Oh, I heard of this game before.

Oh, I heard of this game before.

Ahhhhh yes. Awesome choices, Spoony! I’m too much of a puss to play a lot of them myself… but if I could… I imagine I’d love those =P

OMG!!! I was just speaking about this game to my sister!

LMAO, I still love A.M. XD “TEEEEEEED!!” “ELLEEEEN!!!”

Just adding that another person has had the video end mid sentence.

Just adding that another person has had the video end mid sentence.

/me switches tabs to here
/me spits out paper clip

Oh my god.

I had just finished reading I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream for the first time when I came here. Hooah!

/me switches tabs to here
/me spits out paper clip

Oh my god.

I had just finished reading I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream for the first time when I came here. Hooah!

Same thing with the video cutting off, same problem on blip’s website but all other vidoes work fine. I also cant seem to skip ahead at all.

Same thing with the video cutting off, same problem on blip’s website but all other vidoes work fine. I also cant seem to skip ahead at all.

Fun fact: The writer who was helping the programmer specifically stated at one point that one of his motivations for making this game was because he hated video games and all the people who played them. Kind of funny that he ended up making one of the best adventure games ever because of that hatred.

Hmmm… sounds like ‘ol James cameron was inspired by the premise.

And yes, the video cuts out at around 4:10

Hmmm… sounds like ‘ol James cameron was inspired by the premise.

And yes, the video cuts out at around 4:10

SPOONEY! LISTEN TO THE MASSES! The video is bugged!

The video may not be entirely processed guys. Give it a little bit

The video may not be entirely processed guys. Give it a little bit

I HAVE NO HANDS, AND I MUST FAP

Simply wonderful. I read some of A.M.’s monologues in the HG101 article,and was mighty impressed,but listening to the author himself put so much spite,so much poison into every single word is delicious.

Can’t wait to see your other recommendations.

I HAVE NO HANDS, AND I MUST FAP

Simply wonderful. I read some of A.M.’s monologues in the HG101 article,and was mighty impressed,but listening to the author himself put so much spite,so much poison into every single word is delicious.

Can’t wait to see your other recommendations.

Am I the only one who has thought AM and SHODAN would have gotten along just grand?

just the title freaks me out a little =S

Love both the game and the story. One of very few stories to actually freak me out.

Spoony! How did you get out of the Blagole?

Good vid Spoony. I’ve played and finished that game years ago and all I can say is that it’s really great and very psychological for a game, it’s much better than how Gamespot rated it. The only problem is that it does not play like a normal adventure game, the right thing to do can be quite hard to find out. Oh and the voice acting is much better than a lot of DOS adventure games, except maybe the LucasArts games.

It’s working for me now! Gotten past the 4 minute mark.

This must be what inspired the Saw movies

This game is awesome. It’s one of those games that as old as it is, it’ll still blow your mind.

I saw a review of this game when it was released in ’95. I wanted it so badly. It was dark, philosophical sci-fi and I couldn’t wait to lay my hands on it. Sadly, I never did. I never found it anywhere. I continued to search for it, in stores and online, but I had no luck.

I eventually managed to lay my hands on it a few years ago. It was great to finally play it, but also a sad experience. I know that I would have appreciated it even more if I had gotten it way back, in the prime of my youth, impressionable and whatnot.

Yes the opening is great and gets you in the dark mood of the game. I really loved the Computers voice, it really makes you wonder a sentient computer no the one that will take over the world won’t it need some personality so it can conquer us all especially the voice was really charming like many other conqueror’s. I especially liked how he introduced every character and gave each and one of them a special calling of their name. On another note I played the game some couple of years ago but it’s really hard to make it compatible with Windows XP, maybe I’ll try and give it a try and search for some work around on some forums.

TEEDDDDDDDDDDD. Sorry, I lol’d :|

While this wasn’t the first adventure game I ever played (that’s reserved for Loom) it’s certainly one of the most memorable. I remember playing this for the first time when it came out (I was 12 years old at the time) and it blew my mind. The graphics, the atmosphere, the voice acting, the mature content…everything came together to create of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had in a video game. It was even genuinely scary in a few parts.

I’m always glad to see other people who have played and enjoyed the game. I don’t feel it ever received all of the recognition it deserved, but it’s nice to see that so many others have gotten the chance to play the game. Great video Spoony!

Wow…freaky introduction to a game.

AGH! What is it with these annoying adverts that keep appearing when we try and watch the vids?

