Review: No Means Nothing by Bober Bros (2025)
No Means Nothing is a game about you, nameless protagonist, being kicked out of your mom's place, and being forced to rely on an old friend, Radek.
Radek is fine, at first. accomodating. he gets you a job at his workplace, wants to reconnect with you. he lies about the work hours, but you tell yourself, whatever,
maybe it doesn't matter so much. then he starts being more of an ass. comments on your choices to ditch "the crew". starts making comments on your body. you, in game, are a cis guy, so to you it seems like just, y'know, jokes, gay jokes like
oh, no homo, haha.
but they're still a lot, quickly becoming overwhelming. as if Radek can't help himself.
then he pressures you to drink a beer. you can refuse. you, consistently, have been insisting that you know what you're doing, that you had cut contacts with him and your old friends
for a good reason: they were toxic, not good for you. your old therapist helped you untangle it. and Radek
fucking hates it.
you're there cause you have no option other than to stay with him.
on the last day, the lights are out. a fucking crowbar is smashed into the electrical boxes.
it doesn't matter if you accepted to drink or not, Radek feels like shit and is blaming
you for it.
you both feel like shit. and as you work, Radek removes the crowbar, making another one of his objectifying comments towards you. you just keep going. you don't have a choice.
at the end of your shift, Radek becomes awfully vulnerable towards you, admitting his bisexuality, the fact he has a boyfriend now. those comments he was making weren't just jokes, but hit actively hitting on you. you can choose to be accepting, you can clearly set boundaries, or you can make a shitty joke out of it.
it won't change what happens to you the next day.
mom kicked you out, but Radek told you you can live with him now. do you have a choice? he sits too close to you. forces you into looking at pornography. makes advances. forces you to be with him.
you refuse. you tell him no. but he won't take no for an answer.
you scuffle. he falls to the ground. what do you do now?
this is where your choices in the game culminate. a blind run usually ends in you locking yourself in the bathroomn, Radek following you, threatening you, making you
feel you have no choice but to be with him.
then a short chase happens. run to the door, smash it open. you got out, somehow found an arrangement with your mom. it's not great but he's not here anymore. either that, or he catches up to you, beats you up. you're stuck with him now.
you have no choice but to stay, after all. he beats you, touches you, you don't want any of it, but you don't have a choice, do you?
this ending is dubbed "worst ending", fittingly so, that i got three times in a row cause i'm a dumdum who didn't get you had to
mash the key to open the door and coukldn't just open it.
the other two endings only happen if you meet specific stats criteria.
if you have enough willpower, you'll be able to set your boundaries clearly, and simply, say no to Radek. you leave his place, but this time you've learned to say no.
if, however, you have enough anger, there's an option that has you just release it all out on Radek, killing him. it's too much, your brain thought. you couldn't take it anymore. it's fucked up.
the game is about an hour long for one run, though you can get all endings in about two hours, without too many issues. i got three hours something in since i felt motivated to get all the achievements.
it's a short experience, one of those games meant to be emotional releases for the creator, and also serve as interesting pieces for the player to think about. it's meant to remind you of past relationships, or make you think of your own, current relationships, i think.
i think the worst thing about me and this game is that i know i'd have fallen into Radek's grips way too easily, and would have fawned back to him, let myself be treated like shit, just because i feet
bad for Radek.
this game very much hits like one of those depressing games, that if, i could find a way to describe them, sweat of sadness from a past spent in a broken system that you were never supposed to break away from. You and Radek weren't necessarily "nice kids", as is hinted.
Radek only got his work through nepotism, it's his uncle's place, actually. you and him talk about old stuff that happened to you and your crew in the past, as you would reminisce on old stuff with a friend. cause that's what Radek is: an old friend. he sucks ass, but you have a history together.
one of your friends had an accident on a motorcycle, but Radek still wants to get one. you talk about your time in the a village. if you take too much time in the second day, he comments on you being circumcised, which, amid a sea of comments about your body, somehow hits even worse. you talk about how your old principal was probably a pedophile.
it's just, catching up with an old friend, all while he takes advantage of you. it odd, it doesn't flow right, but if you're like me, you can't help but sit down and let yourself be manipulated by him.
you let the comments fly. you just interject half heartedly. you don't have it in you to say no. it's too much. you don't want him to dislike you. after all, you don't have anyone else to rely on. you can't say no. you're stuck, and the comments continue.
but you can't leave.
but you can't leave.
but you can't leave.
you want to but you can't say no anymore.
and years pass, and you don't know what to do but stay with him. he hurts you.
but you can't leave.
the fantasy of this game is that i could have enough courage, willpower and self-love to say no to this kind of situation.
it feels nice.
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