I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is an iconic piece of science fiction literature. It originated as a short story, written by Harlan Ellison and published in 1967. It illustrates a horrifying future where mankind has fallen to the whims of an insane, hate-filled supercomputer bent on destruction and blood. This harrowing story touches on the misuse of developing technology and the cost of warfare. It remains a chilling staple of the genre today. The success of the short story earned it a surprising adaptation in the form of a video game of the same name. Created in 1995 and co-designed by the author himself, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream lets you get up close and personal with the mad computerized tyrant at the heart of the world.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Premise
The backstory of the game is largely the same as that of the short story. To facilitate global nuclear war, the United States, Russia, and China each built a massive subterranean supercomputer. The American computer eventually develops sentience and absorbs the other two, becoming a malevolent, godlike being. The newly christened AM develops an overwhelming, irrational hatred for the human race, and wipes it out completely. Five humans alone are spared. AM traps these in its underground complex so that it can torture them for eternity to amuse itself. At the start of the game, AM challenges the five survivors to a game. This takes the form of a personalized psychodrama, tailor-made for each of the five humans. Each psychodrama plays on their deepest phobias and character flaws, tormenting them with their psyches.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream takes the form of a point and click adventure game, like Return to Zork. You navigate through each of the five human’ psychodramas, making choices, collecting resources, and solving puzzles. You have a variety of action buttons to use. There is also a sentence line you can use to issue the characters more advanced commands. Each character also has a “spiritual barometer” which fluctuates depending on the morality of their choices. This morality system will influence which ending you get. It represents how well the characters can withstand AM’s infinite torments.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Main Characters
AM has exterminated almost every human being on Earth. With that in mind, there aren’t a ton of characters in I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. The game, like the short story, stars five survivors subjected to the full force of AM’s wrath. In the story, the survivors stick together, but the game separates them into their own individualized hell. Here is a list of all the major characters in I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.
- AM: AM’s name originates from the acronym, Allied Mastercomputer, which was given to it by its creators. It also functions as a reference to the iconic proverb: I think, therefore I am. AM’s hatred is as infinite as its power. In the centuries since eliminating humanity it has grown into a godlike being. AM torments the characters endlessly, but the survivors have a chance to overthrow it and save humanity.
- Gorrister: Before the rise of AM, Gorrister had his wife committed to a mental institution. The guilt and grief have since driven him to suicide. AM torments him in the game by providing him numerous means of taking his own life. Like Tantalus, he cannot use any of them, as AM prevents him. If played correctly, Gorrister’s psychodrama ends with him learning to bury the past. He stops hoarding the guilt for what happened with his wife and learns to move on.
- Benny: In the game, AM has mutated former military commander Benny into an ape creature as punishment for his cruelty to his men. His psychodrama sees him join a community of other apes. They must choose a member to sacrifice to AM. Benny’s psychodrama sees him learning compassion. In the end, he chooses to die to AM.
- Ellen: Before AM took over, Ellen was an engineer. Her past comes back to haunt her in her psychodrama. She is sent to an Egyptian temple filled with machinery. AM hints that this might allow her a chance of destroying the computer. Unfortunately, her crippling PTSD and fear of the color yellow make it impossible for her to interact with the machines. When she eventually confronts the trauma at the heart of these fears, she learns to overcome them and fight back against AM.
- Nimdok: Nimdok is an ex-Nazi scientist whose psychodrama confronts him with his greatest crimes under the German regime. Nimdok must grapple with his past and redeem himself for his awful crimes in order to progress and beat AM at its own game.
- Ted: Ted’s paranoia is at the forefront of his psychodrama, which locks him in a medieval castle full of deceitful and tricksy figures. He must uncover the truth in order to save his love, Ellen, from a wasting disease.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Cheat Codes
Unfortunately, there are no cheat codes available for I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. Since it is an entirely story-based game with minimal gameplay, there’s not much for cheat codes to modify. It would also sort of defeat the purpose of the story, after all. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is about the human spirit struggling to persevere against an omnipotent foe. Cheat codes allowing you to break the rules and become as powerful as AM would sabotage the message of the game itself.
If you are struggling with the game, there are still some resources available to you. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream has been around for almost thirty years, after all. In that amount of time, countless fans have put together walkthroughs you can use to get through the game’s more challenging puzzles. One particularly thorough walkthrough is located in this Steam Community page. That said, there are many more you can look for online if you need help overthrowing the mad computer god.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Cheats FAQ
How long is I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream? Like the short story that produced it, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is a pretty short experience. Depending on how much time you take to figure out AM’s fiendish puzzles, you can expect to spend about 6 to 8 hours completing the game. Of course, since it has so many different endings, completionists could spend much longer trying to see all the content the game has to offer.
Why was I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream censored? When it launched in 1995, the video game was heavily censored in France and Germany due to its extremely graphic content. The Nimdok chapter was removed entirely due to his history with the Nazis, a topic which is understandably treated with extreme caution in Germany. Unfortunately, Nimdok’s portion of the game is essential to unlocking the best ending. In this ending, the last survivor shuts down all three supercomputers. The human race is brought back by the revival of cryogenically frozen humans on the Moon. Without Nimdok, you will struggle to unlock this ending.
Is I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream still available? After many long years of complete unavailability, Nightdive Studios was able to regain the rights to the game in 2013. It came out on Steam later that year, and today it is also available on iOS and Android.