The human body is an amazing thing when you think about it. The fact that it knows how to breathe, how to walk and how to drive without us consciously telling it to is fascinating. Now imagine if we did have to actually tell our body what to do. Imagine how awkward each step would be? How much effort it would take to form simple words or even just blink? Struggling to imagine it? Don’t worry, Manual Samuel has you covered.
In Manual Samuel you play as the lazy son of a successful business owner. Much like all lazy sons of successful business owners you have no real concept of money and your people skills are lacking. After an argument with your girlfriend about being a self obsessed fool one time too many, you end up stumbling out of the coffee shop you’re in, right into an unfortunate accident. It’s such an unfortunate accident that it ends your affluent life. Thus Samuel is condemned to a life in hell.
Apart from he’s not. He’s given one more chance by the wily Death. All he needs to do is exist for 24 hours manually. It’s a silly idea presented in a fun late night Cartoon Network/[Adult Swim] style where you’ll be pressing all kinds of button combinations to proceed through basic, and less basic tasks (Think Octodad and QWOP). It’s in the more mundane moments that Manual Samuel tends to shine. Flailing about whilst trying to put on a pair of jeans or missing your mouth when trying to drink a cup of coffee are amusing in their relatable nature. You can do these things by yourself or with a friend. Annoyingly you can’t change your mind on how you’re playing through the game on the fly, instead having to make a new save and beginning again.
The game has a strong start, in part due to the emphasis on the previously mentioned mundane tasks. It also appears to lack a game over screen, which means you’ll be able to fail and flail as much as you want in completing these tasks. It’s when things start to get a bit more over the top with what Samuel has to do that the game starts to fall apart. For most of its play time, which comes in at about two hours, it is an enjoyable adventure though with some genuine laughs either through the dialogue or your failure.
The dialogue is well written with some strong voice acting throughout. The narrator provides context to scenes in an amusing fashion. Death is presented as a skateboarding obsessed immature con artist and various other members of the supporting cast have lines that will make you at the very least smile. The only real issue with the writing in the game is its reliance on the word “faeces” as a reoccurring joke. The language in the game is fairly family friendly so it is obviously done to keep it that way, but the sheer amount of times the word pops up means that it has lost its humour long before the end.
As you progress through the game you will unlock time attack versions of the levels you’ve completed. These are basically the levels without the cut-scenes and with a timer to try and beat. Obviously the quicker you finish the level the better, and there’s various challenges for you to try and beat. You’ll find ways to cut corners you probably didn’t find in the story mode and no doubt fall over a lot more due to the quickened pace of it all. Even if you fail to beat one of the target times you’ll still have fun trying.
Manual Samuel is a decent take on the QWOP style of game and does some things really nicely. The time attack mode adds some longevity, as do the multiplayer options. The build I reviewed on had an unfortunate glitch which caused it to crash the game. Hopefully this isn’t a common occurrence for other people and I was able to finish the game even with it happening. There are a few animation quirks, but for the most part the 2D style looks great and the games simple control scheme means almost anyone can pick it up. It’s just unfortunate that the momentum Manual Samuel builds in its earlier levels can’t be maintained for the entire course of the game.
——
You can watch me play the first few levels of Manual Samuel below