Cult classic 90s point-and-click horror adventure I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is – in a slightly unexpected turn of events – making the jump from PC to PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch next Thursday, 27th March, courtesy of Nightdive Studios.
As well-read sorts will no doubt immediately recognise, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is based on author Harlan Ellison’s influential post-apocalyptic short story of the same name. Its point-and-click adaptation – developed by Cyberdreams and The Dreamers Guild – released in 1996, building on the original narrative using an extensive outline penned by Ellison himself.
As in the short story, I Have No Mouth’s game adaptation focuses on the last five human survivors of an apocalypse orchestrated by a sadistic AI – all kept alive and tortured by that same artificial intelligence (here voiced by Ellison) for over a century. It follows each character’s final trial and the personalised psychological torments inflicted upon them by the computer, each unfolding over its own chapter and playable in any order.
With freedom perhaps now finally in reach for each captive if they can satisfy the murderous AI’s whims, players must confront story shaping moral dilemmas as the trials unfolds. That’s alongside the kind of disturbing, provocative horror themes that helped set the game apart from its point-and-click contemporaries back in 1996 – themes that saw I Have No Mouth garner strong critical acclaim on release, despite it ultimately proving to be a commercial flop.