No, I’m Not A Human: Meme horror for a small company

Authentic Halloween celebrations for residents of the former Soviet Union are a task as meaningless and tedious as collecting baseball cards or reconstructing the Battle of the Alamo. In a different cultural context, we get either a crooked cosplay, or something really creepy, but in a bad way. But that’s never stopped us, has it? And today we will look at a fresh popular video game, which is both an excellent festive entertainment and an example of how to celebrate this holiday, which is foreign to the Russian soul. Ladies and gentlemen, today we’re going to look at No, I’m Not A Human.

What’s the problem with this Halloween thing? We turn on horror movies on the video screen, drag a sea of plastic pumpkins and cardboard skeletons from the nearest store. Everything is clear with the music for the party, too: about half of the psychobilly I adore fits perfectly. And… all of this won’t be enough if you don’t keep one important balance.

The fact is that the spirit of this holiday combines two factors, two emotions: fun and fear. And none of them should prevail: carnival should be creepy, and horror should be fun. Looking ahead, “No, I’m Not A Human” does it perfectly.

Open doors to strangers

Yes, through a huge “I don’t want to” and a ban absorbed with mother’s milk, we need to let people of varying degrees of disgust into our lonely dwelling. How else can it be when it comes to the end of the world? It’s about a very distinctive end of the world, with the sun burning all life during the day and unidentified doppelgangers rising from their graves and pretending to be people. You can’t survive alone in such conditions. But what if the guests who dream of escaping from the chaos of the outside world only pretend to be people?

In this case, in the media (the TV will not lie!) every day there will be new signs of aliens, and residents who were already let in last night can be checked for these signs. The checks do not give one hundred percent results, the number of them is limited by your strength, so the fateful choice is on your soul. After all, any guest, be it a man, a woman or a child, can be shot with impunity with a gun. Whether you guessed it or not, you will find out only after the execution, in the best traditions of Philip K. Dick’s book about androids and electric sheeps.

However, an unsuccessful choice does not impose penalties, so killing someone especially stupid is a perfectly acceptable solution. The main thing is not to be completely alone. A creepy half-naked guy, the field commander of the doppelgangers, who comes in every few days, just waiting for this. Doppelgangers – Guests with a capital letter, as they are called here – will not immediately show themselves. The inhumans are also waiting for the arrival of their commander. So, we need to make sure that there are as few doppelgangers and as many people at home as possible.

Major Paranoia

Is it interesting to play such a peculiar Mafia? Well, in the first iterations, which I saw from all sorts of bloggers, the game seemed too disposable to me. But that was before its official release. In the release version, your increased suspicion will be fueled by a huge number of combinations and situations. There are more than fifty visitors alone, which is enough for a dozen different walkthroughs. Moreover, not everyone has their status assigned to them: A guest from a previous game in a new one may turn out to be a mere mortal. There are also about five endings. And every day there are more new variables that diversify the gameplay cycle.

For example, if you let a woman with a cat in, you can pick up a cat in the afternoon, which will suddenly open the entrance to the basement, where in the future you can go out to a couple of other story branches, digging a hole and eating strange mushrooms. And from digging a hole, you will have dirt under your nails, and dirt under your nails is one of the signs of a Guest… Or you can become paranoid at maximum and check yourself for signs of a Guest and surrender to the authorities. Or not give up. This concept, when there are no wrong actions, is very similar to classic metroidvanias or id software shooter icons: everything is very simple only at first glance.

Comfort during the plague

Stylistically, the game is wonderful. I’ll never forget the freaks, but the most enjoyable thing about the game for me is the three-dimensional environment. In its curved geometry and low resolution, which is so loved by all kinds of current horror movies. This corridor, which ends the space according to Brodsky, embodies the tranquility of the day. And it really makes you feel creepy in the greenish darkness of the night. Are these walls and windows that strong?

Another important factor of the screech is the retro style, without which the mention of the game would hardly have appeared in the magazine. But instead of rock’n’roll skies, we are waiting for a cloud of nostalgia for the post-Soviet nineties and Soviet eighties, returning to childhood, when it was really scary to be alone at home. This stuff from old apartments and cottages, so familiar and now mostly immaterial.

Another comfort factor is the placement in a familiar environment due to endless meta comments. Basically, they all relate to memes and Russian-language slow YouTube, whether they are references to analog horror or supposedly Polish beer Beaver Czerny. And, of course, the guests themselves, and the Guests are intentionally a caricature of the stars of the lower and not very Internet. For example, it’s not easy to recognize Ilya Varlamov, a curly-haired urbanist who is recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation. The Sunboy Prophet, the best performer of Marty Robbins songs, will also visit you. However, it’s more about inspiration. The guest leader is more likely to be associated with the judge from Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” and one of Christian Bale’s roles.

Let’s be afraid together

“No, I’m Not A Human” manages to balance delicately on the very edge when you’re feeling creepy and having fun at the same time. But an emotional cocktail would be too simple if it had only two components. Most of all, there is a sense of unity. Because this game is very well suited for a company that can be gathered at home for this fun and creepy holiday. Everyone can be a participant, expressing their guesses and noticing references. Well, according to the precepts of a kitten named Woof, it’s better to be afraid together. Because loneliness can be more dangerous than even the most terrifying monsters.