On Sept. 15, 2025, the Russian game studio Trioskaz released a game on Steam, called “No I’m Not A Human.” The game was teased through trailers and early demos, and with the help of YouTube channels trying the game out, it went viral. 

I went ahead and played the game, and how was it? Short answer: Absolutely amazing. Long answer: Well, that’s what this article’s for, isn’t it? 

Ultimately, “No I’m Not a Human” has great gameplay, a wonderful art theme, and incredible endings, and despite few setbacks, it still perseveres as a unique horror game that is worth each player’s time.

Story-Telling

“No I’m Not A Human” takes place in what seems to be Russia, due to the game being made in Russia, in the 1980’s or 90’s. Users play it as the unnamed protagonist, who is the living definition of an introvert. One evening, the protagonist receives a phone call from his neighbor, who came back early from his family trip, and mentions he’ll be visiting the protagonist in the evening. Evening comes and the neighbor explains that some kind of disaster is coming. Apparently, the sun has become ominously hotter and hotter, getting to the point where citizens can’t go outside without risking death. In addition, creatures known as Visitors, who are remarkably similar to humans, have been crawling out of the ground and killing innocent community members. Thus, the neighbor comes by to make sure the protagonist is alright as it wouldn’t be a good idea to be alone during this time.

During the day, the morning news confirms that the disaster is real, and it’s impossible to go outside during the day without burning up. The neighbor advises the protagonist to let in any people seeking shelter because it’s common sense, and they might bring useful information. The protagonist reluctantly agrees, but this comes with its own dangers as any guest could be a murderous Visitor. Over time, however, the news reveals new ways to identify Visitors. This is what the game opens up into: Users have to try and survive the global catastrophe by staying safe and snug at home, but also helping others take shelter at your house, whilst at the same time, you must stay vigilant of any of them potentially being a Visitor.

I think that the game’s story is particularly unique, and instead of being a typical horror game with 12 million jumpscares, it puts you into a paranoid setting of not fully knowing what’s going on and who is or isn’t a Visitor (After all, gross nail hygiene doesn’t make you alien, not yet anyway).

However, I do feel like the game is a bit too mysterious to the point that things don’t make sense. For example, what is a Visitor in the first place? Zombies? Aliens? A dog wearing a skin suit? The game never says and only gives irrationally vague hints. There’s also a scene where on the news, it’ll get disrupted by a mysterious interruption that basically tells you about an extra symptom for Visitors. However, we’re never given a single hint on what this broadcast is. If the game gave more logical explanations, it wouldn’t be as bad, but the game otherwise does a good job creating an original story, and it deserves a fair 7/10 for story-telling.

Gameplay

In the game, you must identify who in your house is a human – it’s the title of the game after all. As for those who aren’t human, that’s when you kill them with kindness, that is, if you consider a double-barrel shotgun as kindness. 

How would you identify a Visitor? Well, the news reveals information about symptoms to identify them, all of these being dirty fingernails, perfectly white teeth, bloodshot eyes, hairless armpits, bugs in ears, black patches in someone’s aura (this can be seen using something called an Aura-Camera), skin irritation, bleeding gums, rapid pupil movement, and armpit fungus (gross). A problem, however, is that these symptoms can easily be covered and/or accidental, as a gravedigger would obviously have dirty fingernails, or a person with good hygiene would have white teeth. None of the symptoms are actually conclusional (unless you have a roach in your ear, which probably cannot happen accidentally).

The game also features unique guests that could lead to interesting endings or results. There’s the “Intruder,” an obvious Visitor who wants to know if you’re alone or not, and if so, he’ll give you a big, neck shattering hug (aka, he strangles you). There’s also the “Vigilante,” an insane person with a rifle who seems to think that just one single sign proves you’re a Visitor, and in his paranoia, he wants to make sure that you’re not a Visitor either. Almost all of these unique guests lead to a unique ending, and they add a nice touch to the game.

Lastly, there are consumables, each with unique properties, all being beer, energy drinks, cigarettes, coffee, cat food, and kombucha (an alcoholic sweet tea). All of these have their uses. For example, kombucha acts as a saving mechanic, and you are required to use it to save your progress.

I absolutely adore the game-play. It’s filled with uncertainty and paranoia, as you’re not entirely sure if your guest is a Visitor, and this seems to be the general theme of the game. All the guests are well written, and the consumables are well-done. My only complaint is the kombucha mechanic, as limited save slots can be quite irritating quite fast. Other than that, the game-play is done wonderfully enough to earn an 8/10.

Endings

For spoiler reasons, I will not go over all the endings, just the ones that stuck out to me. This, I believe, is the absolute best part of “No I’m Not A Human.” The endings are incredibly well-written and poetic, reflecting their paranoia theme extremely well. In their ending for when you get killed by the Intruder (previously mentioned in gameplay), it reflects on death, and how when you die, all of your memories die with you, and how “there is no more ‘you,’ only nothingness.”

There’s also the Killer Ending, my personal favorite (no further questions), where if you accidentally kill too many innocents, you get this ending. Since this ending is very dark, I’ll just over-simplify it: In your paranoia, you killed more innocents than actual Visitors, and all of your guests go ahead, beat you up, and kick you out of the house, leaving you for dead. 

The poem (Honestly, these endings are incredibly poetic unlike other endings in games, and I love it) is rich, discussing how death is inevitable, and in your terror of delaying it by sacrificing others, you “chose sooner.” I didn’t like this ending because murder in a video game is fun; however, the ending is great because it’s philosophical, poetic, and ends with a cliffhanger (“And there’s no one left to blame. Unless…”), leaving you to wonder what happens next.

The endings are incredibly well-written, and if you like poems, you’ll definitely want this game. I give their ending aspect a 10/10.

Design & Art

I think the art style of the game is incredible, period. Their color palette is usually limited to a darker style, and all the guests have a color palette too for their skin, appearing pale and greenish. As for design, all the guests have a unique appearance, and because this is a horror game, it’s designed to make you uneasy.

There isn’t much for this section to say, but the style is great at giving an uneasy feeling. There’s not much to criticize, either. The artists did an amazing job, 9/10.

Conclusion

“No I’m Not A Human” is really amazing, their themes of paranoia and death are done well, the storyline is original, the gameplay is fun and enjoyable, and the endings are unforgettable. I’d recommend this game to anyone who is fine with psychological horror and/or is a big fan of poetry. It gets a 9/10 from me. My one and only complaint is the storyline – sometimes the game is a bit TOO mysterious, as mentioned before. Other than that, give it a try, and if you’re also a human (which I hope you are), you won’t regret it.