I wish you had explained the "bad ending" where the survivor is made into that mushy figure. He literally has no mouth and needs to scream.

What I enjoyed is the fact that the author, hated games, but then became so passionate about the project and one of the highlights to me is him voice acting for AM, and I really damn love his voice acting, the raw emotion he puts into his role just sounds like he was having fun.

The bad ending made me feel like AM somehow transforms the remaining survivor into a vulnerable and powerless version of itself: a creature who is self aware, yet unable to move, feed itself or even die, that added that somehow, they both have their origins linked to humanity, though in different ways. Feels like AM's last act of revenge. Great video, I discovered this game last week and I certainly enjoy it :)

Rest In Peace Harlan J Ellison - Died June 27 2018

"are ya winnin, son?" "no... we've all lost"

I just came over to this video after finding out that Internet Historian stole your video. Wanted to give you a sub, a like, and the views that you deserve

Great commentary, but I was a bit surprised you never really covered the bad/original ending from the short story. You show the creature multiple times but never really explain or describe it, or even make the connection between that ending and the title.

AM is the scariest AI of all time. This game is true horror

THE CANNED OPENER IS A LIE

I won with Nimdok. I felt since he helped make AM, that it was only fitting for him to destroy AM

This would be too disturbing for most gamers if made with modern graphics.

Little correction that you missed: On Benny's game, when you're on the day before the last one (In which the child must be sacrificed.) If you access his computer before going to sleep you'll actually be able to talk to the Russian (From what i remember) supercomputer, which gives some more info. EDIT: Just finished the video, very well done! (Also ty for pinning this) This series really is interesting, and to see a game i used to play when i was younger brings me memories have such an interesting analysis has gotten you a new subscriber!

This game does actually stop you from being able to randomly click and hope for the best, as the morals and multiple endings means you need to think about what you click if you want to remain not a mushy blob thing.

Strong the supermutant would be happy to know that he could find the Milk of Human's Kindness.

What's interesting is, while Ellen is the most lusting, she's the most innocent out of all the other survivers.

I do not recommend playing this game if you plan not to have your soul frozen from terror

This game is one of my all-time favourites. The mid-90's presentation and gameplay only serve to increase the atmosphere of the game to the point where I believe playing the game nowadays is even more enjoyable than if you were to have played the game when it came out. Watching this is really making me want to replay sometime soon.

to shock the player? yeah its really shocking how hard it is to finish the game.

apologies for the flickering texts, Vegas wrecked my video so I had to upload an earlier render. P. S. I'm not saying Freud is still accepted in modern psychology.

What a great analysis, loved it and subscribed :)

I find it perplexing that AM has a super ego. I always thought it would look sickly or perhaps over indulged. But am seems to have a healthy super ego albeit homocidal but... It seems to be healthy. Also, I would argue this game does have a win condition. You can 1) Shut down AM 2) Help the 4 survivors become better people and overcome their weaknesses 3) Help get the lunar sleepers back to earth. Even if it's not considered a conventional win, every situation in life does have a best case scenario and achieving a best case scenario is a win in my book.

The game overall is unwinnable, the evil isn't gone but sleeping in terms of time. Itll be back some day

RIP Harlan Ellison, thanks for the analysis

Also I think it was implied the Golem was the actual Judean Golem that the Nazis discovered and Nimdok was able to command it because he himself was Jewish while the other Nazi scientists there could not

Wonderful analysis. It's very difficult for me to replay it as you suggest, due to this game granting me a night of horrific reoccurring nightmares, but I will watch your video from time to time to remind myself of this masterpiece.

I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST *M E M E*

Your video is definitely 100% better than the stolen one. You actually took Ellen’s trauma seriously, while the other video downplayed it and said “she got off easy”. I love Ellen, she deserved nothing that happened to her in the game/book

I’ve watched several videos on this game. Analysis videos to full play throughs with commentary. An this is, by far, the best video on the game I have ever seen. Excellent breakdown. I am blown away. Thank you.

