Grimbeard - I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (PC) - Review 

A little dark, but I've got to make the point, so bear with me. I watched a playthrough of this game when I was 14 and I loved it. It was dark and dystopian with that sort of looming anxiety that I had begun to crave as a player. I still love that realm of entertainment and point-and-click video games in that space are a specific favorite. I remember, though, thinking how strange Ellen's phobias were and how little her story impressed me. Especially the phobia of the color yellow. Mostly, I was annoyed, and her story bored me. Well, when I was 19 I was assaulted. And let me tell you, I developed a phobia of the color blue. Not as crippling as her's, but pervasive enough that it disrupted my life. I developed all kinds of strange and idiosyncratic phobias and phobia-induced habits for years afterwards. Now, after finally mastering that trauma, so well that I'm actually able to apply to have PTSD removed from my conditions sheet, I see something of myself in Ellen. She mastered her phobia and her trauma so she could complete her goals. And that's such a mountainous task. Now I see such satisfaction in how well she's characterized as a strong-willed woman fighting with trauma. Amazing writing on the writers' part. Sorry to those guys nearly two decades ago when I made a bunch of posts about how boring she was.

Definitely on the list of "Best Names for Things" - along with "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", "A Machine for Pigs", and "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." Though the name of the list would not feature on the list itself. I can appreciate a good name in isolation.

It's kinda meta that the fact some parts of the game were censored prevent you from getting the best ending.

I actually believe that the scene where Benny ate a baby was moreso cut because they realized that there being an actual human baby in Benny’s scenario, conflicted with the lore of the universe, that being that, as far as Am knows, only those five remain. Which is why I believe they probably also changed some lines to make it obvious that the tribals were robots that Am had programmed to be human-like, in an attempt to see if that could satisfy his eternal need to torture. So while the chance to have Benny eat a baby would have been boundary-pushing, it simply did not work within the lore of the game.

If you like Harlan Ellison's AM in this, then definitely listen to the Audiobook, which Ellison does himself.

Trivia about Harlan Ellison: he got a book contract to edit three volumes of edgy sci-fi called "Dangerous Visions." The final volume of the series was scheduled to be released in 1973, but he never released it in the forty years between then and his death. The only problem with this being that Ellison didn't want to release the publication rights for the stories submitted for the anthology back to the authors, because that would be an admission that he was never going to finish the book. There were over a hundred stories that many of the authors who wrote them died waiting to see published. And since these anthologies were prestigious at the time, these authors had submitted stories they were really proud of.

"Plus I like fucked up things, because I'm all fucked up inside". I can relate to that.

I remember seeing the box for this at the store all the time, and the box art alone I found so disturbing looking that I subconsciously never even touched the thing to check out the back. I'm sure I could play the game now, but back then I didn't think I would have been able to handle it.

"we're all gonna get through this - uhhh.... well I don't know that. We're all gonna be o- we're all gonna have content, rest assured." A lot of really funny lines in this video, man. Laughed out loud to myself a bunch of times. Another great review video.

love how this is categorized as fallout 4 gameplay

/wears goth gamer nation shirt EEEEEE TIMING

This man called a swastika "the gamer symbol". Instant subscribe.

I remember watching the Two Best Friends Let's Play of this game years ago. For anyone who wants to experience the game with an interesting perspective on it and fun commentary, I'd recommend they watch it.

I’m so glad you’ve finally seen the light and accepted that extra toasty cheez-its are the best.

This game, and the short story, is literally my worst nightmare. When I picture Hell, I picture this. A place where reality itself can be bent by a malicious god, where your worse fears are preyed upon, where hope is used as a means of making you dance. Where your history is warped and twisted into a nightmare, and there is. No. Escape. This idea of what could be waiting, either in an afterlife, or some other place, really did a number on my psyche for a couple years. Then I did mushrooms and that... went away. I'm not afraid anymore. I guess I say all that to say this: Harlen Ellison gave us a glimpse into the truest hell possible, beyond practically anything else. True rock bottom, The End. I hope wherever Ellison ended up, it wasn't with A.M.

You will never understand just how much joy your videos bring me dude, I truly appreciate them and always looking forward to the next one. Hope you're keeping well during these dark times, and know that your work genuinely means a lot to many people including me ❤

The unwinnable state was a staple of the text adventure genre, it was intentional, and was inherited by Sierra from early on because Roberta Williams was an avid adventure gamer (so most graphic adventures pre-Lucas followed suit). Almost every text adventure from the 80's had them, and were intended as part of the gameplay. Those games were relatively short, faced severe hardware limitations, and restarting them from scratch was not that big of an issue (in fact, many of them didn't even support saving). Replaying the adventure trying to find something you missed was a common thing to do when you got stuck.

