school MIDI music, the use of strings and more unconventional instruments such as xylophones and harmonicas do lend this game a unique feeling that not only complements the atmosphere but also allows it to stand out. It's a great score and probably one of the most impressive uses of classic MIDI I've seen.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is often considered a classic of the adventure game genre. While I do think it's a flawed game, it deserves that title. Its storytelling is its strongest point, expanding upon the source material in meaningful ways, giving the characters more depth, and elaborating on many of the sci-fi concepts it originally posed. The characters are interesting, the antagonist is extremely memorable, and the tone is depressing and disturbing. Its presentation is unique for its time and still presents an immersive atmosphere so many years later, even if some relatively minor aspects could use some work. Sure, the gameplay may be difficult, perhaps excessively so at points, and Ted's campaign may be an uninteresting slog, but overall this is a very solid adventure title with many memorable aspects that make this a must-play for fans of the original short story, and easy to recommend to fans of adventure games.