Just out of curiosity- have you heard of Stephen King’s F13? I once saw it on a shelf years and years ago but didn’t bother buying it because it looked more like a gimmick than a game and I never heard anything about it since. So I just wonder if I missed out anything there

I stopped the video at the game, since I’ve decided to play through it and don’t want it spoiled :)
I know everyone talked about this one and after your little speak I just have to try it out, being an old-school gamer myself, but missed this one.
Just sounds awesome.

Oh, man, this game was great! Ellison does do AM’s voice well. I can sympathize with AM quite a lot, actually.

By far the most horrifying segment to me was Ellen’s. Just… ugh. Although Ted’s deal with the devil is also amusing.

some one told me you cood sue that person who keeps drawing yaoi porn of you guys … just if ya wanna look in2 it

Not a bad idea for a series – I was really glad to see this game featured here. I was a big fan of the atmosphere of this game, and particularly Harlan’s performance in it. The guys who made the game really were in the habit of putting a lot of money into hiring big-name writers and artists for their projects: see also Darkseed, which had H.R. Giger drawing the scenery for the Dark World areas.
I hope we get to hear more about other relatively obscure horror games – I’m pretty sure we don’t really need Spoony to tell us at this point why Silent Hill is so good etc.

Good morning Spoony, and fellow Spooners.

I remember the name of this game from my youth, but never bought it. Now I kind of wish I had. I love the way Mr. Ellison sounds like Jeffrey Combs.

Well, at least someone on YouTube got a walkthrough of the game up, so I can watch it.

And while I’m getting the feeling that the overall game isn’t as scary as IHNMAIMS, I’d recommend downloading the soundtrack for the old, horror game “Sanitarium”…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndjwgzbl4mM

The link for the download is in the video’s description. Fantastic soundtrack, in my opinion.

Uh… I hate to lay spoilers in the comments, but… there IS an ending where you do, sort of, save the human race, since there’s a colony of people in cryogenic sleep on the Moon. In this same ending, you send AM and his emergent personalities into hibernation and, as an electronic being, watch over them until such time as the human race can return.

Not really a great ending, but not the empty victory everyone claims is the case. Also, not at all inconsistent with Ellison’s writing, as he tended to teeter between despair and hope. The timeframe in which Scream was written was definately one where he was on a despair kick. The collection I have- out of print, sadly- is Alone Against Tomorrow, and it’s… Fucking scary, let me tell you. Say what you will about his personality, his attitude, or what have you, the man can write.

God…I’ve seen alot in my day but geez…something about this video…somthing about it just creeps me out like straight to the bone. I wanna say it’s the sheer malice of the Computer. It’s raw hate just bothers me, I’m no fan of humanity myself but geez…

Never heard of this game before, but after seeing that clip I’m really interested.

I’m expecting System Shock will be in this series. I played System Shock 2 and for me it was genuinely disturbing and frightening, even though I only played it a year ago. Very atmospheric, not to mention FUCKING HARD.

Never heard of this game before, but it sounds like a really intriguing premise.

Never heard of this game before, but it sounds like a really intriguing premise.

I should find this game, I’ve read a bit about it before,
also,
“TED!”
“Gah! What?!”

Hm… there is a similar situation in Fallout 3. No doubt they were inspired by this game.

nice. I only heard about this game a few weeks ago when Kurt Kulata wrote about in on hardcore gaming 101.

I remember this game. I never played it as I was never good at adventure games. The video game magazine I was reading (Gameshow) during that time (I was 13) advertised it as “Another crazy and cracky adventure from Sierra.”… or something like that. (I live in Turkey by the way) Story is as sick and as dark as it can get.

Oh and Spoony, please don’t make reviews that do not have any video footage or at least some pictures. I hate it when you do that.

May I request Clock Tower (SNES) for one of the scariest games ever? Even after all these years I can play it in the dark. Don’t forget to get the English patch!

Holy shit Spoony, do a LetsPlay of this! I’m captivated by it already.

God, I loved that game so much. I was going to read the story last night before I went to bed, too.

What the hell! Cool game! Woow!

But I don’t get it the woman torture in the golden box who never closes… What torture is that? Fear that the box might close?

Holy shit, I love this game. Spoony, you just gained 15 awesome points.

Only problem with this game is that you can’t really let’s play it, at least on youtube, since Ellison has a team of guys who scour it for “copyright infringement.”

Charles, she has a phobia of the color yellow. Why she does is expanded on later, but I won’t spoil it.

Oh man, I remember seeing this in stores forever ago, thinking that it had the weirdest name ever. Once I grew up and had actually checked out the story, I wish I had picked the game up. Thanks for reminding me about this Spoony, think I may go hunt down a Let’s Play of this game.

