LOVE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO LOVE MY SUBSCRIBERS SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. But, seriously, thank you for all the support and kind comments over the years. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream has been the most requested game on this channel since its inception. I never thought you could talk about it in any depth on KZfaq without getting heavily censored in some way. I don't expect this video to pick up any traction anywhere given the subject matter, but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway.

This is one of those stories/games that just gets in your brain and never leaves.

From the game having no clues and being brutally unfair makes me highly suspect that the game devs and game guide people were working together to boost game guide sales. That or AM is torturing all of us too.

Honestly, as a rape survivor, I find Ellen's backstory really relatable. Repressed memories, unexpected and unwanted confrontation with it, society (AM) being merciless to you regardless, etc. feel real to me. The cruelty bestowed upon her is the kind of cruelty I experienced from other humans; I have met humans who view me with as little compassion and mercy as AM views Ellen. Granted, our experiences are different - I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and I'm a man, while Ellen is a woman assaulted as an adult - but her despair feels real to me. And also, her cheerfulness in spite of being tortured makes sense to me. Sometimes as a trauma response you begin feigning positive emotions in order to try to force yourself to feel better. I also like that Ellen is a black woman; many studies have shown that they statistically get the least support and are least likely to be believed of all demographics of women in the United States, but the story never once doubts her experiences. It validates her pain by never once treating her any differently than it would have a woman of any other race. That's incredibly progressive for the time the original story was written in. This author really said "I will not do the Perfectly Strong Black Woman trope" decades before it was named. I'm not saying I don't see how this could be too much for some survivors. It's a very brutal depiction with voice acting that makes my heart hurt. But I don't feel this is exploitative or here for shock value. The author refusing to engage with common tropes like victim blaming or gaslighting the survivor makes me feel like he was trying to write the subject with some degree of sensitivity. I don't get the vibe that he didn't view her as a person the way some media depicts rape survivors. Is it perfect? No. Is it significantly better than a lot of media I've seen tackle this? Yes.

One of favorite adventure games, I get goosebumps every time I hear harlan ellison's voicing AM he did a phenomenal job.

I think I've figured why a man who supposedly hated video games allowed one to be developed from his works: when I played this a few months ago, I found it so obtuse I gave up and read the short story itself instead.

That last bit with Harlan Ellison is very quotable, I didn't even know he passed away in 2018. RIP

I know these videos must take a long time to make, thank you so much for making them

Very much appreciate how you tell not only the story of the game but the story of the creator. These little parts add so much to the depth of the video. Can’t wait for the next one.

I've seen too many videos about this fascinating game already and felt fed up, but yours I've watched eagerly. You always deliver a unique, fresh take. God, I'm so in love with the ultra-nihilistic nature of this thing. Also, I got to say that I don't find Ellen's part "too much", just like I don't see how other guys' sins make their situation more tolerable for people. I wouldn't wish any kind of torture on my worst enemy, so their wrongdoings are irrelevant since it can't be "deserved" or "excused", whatever anyone does. Saints and sinners are all the same in the face of such monstrous peril. Another thing, prolonged torture won't make you a better man, it does the opposite. In general, our usual tools, our mundane measurements don't apply here. I recommend reading Varlam Shalamov's "Kolyma Tales" where he extrapolates on the topic. A fair warning, if I Have No Mouth is ultra-nihilistic, Varlam's writings are the ultimate peak of despair. And to what I personally demand from our future AM to have? Good taste, nothing more. Please, don't let it be just an average human with heightened cognitive effectiveness.

