No, I’m not a Human story, explained

The story of No, I’m not a Human may be lying to us from the start. Are we just another follower led by the FEMA shepherd towards our impending doom, or is there truth behind our unwanted visitors?

Here is the story of No, I’m not a Human.

No, I’m not a Human plot, summarized

No, I’m not a Human follows a nameless protagonist amid a bizarre outbreak. Creatures roam the night, pretending to be humans. Emerging from the very soil that brings flora into the world, these creatures are called “visitors.” Extra-terrestrial or not, their origin from the Earth’s core implies they may be the first residents of our planet. From their point of view, perhaps we are the visitors. Your job is simple: keep those visitors out and only let humans in.

But with their appearance and mannerisms much like ours, it’s hard to determine who’s real. Letting them in could get your human guests killed, but turning away the wrong person might just offer the same results—nowhere is safe. Surviving until morning offers few rewards as the sun rises in temperature day by day, keeping all residents trapped inside. Are the visitors even real? Or is this a simple case of hysteria from sunburn (like the English in a heatwave)?

Five nights to let the right one in, five days to learn more about your surroundings. Who will you let in?

No, I’m not a Human theories

No, I’m not a Human story has nothing set in stone. Everything we’re told has been spread through the media or stories told by survivors. Like a game of Chinese whispers, information regarding the “visitors” has people scrambling for safety, and new details are added every day on what needs to be done to survive. Uncertain of whether their friends are who they say they are, the idea of “don’t talk to strangers” blows way out of proportion as people are killing others based on the fear that they may not be human.

But what do we know about these “visitors?” Information is slowly released day by day as FEMA is taking residents away for “solar radiation exposure.” Why hide their experimentation on the visitors behind solar radiation? Or are they claiming the sun’s rising temperature is the source of the visitor outbreak? These signs are:

• Teeth: Perfect teeth indicate they’re not human (sorry, Rylan Clarke and any Love Island contestant).
• Hands: Dirt under fingernails (goodbye, manual labor).
• Eyes: Bloodshot or unnatural (crying because the world is ending? Tough up or get shot).
• Photo: Blurry image with unidentifiable features.

However, there are already inconsistencies with this method. What if a carpenter or bricklayer knocked at the door or a drug user? These humans would naturally show the same signs as the supposed visitors. The prime example in-game is the widow carrying her husband’s corpse. Of course, her eyes would be bloodshot, and her picture blurry as she’s hysterical and exhausted from the loss of her husband.

Our theory

From a horror standpoint, I want to believe the visitors are real, but there’s more evidence leaning on the side of hysteria. It’s just as horrifying if visitors weren’t real at all.

There are two main theories brought up in No, I’m not a Human. These are offered by the tall, thin man and the man with spilled beer on his t-shirt. The thin man thinks rationally; he doesn’t believe the visitors can be real, pointing towards a mass hysteria outbreak. This doesn’t seem to be a global phenomenon. Therefore, this could be explained as a case of mass panic. The other argument claims the visitors are aliens planted underground and are now rising from the earth, likely woken by the rising temperature.

Fictional but fantastic cases of extreme paranoia that strongly link to No, I’m not a Human are (we highly recommend watching or playing these also):

• The Thing (1982)
• The Mist (2007)
• Gnosia (2019)
• They Look Like People (2015)
• Await Further Instructions (2018)
• Doctor Who: Midnight (2008)
• The Falling (2014)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

In these examples, we see how people will panic, create alliances to survive, and pluck ridiculous reasons out of thin air to condemn others for fear that they will be on the chopping block next.

We cannot confirm the developers’ true intention with No, I’m not a Human, but the more I ponder this installment, the more I believe the visitors weren’t real to begin with. This Mandela Catalogue theme of people posing as humans is terrifying and one that has inspired many indie horror games (Alternate Watch, Mimic Search, Maple County, to name a few). The setting makes No, I’m not a Human so different.

We know that solar flares are causing the sun to rise in temperature, this isn’t too far off our global warning fears. High temperatures would inevitably cause heat exhaustion and heat stroke, resulting in nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and low blood pressure. It makes sense that our minds would begin to believe in something as farfetched as aliens pretending to be humans (hello, lizard people). Police coercion tactics have shown people confessing to a crime they didn’t commit. People may start to believe they aren’t real either, especially if something as powerful as the media spreads the news that fake people are roaming the streets.

Paranoia would surely sink in, and our natural survival instinct would kick into action.

All endings start with boarding all windows and doors, leaving the outside world for good. You pray this nightmare will eventually end, but it seems this is only the beginning. Or is it?