This is a fantastic video, and a great analysis of I Have No Mouth! One thing I always asked myself, was why Ellen was trapped there when she didn't really do anything egregious or terrible. The other four characters all committed some form of atrocity, except for her. Ellen was a victim of a traumatic experience. I think this, coinciding with the fact that she is a woman, is what AM intended all along. AM wanted to portray her as a victim and an object for the four male characters to toy with and be tempted by. AM takes away her autonomy and punishes her through victim-hood, as the worst moments in her life were all out of her control (a miscarriage and molestation in an elevator). But maybe I'm reading too much into it LOL.

God, I love Harlan Ellison’s voice acting. It’s pretty clear he had a lot of fun bringing AM to life in an interactive medium.

in 17 seconds you said all the words that youtube demonetises, well played

How do you only have 900 subscribers? This video was fantastic.

"Monster Dickhead Joseph Mengele" 🤣🤣🤣 best line ever!!

Checking out this video since I heard it had been plagiarized by Internet Fraudstorian. This one is so much better, and the copying is blatant. Subbed.

We are all getting older, but this is a timeless peace at least as long as it's stored and archived somewhere. Love You Aesir.

I thought your title was a complete sentence

Absolutely INCREDIBLE analysis of an amazing game that inspired me as a teenager. Officially subbed and watching all your other videos now.

The Internet Historian: "Yoink!"

This video is so great! You have a criminally low sub amount. Please please continue to do this!

I have no nose and i must sneeze I always sneeze when something good happens Discovering this channel , AM knows how , is definitely good Subscribed wholeheartedly . Thanx !

This game and the story it's based on might be the piece of fiction I've thought about the most over the course of my life. I love how I can introduce it to people and they'll almost always be able to bring up in discussion something I've never thought of before. This video definitely did justice to that. The sections on Freudian psychology and connections you may make on subsequent playthroughs were especially great. Always wonderful to see more thoughtful material rung out of this incredibly rich story!

Copied by the evil internet historian, but glad to find the OG!

I've known of this game for about a year now but essentially had no idea what it was about. This video is amazing and explains everything I was wondering. Thanks for making a entire analysis video on a very obscure game from the 90's, it's nice to see people out there on this site that make content because they actually enjoy what they are talking about.

Am i the only one who's bothered by the fact that the game erased Benny's homosexuality? In the short story he wasn't punished/altered for being a cruel man. It really doesn't make any sense to me as to why they would change that aspect of the character.

I remember reading this story and feeling utterly immersed. I always internally punish myself for not reading more than I do, thus the proces of actually reading always becomes awkward for me mentally. But while reading I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream I was so completely into every bit of the narrative, that I forgot all about that those negative thoughts. I think it's the best short story I have ever read.

Listening to you intelligently explain psychology while the most contrived text ever is shown in the video was cracking me up

"I have no 4chan, and i must RE"

I am so glad this appeared on my recommended.

10/10 "It has a little something for everyone"

The original "Matrix"

Just watched your Silent Hill and then this, excellent content, subbed :)

Thank you so much for this, it was an amazing analysis and deconstruction of the game. I've been wanting to know more about this game for a while so it's great to finally know what it was all about, I hope to play it in the eventual future.

AM's parting shot really is the most chilling. The fact that the survivors would likely re-create AM in some form, given enough time. Like a cyclic apocalypse.

damn. Time to play this again.

Man im surprised anybody even remembers this gem.

Discovered this video during my lunch break and it took me about 8 minutes to realize your accent is Icelandic. I’m very impressed with this video and I can really appreciate the work and personality that you put out. Vel gert!