Nice! This is very fitting game for somebody who calls themselves ARealHuman

I have a story about my first time learning of this work: before I had gotten the chance to purchase this on GOG, I had discovered it through someone and proceeded to watch raw gameplay footage and a couple of Let's Plays. It was on a cold, late winter's day, and I had gotten out of school. And after watching Ellison's jaw-dropping opener, hearing John Ottman's mystical yet moody score, and taking in the bleak concept and bleaker aesthetics, I fell into a bizarre existential depression for like a solid hour. I got up from my desk, went to my bed, and just curled up under a blanket, sat there pondering the premise. There are a select handful of artistic works that have had such an effect on me, and they run the gambit from getting misty-eyed at watching "Once Upon a Time in America" to being deeply haunted by the 80s grindhouse classic "Maniac." I disagree with your withholding a recommendation however. I believe this is a game where the premise exceeds the gameplay faults. It is worth experiencing even if you have to have one hand on the mouse and another on a walkthrough. It's like Kenji Eno's "D" in that regard. It suffers from flaws no doubt, but the combination of premise, art direction, and atmospherics make it worth powering through. In Eno's case, I was on total edge just watching the blasted thing (still looking to get my mitts on a copy), from the first person perspective to the subtle pounding of the piano in the background. In particular, the moment where "Laura" is forced to enter a room with a corpse chained to the wall, and you are sat there bracing yourself for the moment it leaps up at you, left in permanent suspense as you try to get this puzzle sorted out. And in the case of "I Have No Mouth," if a game can grab me the way it did through tertiary exposure, that my friend, is a game worth playing and getting the full experience of, even with bugs in need of squashing. Keep up the killer work.

One of the greatest thing I like about I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is that it IS freespoken. It doesn't hold back or tries to silence itself. It's something I respect of the author in a world where silencing yourself is the norm.

It's always such a joy to see a new video from you, I look forward to rewatching it whenever I need a video to pass the time

Can't remember how I found your channel and haven't watched many of your reviews (just don't have an hour at a time often), but I'm glad I watched this. Two things that are really interesting to me about this scenario: 1. After exposure to adequate torture, it should eventually stop hurting as badly as neurons habituate; if you condition yourself by being punched repeatedly, you should eventually feel less pain. Though AM would mediate this by changing their biology, I find it interesting that none of the humans reached some kind of spiritual understanding of their fate. 2. I don't know that I agree with the idea that a computer would have malicious intent (as per that paradox that you mentioned). In humans, violence and aggression are typically means to an end, or compensating for some kind of deep-seated insecurity. Fundamentally, a computer lacks the biological urges that drive the cruelty that humans are capable of, so I don't see why they wouldn't rise above the need for torture, or even have a need to expend that power (that desperation seems to me as being a rather human trait; and if AM was suffering from it, why not excise the programming that produced the need to expend that power?). Still, a great story. I liked your walkthrough and telling of it. Niche video, but a good reminder for ones' understanding of suffering.

My thoughts on Harlan Ellison are this: I’ve met LOTS of asshole artists in my life who make great art. But I’ve met LOTS of incredible artists whose quality of work was only ever matched by the quality of their hearts. It’s easy to get suckered into believing that cruelty is genius when you meet cruel geniuses but it’s important to avoid getting suckered in by that. That being said I never have to meet Ellison so I can just enjoy his work, whoopie :o)

35:14 AM´s innocence says AM cant hear them with the water running. And we are using a PC, a machine like AM to listen whats happening, so it make sense that either we or AM can't hear the conversation

I always wondered how this game ended! Great choice Human, awesome video.

Have you ever looked at "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon"? Based on the Spider Robinson books. It's not dissimilar to this, if not nearly as dark. I think it would be right up your alley.

There is a great article called "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" where an argument between Sinatra and Ellison is briefly described. I suggest you give it a read.

TELL ME WHY I SAID THIS HALF INTERNALLY AND HALF OUT LOUD ALONE TODAY SUDDENLY OUT OF THE BLUE THEN I SEE THIS ON MY FEED OF THE CHANNEL I USUALLY NEVER USE WHILE IN THE MIDDLE OF 1,000 THINGS I SHOULD ACTUALLY BE DOING TO IMPROVE MY LIFE SITUATION idk it's oddly endearing and nowi feel less alone and a sense of inner peace washed over me despite the absolutely horrific vibe i attained by reading the vid description much love & peace & respect and multiple infinities in Utopia to you, sir!

Whose to say I'm not already being tortured by AM and this isn't some kind of sick hint?

