Based on a short story by famous sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, the game-based version is greatly expanded and most certainly for the better. Kudos to both CyberDreams and the Dreamers Guild for cobbling together such an impressive feat; considering MS-DOS gaming was pretty much on its last legs by the end of 1995; as most developers were migrating to the rising behemoth which was Windows 95. The story, setting, characters, plot, dialogue- heck, the writing in general is top-notch and remains engaging throughout your playthrough. While no BioForge, the developers were imaginative enough to overcome the limitations of the DOS-based graphics with sheer artistic imagination. The later areas; such as the cyberverse and virtual reality venues- are especially impressive. The same can be said with the voice-acting performance. Even the secondary and tertiary characters deliver their lines with a competent smoothness. Despite all this praise, No Mouth is NOT beginner-friendly... While there is no trace at all of "moon-logic" puzzling (we're looking at you, Discworld), the player still has to be VERY careful with each and every decision their character makes. Telltale has nothing on No Mouth. Saving is your friend. Save fast and save often. Even for veterans who cut their teeth on challenging titles such as "Shadow of the Comet" as well as "The Koshan Conspiracy", there's still going to be a lot of trial-and-error. Be patient, experiment and keep a batch of alt save states.
An underrated gem of a game set during the Golden Age of Adventure Gaming. Even compared to modern titles in terms of setting, story, characters, design as well as pacing this still ranks quite high. The gameplay is typical point-and-click puzzle solving but thankfully no "moon-logic" of any sort. This game will be attractive to both verterans and beginners. A must-play for anyone interested in cyberpunk or adventure gaming in general.