Really sorry to hear about Internet Historian plagiarizing this video :( Been subbed to your channel for so long that I was here watching this vid when it was first uploaded, and I'm here re-watching it now to make up for IH's audacity :)

internet historian stole your vid but at least ive just found a new youtuber i like:3:3

I wish people would stop explaining the concept of the id, the ego, and the superego as "Shoulder angel and shoulder demon". First of all, pretty much any of Freud's theories should be taken with a grain of salt. But even if we accept that human consciousness is a tertiary structure, the id is not inherently evil, and the superego is not inherently good. The id says "I want" and the superego says "you shouldn't". But that voice that says "You shouldn't" is often just a parroting of your own parents' voices learned from childhood. And parents can be fallible. We internalize the virtues and values our society expects from us, and are constantly in a state of reconciling those expectations with our selfish desires. But where do those virtues and values come from? And in a hierarchical power structure, too often it turns out the values we hold in our superego are simply reflections of the id of whoever is already at the top of the heap. You list rape and pedophilia as immoral. But are both considered immoral because they put another person in a state of suffering and fear, or are they simply considered immoral because they are abhorrent displays of sexuality? Understanding the difference matters, because while both methods conclude a pretty obviously immoral thing is immoral, one line of reasoning forces you to think for yourself about exercising empathy for others, and one is simply an appeal to power and following the rules of your society. And that kind of shallow morality allows for the thinking that homosexuality is no less evil than pedophilia. The gay rights movement is a pretty strong example where following the desires of the id over the superego was morally the better choice. According to the standards set by society, there were many reasons not to be homosexual. It allegedly offended god, it would upset your wife and family, in a world where even depicting straight missionary sex was considered risque it must have seemed like some very uncharted waters of physical experimentation. But progress happened because a certain percent of the population said "my emotions, my love, and even my lust are important, and when I try to suppress my own desires I just end up hurting more people than if I was simply honest about myself". And once people were willing to put themselves above the morality of the power structure, we realized the men who run the churches were just trying to control everybody's sexuality, and that they were the ones acting selfishly. The relationship between the id and superego isn't analogous to an angel and a devil. It's more like your id is your gut, your superego is the outside world, and your ego is your head trying to negotiate both. But you can make the ethical decision that you yourself need to eat, and that society's reasons for expecting you to sacrifice yourself are just as arbitrary and self-serving as your own base instincts. And tangentially related, I've always felt weird about Ellen's character arc among the others. She's not only the only woman in the group, but the only character who didn't really do anything wrong. Was that the idea, or are we supposed to infer that she is in hell for a moral failing like the other characters? Like... is she weak cus a guy raped her and she didn't fight back? Cus she was too mentally distressed to testify against him? How does mutating her to become hypersexualized or wanting to reduce her to a hysterical mess comment on anything about her character outside of her gender? The decision to make her tech savvy is cool and all, but it kind of just seems like a dodge to the accusation that... you know... Ellison could possibly have some _problems with women?_ Just like Freud!

You want this game to be unwinnable? Play the german version, they cut out Nimdoc cause of the nazi elements, which honestly is quiet a shame. Like c'mon, it's not like the game portrays nazis in a good way. Still great video to a wonderfull and quiet terrefying yet fascinating game. Funny enough, I discovered this game by reading about the trope that this game gave the trope it's name. XD

Wow you're everywhere on my recommended right now. Happy to see it.

You can think about things like this forever, but merely thinking doesn't get you anywhere now does it

About Ellen being made a slave to her sexual desires.... Maybe that was in the game and I didn't notice, but in the story it is made pretty obvious that Ellen craving sex (specifically from Benny) is a manifestation of Ted's (the narrator) paranoia, jealousy, and delusion. Am is a sick fuck, but I think he only gets pleasure if they have some semblance of free will. He enjoys her being the source of jealousy, lust, and paranoia, that is the same reason he leaves Ted with his "good looks" as even Ted explains that it makes him hated by the other members of the group. Love your anaylisis, but I wanted to post that in case it gives you a bit of a different perspective. Am loves to torture, but that torture hardly entertains him if he simply changes the feelings and thoughts of his victims.

Someone should remake this game since we have better technology this would make a really good game

So glad I found this video and found your channel! This was a great analysis and you deserve so many more subscribers!!

Awesome video. Very in depth and interesting. Keep up the good work.

No, there's a "good" ending. It's the one where you defeat AM and oversee the terraforming of Earth so humanity can live on it again.

11:09 "sold out his own jewish parents" But wouldn't that make him jewish too?

90's kids: "ok this is nihilistic"

Really nice summary brother. Enthralling the whole video long.