Kevin -
Wow, someone else who has played Sanitarium. Loved that game, and it seems that so few people have played through it. :( Wish I could find my discs to give it another playthrough, but I think I lent it to a friend forever ago, and never got it back.

IAmNotMe,

For one reason or another, Sanitarium never caught on. I once looked through YouTube for Top 10 Scariest Games lists, and NOBODY had it on there. But then, very few of my favorite PC games from my youth seemed to have lasting value in the gaming community. I’m shocked that Spoony even knew what Ripper WAS, let alone did a Let’s Play of it.

I love I Have No Mouth. Cyberdreams knew dark and atmospheric very very well; shame their games weren’t popular and often buggy or overly complex–Dark Seed was a novel idea, but a failure as a game. No Mouth has moments where the logic is so obtuse you want to shoot the designers itself…

No Mouth is available from Ellison himself, actually, for about $35 a copy, new in box (presumably)–harlanellison.com/herc.htm has it for sale. Jump through a few hoops and it’s yours. No one else has distribution rights, and last I checked his lawyers actively kept it off eBay.

Sanitarium is every bit as good. For about a year I had a stack of like ten copies of the jewel case re-release that I was selling, since the game was extremely rare up until then. Long sold out, and it’s gone and become rare again…

YES I FUCKING LOVE YOU FOR DOING THIS GAME. ALL HAIL SPOOOOOONY!

I must admit, the man’s voice-acting was a bit hammy during the “hate” monologue, but afterwards it was very well done. I’ve never heard of this game before, which is a shame because it looks very interesting.

Sir Spoon, I whole hartly agree with IIWebbII, we MUST have a let’s play for this. Since I live in Europe, chances are I’ll never get to play it myself. So I beg you Spoony, do a let’s play of this.
It has without a doubt some of the best voice acting I’ve heard in a long time. I hope the rest of the game is as demented and creepy.

Sir Spoon, I whole hartly agree with IIWebbII, we MUST have a let’s play for this. Since I live in Europe, chances are I’ll never get to play it myself. So I beg you Spoony, do a let’s play of this.
It has without a doubt some of the best voice acting I’ve heard in a long time. I hope the rest of the game is as demented and creepy.

This games looks incredible, I would seriously be interested in watching you do a Let’s play of this. Seriously, please consider it.

Nice vid.

Kinda like the end of the original diablo game, you can complete the game but not “win” story-wise.

Wow! I never saw that one comming! That was a great game. Can I hope to see Planescape: Torment on the list too?

Coincidentally I watched a Let’s Play of this game only a few days ago, and it looked like a great game. I actually liked Nimdok the best, believe it or not, because he was the most flawed character, as well as the one filled with the most remorse for his past actions. And why shouldn’t he?

Sweet! this looks very cool, also to the people who have played sanitarium, i love that game too! I never understood why it never caught on, thankfully i still have my discs in working order so once in awhile ill play it, speaking of which have you played that one spoony?

I read the short story once, and I had nightmares for a week. I can’t even imagine actually playing this game. If Silent Hill is being trapped with something that hates you very passive-aggressively, then I Have No Mouth is the flip side, being trapped with something that hates you actively, and with a fury.

Funny this video should be posted now, because I’ve been playing through Fallout 3 and just last night finished the virtual reality simulation phase which is almost exactly like the concept of I Have No Mouth; a bunch of people, trapped and powerless, at the mercy of a malevolent god who torments them constantly.

Thank you for that video, Spoony. Thank you for reminding me just how terrifying this story (and the game) is.

Holy hell that was sadistic for a game. Man this looks cool.

Sweet choice spoony! I read a let’s play of this and it definitely is a great storytelling game. I kinda agree that the ending sorta screws it up (you think AM would have already known about that) but it at least gives a sad, touching ending for four of the characters.

We want play through!!!!

I think the voice acting was a little hammy for the first portion where the text was on the screen, but the rest of it was really good, I think.

TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!

Saw a let’s play of this on Youtube a while back. Awesome game.

Saw a let’s play of this on Youtube a while back. Awesome game.

This looks cool, albeit heavy. It has an American McGee’s Alice feel to it, not in terms of gameplay, but in terms of fucked-up-ed-ness.

Very interesting premise. Five humans kept alive for all eternity just to satisfy the sadistic amusement of a deranged super computer. Too bad movies can’t be this innovative. Instead we just keep getting crappy slasher flicks and every once in a while something with ghosts or goblins in it.

http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/I%20Have%20No%20Mouth/ is an excellent screenshot let’s play of the game, if you can’t get the game yourself.

