CheckMag | No, I'm not a Human review - spoiler free
Gameplay - Be careful who you let in.
Your enigmatic character trudges through the main hallway of house, a 3-D environment. But opening doors or peaking through the peephole of the front door will reveal beautifully and disturbingly illustrated stills of twisted, suspicious, and desperate strangers before increasingly hopeless backdrops. Decisions are made through increasingly difficult dialogue choices that can lead to learning more lore of the tragedy befalling the world and your squatters, performing various grimly animated tests on them to check if they're visitors, or gruesomely shooting them with a shot gun if you find them infected. A limited energy pool means you must choose your actions carefully, lest you leave yourself drained before sussing out the Visitors.
The core loop is tense and morally demanding. Each decision feels permanent, especially when a character you’ve come to pity ends up revealing their monstrous nature. The mechanic of branding someone as a Visitor and pulling the trigger delivers the kind of gut-punch choice usually reserved for narrative-driven games.
However, pacing issues emerge on repeat playthroughs. While the game encourages multiple runs to uncover its full scope, slogging through repetitive radio and news segments can dilute the tension.
Presentation
The standout here is the atmosphere. The grainy, shadow-filled art style amplifies the claustrophobic setting, pulling you into every creaking hallway and dimly lit room. It’s not flashy, but it’s incredibly effective at making the house feel alive—and dangerous.
The main soundtrack, while ominous and fitting the tone of the title, is lacking in variety, and can become repetitive quite quickly.
Character encounters are intriguing, though limited. Visitors and survivors alike carry interesting surface traits, but the short window before life-or-death decisions often leaves them feeling underdeveloped.
Replayability
Replayability is both a strength and weakness. On one hand, multiple runs reveal more of the game’s mechanics and narrative depth. On the other, the repetition of largely static broadcasts and limited dialogue options undermines replay value. Quality-of-life improvements, like the new intro skip option, are a step in the right direction, however, pacing issues emerge on repeat playthroughs.
Technical Aspects
Since release, the developers have shown commendable responsiveness. With over 100,000 copies sold, updates have already included save system improvements and ways to bypass slower early sections.
Performance is stable, with meager recommended system specs of 2 GB of RAM and a GTX 960, any modern system should be able to run this title without performance issues. The game's total size rounds out at less than 1 GB. The Steam Deck runs the game at a buttery smooth 60fps without issue. Readability does not suffer on the smaller screen, and the game has full controller support.
Players have reported some bugs on Steam, such as strangers not populating when allowed in the house, or the skip intro options not appearing since the update, both bugs which were experienced during my multiple playthroughs.
Verdict
No, I’m Not a Human succeeds in delivering a heavy, paranoia-driven horror experience. Its oppressive presentation and moral decision-making elevate it above many indie experiments, though repetition and pacing issues hold it back from greatness.
If the developers continue refining mechanics and expanding variety, this could evolve into a standout of the management horror genre. Right now, it’s a chilling curiosity worth experiencing—especially for players drawn to trust-based narratives.
Score: 7.5 / 10
Atmospheric and morally heavy, but in need of polish.
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