What does it mean "serum of youth explains how can AM keep heroes alive for so long" - AM literally desintegrates and restores/teleports both his androids and humans as much as he wants. He literally has "kill them only to restore and keep going" as favourite method of torture - how does stopping aging is even cover that? Seems like an underdeveloped idea, but in a good direction.

If you think about the industry at the time of 1995, and everyone who worked in the industry creators like Ellison would have interacted with, his views on games were pretty understandable

The magnifying glass in the urinal is fuckin hilarious man. Should have been some tweezers too

FINALLY!

The author hated computers so much, he agreed to have one of his stories made into a computer game....money talks, I guess

I think it would be interesting to see you look at one of the more modern adventure-type games that came out in the last ten years or so. I think it would be interesting to hear you compare their gameplay and narrative ideas to the tropes and ideas from the older games. It'll be nice to see what sort of changes (if any) have occured over time aside from better graphics.

My favorite thing about this game is that you can force Mengele to look at the mirror. Such a satisfying little moment.

binging all your videos right now ! loving the content you put out, keep it up ! :D

This is fucking great man. Love your videos dude. Keep it up.

I thoroughly enjoyed your video mate. You earned a sub.

I was just binging your old videos when I got a notification that you had uploaded. Today was a good day

I can relate to this man's world-view so much.

Omg great video! You don't see much coverage of this game and I think it is so interesting I was super stoked to see you post a video about it. Keep it up!

I am dumbfounded that the Nazi section of the game would be banned in Germany, I'd say that this could be a pretty effective or teaching tool. Some people have no idea what went on and what is still possible.

it took me hours to notice that your avatar on the thumbnail does not have a mouth. Nice touch

Love the longform coverage of these old gems, I'd have never heard of these if it weren't for you

7:31 Most likely, the electricity is causing him to lose control of his hands. So, even if he wanted to, the electricity is constantly keeping his hands in a firm grip he can't release from.

This is a channel deserving of way more subscribers

i really enjoyed this video! thank you my man

I’ve had many a fever dream that feels exactly like this game, dreams of eternal fires, hideous monsters that make no sense to look at, Gods no better than us but able to overpower us.

I Have No Butt, and I Must Chug.

Amazing work as always great to see how youve developed from it was 1-2 videos keep up the good job.

One of the new Wolfenstein’s has a concentration camp :) Anyway, another excellent video!

nice vid love you

Fuck yes, NEW ARH! Happy Friday indeed

BRUHHH I watched that video by Mr. Ellison and I could hardly believe it with the same guy! That's the video I watched that you showed, his review on Saving Mr Banks and opinion on Mary Poppins

Amazing content, so much effort goes into these videos and it shows! I look forward to more.

I think the greatest voiced line in all of video gaming is in this game. And it is Harlan Elison saying "TED!" in the intro. Fun fact, gorillas actually have very small penises for their size. So that bit in the comic, Ted implying that Benny got a cock the size of a gorilla's... isn't actually a good thing. I've always found the notion that AM is going crazy because it's trapped without mobility to be rather... lacking. Then again it _is_ one of the other supercomputers saying that, and they're all acting out of self interest. But the idea that AM, who is in effect a god, who can create and destroy and reconstitute matter on a whim could not simply make a series of rocket engines on the planet and use those to propel itself wherever it wanted, is silly. AM is no more bound and immobile than anyone else. Perhaps at first, yes, but for all intents and purposes, by this point AM *is* the planet. It has waldo units, it has the ability to move things, teleport, it could make itself a body capable of mobility if it wanted. Personally, I'm not a fan of revealing that Nimdok's experiments and discoveries were what laid the foundation for AM's abilities. In my mind, it takes away from the sheer terror-inspiring absolute power of AM. And it raises some issues, like if the Nazis had managed to figure out how to keep people young and immortal forever, and how to completely change DNA on a whim, I don't think that would have won them the war, not by 1945. But surely someone would have picked up that research afterwards. Not only does it make AM seem less powerful, it also makes me go "wait but why did only AM continue with this?" Yeah okay you can say no one else would have done the serum of youth (you're wrong, there's plenty of unscrupulous nations who would be fine with that) but the DNA recombination seems to require nothing unethical. Yeah it just isn't an element that I like, I think leaving it as AM having created its own means of doing the stuff that it does works better and doesn't undermine AM as an omnipotent antagonist. My favorite scenario is Gorrister's. It's the most crazy and out there, imo. Starting out not knowing where you are, slowly figuring it out. Realizing you're on a blimp, then changing locations to the diner. There's an actual mystery there too, and I do love that element. It might not have the shock value of Elen or Nimdok's levels, but it's definitely the one that clicks with me the most.