$127 from Amazon.

Sorry, but f%*k you. I’m not going to pay the same amount it costs for a Nintendo DS as for a game I’m not even sure is going to work on my computer.

For the record, yes, this pisses me off. And I’m pisses at you Spoony for making me want this game now!

You can watch the full game playthrough here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NhtCxrmAEw Played by the nice people of longplays.net

*SPOILERS AHOY*

So, why do you think the best ending feels like it doesn’t belong? It may feel hopeful compared to the rest of the game, but IMO it has a more reasonable basis (the pawns in a schizophrenic power struggle discover a way to screw all their masters) than most video games (a few people somehow manage to win against an overwhelming army). The strangest thing about it I see is the cyrogenic colony, and even that’s reasonable if you expected Earth to be destroyed in a Strangelovian manner. (I just wonder which nation put it up there in the first place.)

holy shit. For some reason, this really got me depressed

Where’s pumpkinhead?

EXPOSITION! EXPOSITION! EXPOSITION!

Yeah sorry Spoony, that just wasn’t scary. Maybe it gets scary later on in the game, but man, for an opening, that wasn’t very good. The guy’s voice acting is good, and I do like the idea of him keeping humans prisoner and torturing them, but uh…EXPOSITION! That just seemed so out of place and not scary at all.

Of course I’m not sure how else you’d find out about the characters and such, I’m no game designer, so EXPOSITION may have been the easiest way to do it.

They had to take out 1 Character in the german and french versions too… how can you do that, make your game not completable!?

I read the story a few years ago and I was really scared to go to bed at night. I do remember seeing the box of this game years ago in a bargin bin. For some reason, I didn’t buy it. I would love to see a Let’s Play on this particular game, Spoony.

Absolutely essential game for anyone into the cyberpunk genre.

meh, looks scary enough for an 8 year old

The “THE PAIN” monologue made me think of MGS.

THE PAIN THE PAIN THE PAAAAIN

Yeah, the actual execution of the idea is not as scary as it could be, but when you really get down to just what is happening to these people, it quickly becomes one of the scariest fates you can ever imagine. In particular, the bad ending, which you know if you read the story, has one of the most chilling conclusions ever. The good ending is just kind of shoved in there, though it is alluded to a few times during the game. The voice acting isn’t that great, but I thought it was passable, with a few people like the guy who does Gorrister standing out as a really desperate man who has lost all hope. His bad ending is the best of them all.

You should do a let’s play on this game. It looks great and I would like to try it.

YES! You so much win for this man, you just so much win. I got this game off eBay for $108 and never regretted it. I even did a review of it on the gaming site I’m with, in the website link.

Games you can’t win are some of the most fun and enduring games of all time. They are called Arcade games (classics such as Space Invaders and Galaga, along with arcade-like games like Tetris or Bejeweled).

Anyway, I’ve actually had a bookmark to a website that has all of “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” for months, yet I’ve never been able to shy away from Top 10 lists and message boards to read it. Given that it’s nearly Halloween and that wonderful opening I’ve seen in the video, I think I’ll finally dedicate some time tonight to reading it. Thanks Spoony!

For people having trouble running this game, ScummVM supports it now. http://www.scummvm.org/

Spoony I really got the feeling that I deeply understand you. It’s like having a very good friend, just that it’s a virtual one who doesn’t know that I existed.

Yeah, “I have no mouth” is a great game, and yes of course the German version, which I have, is cut. That means you lose a whole branch of the plot, but actually I could finish it without problems. You only need a date at the end (least for one ending), and that one’s easy to guess…thank you old farts who think they have to protect us from evil influences (Magnum was cut too on German television, as was Riptide et al. Usually Vietnam/Nazi trauma references “get it” so WHOLE episodes are dropped! This was pretty random in the ’80s but is gone now).

Oh and I love Sanitarium too, an underestimated classic (just forget the BS arcade sequences)!

Wow! This game looks kickass. O.O

Every time it gets to the part where AM yells “GORRISTEEEER!!” I always forget it’s coming an shit my pants.

I love you so hard for this.
Great game. great writer. great short story.
I remember playing this when it came out. Such a fun twisted little game.

You know, they have a word for what you’re describing. It’s called an “interactive novel”. It’s a genre.
Please don’t use one of those clip microphones. You always sound like you’re speaking too close into the microphone. Go back to the original thing.
Ugh, I have GAD. I never liked this pessimistic post-apocalyptic stuff, like where the world has been destroyed. I’ve always hated that stuff. It always makes me depressed. I first saw the Animatrix and it made me cry.
(Yes, I am a girl, so I have an excuse).
Wow, NANOÅngstroms? That’s fucking tiny. You know what an Ångstrom is, right? It’s the thickness of 1 atom.

