Humans are lucky. We have an Autonomic Nervous System that tells our heart when to beat, our lungs when to breathe, and our eyes when to blink. Manual Samuel isn’t so lucky.

You see, Samuel was an entitled rich douche, who gets hit by a car and dies. Once he gets to Hell, he makes a deal with Death: if he can survive 24 hours doing everything manually, he gets to live. This is where you come in.

In Manual Samuel, you control Samuel and everything about him. You tell him when to inhale, when to exhale, when to blink, and how long or how often he should do these things. You even control his arms and legs individually. He can’t do anything without your input because basically, you are his Autonomic Nervous System. You even have to control his spine and keep it straight.

This is much harder than it sounds. Each bodily process and limb is tied to a button, so to get Samuel through his day you must choreograph multiple button presses simultaneously. For example, to dress Samuel you have to make him grab his pants with his left hand. While holding the button for the left hand, so he doesn’t drop the pants, you have to press the button for the left leg. Then, you have to do the same on the right, while still holding the button for the left hand so he doesn’t drop the pants. That’s only a little complicated right? Now, add in inhaling, exhaling, and blinking for him while keeping his spine straight and you see why this becomes complicated fast.

Nevertheless, it’s not only doable it’s fun. That fun is amplified by the hilarity that results from failing to do… well anything. Forget to have Samuel inhale or exhale and he turns blue, then faints. Have Samuel step with the wrong foot, and he does the splits or tumbles down the stairs. Don’t hit the button at just the right time, and instead of drinking his coffee, he’ll throw it in his own face.

The pure ridiculousness of the situations, the animations when you fail, and the hilarious, fully voiced narration kept me from getting frustrated when I failed. I hit the wrong button or mistimed a button press a lot. I often forgot to have him exhale too until his face turned purple, but I was laughing too hard to care that I had to do the same part over and over.

The controls are tight and responsive. Samuel does exactly what you tell him to do, and nothing more. I never had a situation where I hit a button and nothing happened. When I failed, it was my fault, and I never felt like the game was causing me to mess up.

My only complaints with the game are minor. There were a couple of places where the game sends you somewhere, and it’s not obvious what you’re supposed to do when you get there. Also, the game is short. You can beat Manual Samuel in 3 to 6 hours. I wasn’t ready for the game to be over when I beat it because I was having so much fun.

I have arthritis in both of my shoulders, and holding a conventional controller in front of me for long periods of time is painful, so I do most of my gaming on the Nintendo Switch. If Manual Samuel hadn’t been released on the Switch, I would have missed out on one of the most unique and fun games I have ever played. I just couldn’t stop playing until I finished it.

You can also find Manual Samuel on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. I hope that you will pick it up on your preferred platform. Samuel needs your help, and you’ll enjoy every minute.

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Manual Samuel

$9.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Ridiculousness Situations
• Hilarious Animations When You Fail
• Fully Voiced Narration
• Hilarious Characters
• Lot of Challenge

Cons

• Too Short