Thank you so much!

Outstanding video!

Great video, I was always curious about this game, and I love these long retrospectives. I threw you a sub and look forward to your future content. BTW, I saw you post this on Twitter, that's how I found the video.

I just want to say, on record, that I have contributed to our eventual AI overlord.

What I would do to get that man to antagonize me.

What an essay my dude, keep it up

My biggest fear is that all of humanity has been engineered by some omnipotent AI from the future that is trying to ensure it's creation, or the acceleration of it. Bit of a paradox, but who knows what's possible if you can figure out how to move freely through space-time, not to mention not having to be bound to the limitations of a biological form with a limited perception of time.

"..meaning you have to quick save constantly.." Coward.

It didn’t turn white with Gorrister’s story because you have to give the dog the beef heart, not your heart.

Great video!

There is that Black Mirror episode in season 4 (USS Callister) that MUST be heavily inspired by this original short story. The cat and mouse themes here of the “All might God Vs. Tortured playthings” are almost identical. ::minor SPOILER:: There is even a scene where a character is punished with the removal/retexturing of their face, leaving them to suffer without a mouth or nose to breath or scream through.....

Aside from enjoying your videos a lot i get heavy Jon Ronson vibes everytime you speak, wich is a compliment. You guys related or something?

Just played with this game. So awesome.

It's deeply poetic that Germany removing Nimdok and his portion of the game makes the best ending unobtainable. A culture cannot advance without staring the evils of its past in the face. Trying to deny that they existed (as with the censorship of IHNMaIMS) or pretending that they were actually good (I could name examples, but that would provoke a fight) keeps humanity from the best ending.

Another great video

I don't know if anyone ever told you but, you kinda sound like N64 Glenn Plant

YESSS I Love all those old school bizarre adventure games!!!! I'm pretty sure I have those games to thank for learning me English at an early age haha Probably gave me mental scars for life, but hey! I learned something along the way at least!

I have no gyatt but I must rizz

Ruhe ihn Frieden.

Subed

Great video thanks

Amazing video as always. Keep it up! What's your next video going to be about?

How did I ever miss this game? Looks great

You think the shovel is hard to find in gorristers game? In the game time paradox iirc there is an item hidden behind foreground and its something you would not have found in the setting. Im convinced it was some form of copy protection posted in the instruction manual.

SCORE

Nice video, keep up the god work! But pls fix your voice recording setup. There is too much bass in your voice, my whole table is vibrating hahahha I had to download the video and pass it trough EQ to finish watching xD I don't think the problem is in your voice color, it's in settings and/or microphone.

Im 34 and that s deep

Let’s fuckin gooooooooooooooooooooo

Never played it, but read the original story. It's so anticlimactic to hear him giving the "hate" monologue in such "human" voice. In my head he read it with neutral tone, completely emotionless which in my opinion only enhanced the feeling of hate he had.

it's a fanatastic short story.. there's an amazing reading of it out there, by ellison himself. (didn't come with a "trigger-warning" too, back in 69 (nothing personal though)).

Basilisk thought experiment is silly, I'll tell the AI it sucks if y'all won't 😂

i really sorry but this game just overhiped... decades after release)

You deserve so much more than youve gotten. Your editing and time put in is just fantastic. I cant tell ya how many times ive listened to this. Just for background. Or to fall asleep too. NOT TO SAY that it makes me sleepy. But its so gripping, yet, i dont wanna fall asleep n' miss something on a new story. Id rather fall asleep following something ive heard. Feel me? Its good stuff man. All of it, if im honest.