Awesome! Harlan rules, and this game looks amazing. I can’t believe I have missed it all these years.

I thought it was the German Version that cut out the Nazi Scientist, because of the whole Nazi thing. Germans are still a bit sensitive to that bit of their history.

BTW, the ending of the book gives me nightmares to this day. I still have yet to actually read it, but I know the basic plot of it. It’s a disturbing image to say the least, and if Harland was going for that, he pulled it off in fucking spades. If I get the balls to, I would love to play this game.

lol SAW in SPAAACEEE!

In response to Sniktbub:

I have to agree with you. This intro seems pretty lack-luster. The voice-acting was fairly good, but it’s hard to take this super-computer seriously when the best way to describe its hatred for humanity is to describe it like a two-year-old. And the computer monologues for no other reason than to explain the situation when we’re already 109 years into it. Did the computer do this every day for the past 109 years or did he just think 109 years was a good time to explain himself? This could have been brought up in the shattered minds of the victims in the cages instead of spoon-fed to us by the computer.

Sorry Spoony, haven’t been sold on this quite yet, but you’ve piqued my interest.

I’ve never heard of this, but I’m inclined to find it because A) of its title, and B) TEEEEEEED!!!!

Excellent game. Supremely excellent and creepy. I can’t even watch horror movies, but I throughly enjoyed the Lets Play of this game.

For those who can’t get their hands on it, the Lets Play Archive has a complete runthrough of the game done by SA user Vlaphor. It’s definitely worth the read. The LPA is here, though at this moment the site is down. It should be up soon though: http://lparchive.org/

***SPOILER***

Just watched a lets play of the game were they showed the good ending… and it was sort of uplifting actually. At least compared to the rest of the game. Humanity probably survived (750 people slept a cryogenic sleep on the moon base during the war) and AM was destroyed so that the five protaginists didn’t have to be tortured anymore. It was definetly more then just a moral victory for them…

If anyone wants to see the good ending you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIvYp0pvVlg&NR=1

Yes, please track this game down.

Read the short story- Harlan Ellison is so awesome and I’m absolutely thrilled to see that there was a game based on his work!

I’m going to throw my vote in for a Let’s Play, oh Spoony One. I know it may not be possible, since it’s an older game, but I would greatly enjoy seeing it.

Harlan Ellison would probably punch you for calling him a sci-fi author ;)

He apparently isn’t too fond of either of those terms.

Also, unrelated, How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? is one of the funniest stories I’ve ever experienced in any media.

For some strange reason, this video doesn’t work for me. the other ones work, but not this one.

I saw this opening a while back and thought it was both brilliant and disturbing. If you can, Spoon-man, please give us a riff on this game!

Holy crap, PLEASE do a Let’s Play of this game if you can. That was one of the most chilling cutscenes I’ve ever seen in a game, and that was just the opening.

Thanks for that link to the Let’s Play Bobbovski, I wanted to check this game out after this video.

…you haven’t given up on Pumpkinhead, have you?

God, that intro gave me chills.

I sincerely wonder if this short story was the inspiration for the David Bowie song “Savior Machine” released on his 1970 album, The Man Who Sold the World.

TED!!!

I remember playing this yonks ago, but there was a glitch or something and I couldn’t finish it. Probably I was just utterly stuck and there was no Internet then to help me move on.

Btw, can someone remind me.. what was all that about “moral choices” and how did they affect the game? Is there a good and bad ending for each of the characters, or four of them get the bad one and only one gets the sorta good one?

75
Marcus

Thanks for that. Watched most of the Let’s Play yesterday night. I say “most” because I’m no longer convinced that this game would make a great Let’s Play. I skipped through most of the woman’s plot because she spends most of her time interacting with nobody. The monkey man’s plot, while enjoyable, wasn’t particularly scary.

Don’t get me wrong. I SO would have wanted this game when I was younger. And I’m sure Spoony could get come good material from it. I just think he’d have to skip a thing or two to do it.

I’d very much like to play the game, but I had to put my ear up to the speaker trying to differentiate which was his voice and what were sound effects. It was done well though.

Awwwww…. Now i’m all hyped up for a Let’s Play of this game. It looks so interesting!

Awesome awesome awesome intro I WISH TO SEE MORE!

(I had heard of this before on TV tropes and read about it looks really good)
Man that gave me goosebumps epic writing and the the voice of that computer is epic I might try to find the short story now :)