Don't forget to breathe

Manual Samuel isn't completely awful, but it sure tries its hardest.

That's the thing -- Manual Samuel is trying to piss you off. Like QWOP, the frustration inherent in its basic controls is "the point." But Manual Samuel takes it a step further: you're not just required to carefully time your walking to avoid falling down, you must also regularly press the blink button, and the breathe-in button, and the breathe-out button! And, whenever Samuel happens to slouch over, the straighten-spine button!

Some kudos must go to whoever figured out the button mappings that make all this possible, even if only barely so. On their own, the designs of this game's complex-but-accessible coordination challenges - from a drink-coffee minigame, to stick-shift driving - are somewhat impressive.

But having to move from one challenge to the next while continuing to breathe and blink is a real test of your patience, and when the game's timing requirements start to get tight, the endlessness of these micro-frustrations is just ... ugh. The feeling of futility, that just existing takes so much effort, is very demotivating.

There's no external motivation from the game's story or presentation, either. The plot is intentionally absurd and incoherent, the art and voice acting are low-quality, and the dialog's attempts at humor are kinda annoying. The "joke" of Death being a delinquent skateboarder wore out pretty quickly.

That Manual Samuel has working gameplay at all is slightly praiseworthy; but it isn't fun to play, and I don't care enough about Sam's story to see it through.

Better than: Pinstripe
Not as good as: Snake Pass
I can die happy: if I never hear the self-censored phrase "holy feces" again.

Progress: Chapter 7, fought some robots before giving up.