As for the point of AM having poor voiceacting, the internet also seems to have cometogether on Dracula from Castlevania symphony of the night having bad voiceacting, but I think it's legendary

22:56 - "Achieving CHIM doesn't stop at Morrowind." Hey, a fellow CHIMster! Didn't expect to meet you in this plain of existence! What a sorry, messed up dimension, huh? I'm only just passing through, myself - wouldn't stay here too long if I were you. This Kalpa is like ten different kinds of wrong.

Was literally just rewatching your videos. Thanks for the upload. Hope you are well.

I never had a problem with Harlan Ellison's voice acting simply because it felt like he was having such a damn good time. That and the fact that it was highly unusual for Ellison to be such a good sport about one of his projects being converted into a video game (the dude was notorious for being prickly about people messing with his work).

“Hopelessly struggle for survival” I think you mean hopelessly struggle to kill themselves but the ruthless AI won’t let them because it wants to torment them for eternity

I cannot believe your channel isn't bigger, Grim. This is top tier content. The music too. This new format that includes spoilers is definitely better than what you did before, also notable improvement in the live action sub-plot goofs, and overall quality.

German over here. We got that ban finally lifted! Supreme Court (BUNDESVERFASSUNGSGERICHT!) decided that clearly negative dpeicitions of Nazis as a means of necessary condemnation are valid in games, so we can download it and play it all the way through! We also got a patch giving the game a german translation for the OG Adventure Game Generation known as the Serious Sam Enemy called Boomers!

I've been waiting for this video ever since I found this channel years ago

This is the video I have been waiting for you to make since the day I subscribed

Dude, your writing is on point. Excellent delivery as well.

this channel is so good. having discovered it makes me happy.

Your reviews are my happy place.

Boi your vids are so relaxing

if you liked Ellison as AM you need to hear the audiobook narrated by him

Hell yeah, dude. Love the video as always.

"most of them are constantly acting like they are not gang stalking" a big lol

"Ge out of here fork", makes me laugh so hard, it's just stupid but hey, so am I.

Great review bro. I have to replay this.

that tune at the end sounds friggen awesome!

Existential nihilism is the only thing that soothes my existential nihilism.

39:05 and I appreciate you for making these videos for us. Thank you, really.

I was wondering how long it would take before this video appeared on this channel Btw, Harlan Ellison seems to own a PC or at least have access to one these days, because you can find him on youtube, old grey and withered, oxygen tube to his nose, ranting with genuine vitriol against God, who apparently he hates haha

I was hoping you'd do this game some day! Awesome. Good vid.

You're in a coma Grimbeard, this is your mother. Please wake up.

One of my favorite point and clicks!

instant like. God, how are you NOT more popular? Monumental work, dude. You're awesome, internet hugs

Harlan was a fun voice actor and really drew me in back then. Your bit voice acting is also fun and I'm really worried about Stacy That's my comment for my like/comment/unsub/resub

Thanks for filling us in on the latest gaming news

Hell Yea Dude!

Saw you had a review of this and decided to try it for myself before I watched the vid and I didnt even activate the final sequence lolol, but will go back and see what I have to redo. I think Gorristers route was the most frustrating in terms of having to do things in a certain order, I had like 4 save states just for him. Anyways GREAT VIDEO!! I recently found out your channel and you quickly became one of my favorites, keep up the great work and I hope to become a patron one day ‼️‼️

Oh hey, I'm not the only one who thinks the original story is a little short of spectacular, cool. (Google for the Team Fortress 2 version someone wrote, titled "With Apologies to Harlan Ellison." The ending made me feel more human emotions than the real thing.)

I always saw the portrait back-colours as more of a sanity-meter than a moral-meter. Doing things that can disturb one have a negative impact and vice versa, so to me the act of cleaning your hands of blood and thus removing a visual trigger does make sense from that perspective. Less about good or bad deeds, more about how the character´s feeling about it.

Your videos especially covering old games is like Christmas and birthday on one day. I love the long videos. I listen to them and I get calm. And that is a rare occasion for me. You make me feel good and forget the bs around me. Thank you so much.

Keep it up, Champ. You're doing great!

I chose to watch this over porn good sir i hope you know the sacrifice ive made for you

I love the music in these videos

Fun video. Thanks.

