No, I'm Not a Human was provided by Critical Reflex for review. Thank you!
There are a few development and publisher studios that come to my mind that I feel are underrepresented and deserve more attention. One of those publisher studios is Critical Reflex. Over the past two years, they have brought some incredible games like Lunacid, Arctic Eggs, Threshold, and one of my favorites, Mothwashing. They are releasing a slate of new games over the next couple of weeks, and No, I'm Not a Human is one of them. While it may be short, the game offers an experience that kept me on the edge the entire time I played, and it's awesome.
No, I'm Not a Human does a fantastic job of using its unique art style to communicate this unnerving sense of unease throughout the entirety of the game. From the darkish green color palette at night and the morphed faces of the humans that come to your door, to the way the rooms of your house look and how the doors open, it feels like every aspect was meticulously crafted to accommodate and enhance that uneasy ambiance.
It's probably the aspect of the game I love the most. Even with its basic gameplay, the world is just so compelling and does a great job of keeping me on my toes. Just walking through the house and opening doors, or even turning around after looking through the peephole of the front door, which morphs how people look even more, kept my paranoia spiking.
With the world coming to an end due to the Sun starting to erupt, you will have to find a way to survive against unknown entities called Visitors that seem to come up from the ground. However, to survive, you will have to live in your house with people, so it's up to you to decide who comes in and try to discern who is human and who is a Visitor, and who will need to die. It's not a deep story, but it just fits perfectly within the context of the game.
No, I’m Not a Human shines from its anxiety-inducing atmosphere, and its gameplay mechanics enhance it. Every night, people will come to your door and you’ll have to decide whether to let them in or not. The choice is up to you, but during the day, you’ll have to test them and find out whether or not they are these underground visitors murdering people. With new tests introduced to try out every day, and new symptoms to look for, we have to act strategically to use our limited energy and make sure we take in as many people as we can, as long as they aren’t these visitors.
It's pretty simple on the surface. You let people in, have to test them and check their teeth, hands, eyes, and other body parts, and if they show signs, you can decide whether or not to shoot them. All of the humans and visitors tend to act odd, so testing will be the sure-fire way to figure out who is who. However, some people may show a couple of signs, or just one, and listening to their stories and why they may be showing signs could change your mind about whether or not to shoot them. It still never lets up on its creepiness, and the animations of checking people are especially creepy.
Playthroughs of the game may seem relatively short, and they are, but there are reasons to come back and play multiple times. There are 10 endings to unlock, with some having relatively complicated methods to unlock them, and a few being relatively straightforward. On top of that, there are some secrets to uncover and special events that can play out by spending time talking to people. It's quick to get through, but there's enough reason to come back and play again. Still, an excuse to get back into this creepy world is one I will happily take.
Throughout the playthrough, you can also get items to increase your energy, which can be very helpful for testing others to make sure the people in your house are human. However, while the items are mostly useful and interesting, I dislike how the save system is linked to an item. The only way to save the game is by drinking Kombucha, and with how short the game is, it makes some sense that saving won't be commonplace. Still, I encountered a couple of bugs in my playthrough that forced me to quit the game, and I ended up either having to start over or go back pretty far.
There have been a few updates to the game since I started writing this review, so it's possible these issues I found were fixed, btu I still wish the save system was more accessible over being linked to an item.
No, I'm Not a Human is an awesome game to play on the Steam Deck and generally works well, but it isn't perfect. I noticed the game drains a lot more than I think it should. The game is essentially one 3D model of a home with 2D humans that come in and out. At 60 FPS, looking out your front door peephole can push battery drain to 18W and higher, while walking around the house sits at 15.5W. Looking into rooms can bring battery drain down, but it's just odd how high it can go.
To counter this, I recommend setting the framerate to 45 FPS. It still feels smooth, while also bringing the drain down. It's still relatively high, but looking out the peephole goes down to 13W instead of 17W, and that's a nice decrease. Since there aren't any other graphical settings to change, this is about all we can do.
I also noticed a few problems with controls. The most debilitating was the cursor just completely disappearing. This could stop progression entirely, as we can't select people to talk to or even the bed, so we can sleep. Switching to the Keyboard and Mouse controller scheme fixes this for a moment, but switching back will keep it hidden. And sometimes, we have to reboot since the controller selection can just disappear.
Mixed with the limited save system, it can be a buzzkill to have to deal with this and start over. There have been some updates since I wrote this review, so this may have gotten better, but it was still obnoxious to have to deal with. It was also listed as a known issue with the game before release, but due to the game having gamepad support and being now listed on the store page with support, I wanted to include my experience.
We can change the language, volume, toggle vibration, and change controller sensitivity, but that's about it. There aren't many settings to change at all.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions, has cloud saves, and includes controller support. There are no HDR settings.
No, I'm Not a Human sets out to create a short, horror narrative with an unbeatable, paranoia-inducing atmosphere, and it succeeds completely. The game is unnerving from start to finish, thanks to its color palette, combination of 3D and 2D visuals, and creepy artwork that morphs people's faces to never look completely normal. Something always feels off, and even though it is short, the atmosphere developer Trioskaz is going for transcends a lot of other horror games' atmospheres I have played.
Apart from some minor issues with controls and how high the battery drain can be, it runs quite well on the Steam Deck. It still feels a little off how high it can drain when looking through the front door peephole, but it isn't the end of the world. A 45 FPS lock helps a lot here, and this is a great game to play cuddled up in bed.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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No, I'm Not a Human is a fantastic small horror game with an unnerving atmosphere that doesn't let up, and despite some minor issues, it's playable on Steam Deck.