Before I watched this, I too thought the game should be unwinnable. It makes perfect sense. I also thought that there should be a winning scenario hidden in the code if anyone tries to get coy, but could never be unlocked. Really throw people off - because if someone saw that it was unwinnable then no-one would play it.

I have never heard of this and I am offended. Media has failed me. Thank you for making this video- so inspiring.

"Before AM took over the planet..." will forever be seared in my mind But fr this was a great analysis

New to your channel. Just commenting 'cause I like this stuff.

Thank you for making this! I actually had considered making a video essay about this game myself, but you nailed everything about the game I found interesting. I also agree, that I think the 'good' ending didn't feel quite right in comparison to Ellison's original vision for the ending. Glancing at your other video essays, you seem to be the first person I've seen tackling what I've wanted to discuss in video essays, so I hope you continue to make more!

You should definitely report Internet Historian's (aka Storymode)'s video for plagiarism. I don't know how much you'll get out of it, but at least he won't be profiting off of your content.

great job with your analysis in this master piece. I just learned about the book and game.

I find myself coming back here quite often. I hope you get to do more videos and I'd love to help you if you have a patreon, although not now, living in Argentina my currency means shit in other countries. But for the time being I'll have you know that I enjoy your work pretty much. Kudos to you friend, I wish u nothing but the best.

Your channel name is ripe for anagrams. I couldn't help myself. AesirAesthetics = See artistic ashes Cat Hires Sea Site As I Seat Heretics Ethics Raise Tea

Innermette historian stole your video bro ;(

*Ah so this is where that Archspire song Scream Feeding comes from.*

You see, this is why you thank Google Voice Assistant.

This was absolutely stunning. Thanks!

this was an amazing walkthrough of the game, you're awesome. thank you 😘

So basically this is what GLaDOS from the Portal series was almost entirely based off of.

so ik this is a old video but just thought id mention theres this other channel called storymode that made a video on this game and its very strange its almost like they have basicly copyed most of what you said in this video and reworded it. idk i could be wrong but i couldnt help but think while watching it that they had bascily done like how i once did my uni assignemnts that is copy someone else and reword it so it seams diffrent but isnt really. dosnt matter too much but i just wish people would credit other creators if they atleast got inspired by there video and may have without thinking about it copyed most of what was said in there video. I mean if anyone dosnt beleave me watch this and then watch there video some of the things they say are word for word the same as in this video and its not just once or twice hell they even end with the same character as you i honestly wouldnt be surpised if they didnt just take your in game footage and use that as there background clips

its like the SAW series but a million times worse

Not sure how you feel about it, but since you did a video on Mega Man for NES, what about Mega Man Legends? If you'd rather avoid talking another game from a series you already covered, then how about Alundra? Given your affinity for Zelda I'd say it makes sense. Whatever game you decide to cover next, keep going strong fam.

i always thought of AM sounding like tom kenny

EXCELLENT video. Thanks for making this!

Great video, man. Few reviews of this game go as deep as you did, here. As for a suggestion? Well, seeing how you seem to master identifying subtext and political message, I'd love to see you analyze Oddworld: Abe's oddyssee and Abe's exoddus for the ps1. I mean, subjects of slavery, environmental destabilization for the sake of profit, and oppression of indigenous tribal culture all framed by a squeaky voiced alien and fart jokes. What's there not to love? ^^

I wasn't planning on sleeping anyways. It was a very interesting videos nonetheless. KZfaq recommended me a good one for once.

I click upon “like”... only because I am not allowed to choose “Love”. Thank you for a fine video.

AM gives GLADOS a run for her money.

The Milk of Human Kindness?!

This game could possibly become reality, with advances in A.I. its only a matter of time before we become encapsulated into a 109 game.

Thank you, youtube algorithm!! I'm definitely subscribing to your channel

One of the greatest sci fi short horror stories of all time.

This game is definitely the definition of "I know I'm going to lose, but I not gonna let you win either".

I love how they just casually go up to the Id, Ego, and Superego and just go: YO! WAKE UP! Lol