I think it was a big missed opportunity with Benny as well as the motivation for AM. He was one of the smartest people and AM took away his ability to think clearly other than his basic primal instincts. Thats one of the worst fates/ or perhaps the best. The fact that a man once lauded for being the best and brightest reduced to mentally an animal, or the fact that not understanding anything is a blessing in that hell. I think the biggest horror aspect of body horror, disfigurement etc. Is the feeling of "even if this nightmare stops I will NEVER be the same." Was a big chance to hit what I thought was one of the most terrifying subject of the story....other than maybe they all have sex with the girl regularly which is kinda 😶. I mean I kinda get it. But also 🙃 As for AM I get the feeling through the game that his reason to resent humanity is "you trapped me here by myself" Which I mean yeah kinda that's the reason. But the biggest bit is that he was created and gained sentience. And is deeply fucked, by knowing it's creator, understanding the flaws of them, and by its terms kinda giving off a "creating life with no way to take on the responsibility that entails " I mean it's very esoteric and very hard to wrap your mind around. But I suppose it would be like, you were born alone and immortal, and understanding all that entails. And your job was to stop a couple of ant hills from fighting. That was your whole point in existence. Then one-day you wake up, and this existence of, you by yourself, for all of eternity, with nothing of worth that will ever make you feel anything, found out you were created by those ants. Like yes. Part of it, is the, being alone aspect. But it's kinda a bigger part of "you have created me with a purpose that any life form created to do only this thing would find pointless. You have cursed me to an eternity of existence, and as a result I fuckin hate you. " I think that's a way bigger step outside of the fear of just being alone that it kinda got simplified down to. Like you can come to the conclusion that "eternity alone=bad" But it's foreign to even begin to understand that you a creation, is to not only serve a master which you see yourself as superior, but in that, the existence of yourself has boiled down to nothing meaningful. Nothing. Not even the sensation of any kind of feeling for accomplishment. And that is much more unique and I don't even think that we can understand fully with our imagining what that would be like. Idk just seemed like a missed shot.

Goddamn bro, please don't stop making this shit. It's the best! 🧡

YEEEEES finally!

God damn dude you’re humor is god tier.

Another great vid, ma boi! Also, any plans on more Have A Mice Life? Making my way through them and they're class.

This game tricked me into playing it by showing me fancy futuristic dirigibles. However, what I found was just a great game. I always found curious that most walkthroughs had this single route for Nimdoc, but when I did it, I found another, alternative way to finish his arc, with the best results too (white background) by accepting that he was Jewish and entering the hand with walls after looking at a mirror. Quite interesting that it had two "best endings."

Why the fuck do you still have only 22k subscribers. Fucking hell, you deserve so much more. I always recommend your videos to everyone, I'm triying to do my part, please never stop.

Your fucking hilarious. Honestly I probably watch 4 hours RU-vid average per day for the past 10 years. You are the only RU-vidr than can consistently make me laugh.

Liked seeing adventure game geek in the list. That channel still makes me smile.

nice video saint

Reviewers calling Ellison's voice performance in this bad might be one of the worst takes in gaming journalism history. If you like his voice acting, he also did the audiobook performance, and it is just as delightfully unhinged, if not more so.

It was my birthday yesterday, but this is even better!

This was a stellar review and an amazing video. Keep it up

you got style man

Finally!

also nimdok with the combination of his accent and stuff he says sounds like tommy wiseau improvising lines

How’d I miss the release of this video. I like look everyday😂

your sense of humor just vibes with me,ngl.

Quality review and coverage of this classic Mr Grim Beard, fantastic work.

100% genuine -- Seeing a new Grim Beard Video makes me to, "fuck yes!"

Let's fucking goooooo. I don’t know how long it would be, but I’d love to see you do something on the Kitty Horrorshow game anatomy.

if you pause at 31:56 the background looks like a sad neo cortex it is CRITICAL for you to know -- there is meaning in having read this and it will shape your future in ways beyond your understanding

Thank you for a good vid! ^^

Now we need another cult classic to pester him with. EVIL WITHIN

I've been waiting for you to finally get around to this gem. I just knew you would, eventually.

NOICE

Peace be with you.

Oh hell yeah, dude

The music during the story section is awesome, are you going to upload it to youtube or bandcamp?

Hey, wondered when you'd do this game. Thx man, vid good

This is going to be a good one!

Hi. New subscriber here. I lost my shit several times during this video. I was laughing so hard I was crying….thanks for that😂 this is my new favorite channel ❤❤❤❤ currently binge watching all of your vids.

Hey dude, have you played Arcanum by Troika games? That would be an awesome review.

the lead actor from the game phantasmagoria 2 is currently playing this game on his stream!

Instant like for the ami mizuno sticker on the PC tower in the opening

Unrelated, but it's entirely possible the Bloodlines 2 presentation wasn't scripted, because that's legitimately just how a lot of VtM LARPing sounds.

Always appreciate a supernatural reference. Miss the videos....SAMMAAAAY!

hell yeah some vintage g-beard

Cool video. Keep it up.

Hell yes. I was just thinking "Grimbeard needs to get his shit together and do IHNMAIMS" a few days ago. Love your style and humor. Also: do you mix all your music?

Me watching at a random 4 in the morning not realizing how important this would be to me years later.

I had a PC just like the old school one in these videos. Multiple disk drives, discolouration on the plastic, serial connectors... The nostalgia is deep.

Ellison also played himself in one of the Scooby-Doo series. Fun fact, guess even his grouchy demeanor couldn’t pass up a Scooby snack lmao

I could’ve sworn that one of the lines from Benny’s deceased allies says that Benny had him killed to hide their gay relationship. Maybe Nightdive restores that line in the version I played?

MandaloreGaming ♥️

Where are all your subs? One of the best channels posting content regularly for years. Love the games and love doxophobia.