Can you muster the muscular strength and motor coordination to stab someone in the guts, even though you have no bones? This is a definite possibility, at least according to The Man Man, a QWOP-style, ragdoll-based game about a serial killer who somehow managed to carry out a series of ghastly murders without a skeleton—as if making your limbs move in a coordinated fashion everyday isn’t challenging enough.
Made by indie developer corpsepile in just one week as a joke (“I made a silly joke and (naturally) took it too far and now I've made a silly game”), The Man Man puts you in the shoes—or rather, the pliable, flaccid body—of a vicious killer known as The Man Man. Legend has it that The Man Man has put on the skin suit of a poor soul he previously murdered. Thus, to carry out his murderous legacy, your objective is to finish the sordid murder of the unwitting, sleeping man whose bedroom you’ve somehow infiltrated.
But alas; you’ve also suffered a momentary lapse in memory and had forgotten to bring the tool of your trade: a murder weapon. Your first task, therefore, is to clamber towards the living room to grab your weapon—a kitchen knife—as efficiently as possible. Of course, life isn’t easy for a boneless serial killer, so almost every object in this house is going to be a painful obstacle, from errant furniture to a book that has fallen off the shelf. You’re going to have to haul your entire body across the floor the best you can, and then back to the bedroom to complete your deed.
Like QWOP, the controls for The Man Man are deceptively easy, but clunky enough to inhibit your movement. Your limp body has six points of articulation—both your shoulders, head, your two legs and hips—and you will probably find yourself button-jamming all of these controls on your keyboard, perhaps even at the same time, in a bid to get to your first task. There’s something about ragdoll physics in games that make them unbearably comedic, especially when it comes to carrying out something as dastardly as calculated, cold-blooded murder. I’ve found myself hurtling towards every single artefact in this man’s bedroom, such as inadvertently smashing my entire body against a bookshelf, getting myself stuck in a corner with said shelf, and eventually dragging the very same object, along with my severely incapacitated self, towards the door. Miraculously, not once did the poor man stir from his slumber.
How the serial killer manage to carry out several murders without a complete musculoskeletal system is beyond me, but I challenge you to go through the entire routine without once breaking into a smile; it’s nigh impossible. And then there’s the finale: the final twist in the game after you manage to add another notch to your killing spree. Whatever you do, don’t give up on your murder aspirations.
The Man Man is free on itch.io, and you can play the game on your browser here.