To Save The World You Must Stalk & Kill Your Neighbors Once A Year - Life Eater ALL ENDINGS
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- čas přidán 20. 04. 2024
- Life Eater is a horror game where you must stalk, capture and sacrifice your neighbors in order to prevent the end of the world.
Game Info: store.steampowered.com/app/26...
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#lifeeater - Hry
Welcome to the All Hail Zimforth Club how All Hail Zimforth are ya? *Note* This game is from the same dev as "Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator"
Day 762 of asking Manly to play A Cold Love Story through CZcams comments.
Year after year
Hail Zimforth
A moderate amount of All Hail Zimforth rn. I’m more of a Nyarlothotep person myself
Love your consistent high quality content man
It is nice to see a protag in a game like this who obviously hates doing it, but has no other choice because he is trying to save the world. This is a really unique game.
So basically "get in the robot Shinji" the game?
I mean both fall in love with a long haired boy that they may or may not end up killing.
Yeah the protagonist was very relatable
I actually liked the movie Knock at the Cabin for this reason
I felt bad for the guy, it's too bad there isn't a more happy ending but with the nature of the game it is understandable.
the timeline-based game interface aspect is pretty unique ngl, like the mf murders his neighbors via adobe premiere lol
There's gotta be some murderers who just have to use macbook
Thanks for your honesty.
That's what got me to click lol, looks pretty unique
Just edit them out of existence.
why 'ngl'? why would you lie about that in the first place? are you a pathological liar?
can we talk about how, in the ralph ending, it's implied he had to dissect himself and stay conscious for long enough to remove the right organs for the sacrifice? the vibe of this game is genuinely bone-chilling.
I think it's not really that ambiguous. The ending implies that Johnny has only one day to be with his mom which means the ritual failed anyway which also means it didn't matter how he sacrificed himself.
@@areaxisthegurkhai don’t think it’s so clear cut. For all we know maybe ralph sacrificing himself was enough, maybe it wasn’t. We have no clue, just as Johnny doesn’t
Zimforth's ask was "you know who I want dead. You are mine alone now forever." Right?
You could interpret "you are mine now forever" as Ralph sacrificing himself to Zimfort counting as staying with them forever.
You know who I want dead could be Johnny but it could also be Ralph as Zimforths goal is to stay with Ralph forever, right?
And it doesnt give the fail screen for abducting the wrong target either.
So I think both are a fine sacrifice.
It would be vivisect then
Bro really started small with a rib and then ripped out a lung and stayed conscious enough to cut the correct intestines
I'm shocked there's no ending for waiting out the time limit at the end. Like Johnny and Ralph sharing drinks as the world crumbles around them or something.
Yep, I thought that loosing all time would be an ending, but sadly not
@@imperror6679 Frankly seeing the blanked out schedule made me think that was the case, allegorically and gameplay wise losing time till the end of the world. Even the flavor text implied it (talk with Johnny, delete evidence, ect). Overall the game needs a good update because it only needs a few things to become amazing
I feel like the reason there wasn't was because if we saw the world end, it would remove the ambiguity of the ending where Johnny escapes, y'know what I mean? like it would take away the lingering mystery of "is this actually an eldritch horror communicating with this guy, or are both people involved just losing their minds?"
@@ikjjoli607 yep, exactly
Same! I wish that was an ending. Would probably be the only ending I’d have the heart to get
It's pretty interesting that the Johnny ending is the first time we hear Ralph's name uncorrupted. I think the implication is that the reason he didn't have a name was because he wasn't a "real person" he was a slave to Zimforth. So the first time we can actually see his name is after he finally becomes a real person after he defies Zimforths command by saving Johnny.
Ooooh, good pfp! I love my stupid star child.
he kills himself... since he's dead, he's not censoring his own name anymore since you were playing as him... also his name was very clearly ralph if you looked at it for a few seconds.
But he becomes a dead person after saving Johnny.
@@RottenPancake768"Man awarded medal for saving teenager... from himself, after holding captive for 10 years." Yikes.
yeah, the "real person" bit when he said johnny's name for the first time really stuck with me compared to how he essentially didn't have a name for the longest time
The most gruesome thing about this game is that the fact the heart keeps beating during the dissection scenes until you stab it implies that the abductee in question was being vivisected.
Off why think the last action is called shower the flower
Johnny: "Say hello to the wrong guy in a grocery store... end up in a basement. That's america in a nutshell."
Ralph??: "..."
Manly the Florida Man: Ye
(I forgot where he lives, I think he said it once. It's not on the wiki, I am not gonna go find it, I'll just say it's Florida as my headcannon)
Manly Florida man
I heard "e" actually.
this was such an interesting narrative 😭 i feel awful for the both of them,, i'm guessing ralph is the name of our protag? him saying "i love you" was - ow. the only real companion he's had in.. forever. but johnny doesn't reciprocate it, which i love most. he sympathizes with ralph, but at the end of the day .. he WAS kidnapped and forced to live in his basement. the dynamic is messed up and i love that.
Agreed. Stockholm Syndrome only goes so far, and looking at Johnny's schedule shows that the guy just wants an end to the continued loss of his life, even if it means dying. Dude spends seven years sitting in a cage, and after that he gets to go upstairs to a sofa. That's not a life.
Hearing that was like watching my world crumble *badum tiss*
Agreed. Johnny does end up with Stockholm Syndrome, but acts on it in a nuanced way.
And also zimforth is real (in game)
@@raptorskilltor4554yep dark emperor zimforth
man what if zimforth is just some guy with psychic powers who can't actually end the world and is just messing with the main dude
And just times his deadlines with disasters so confirmation bias will happen
I bet this is it. Confirmation bias is super strong.
@@caileyrookids To be fair, that is exactly what the aztecs did to an entire civilization.
"Oh no the suns missing!"
"Quick rip out the heart of someone!"
@@DARKthenoble I remember there was a Twilight Zone episode that did almost exactly that but with a group of teenagers exploring a cave that run across some ancient drawings and an urn filled with blood.
ralph never skipped a year... the earthquake had nothing to do with anything lol.....@@caileyrookids
The storyline was super compelling, I was pleasantly surprised when Ralph turned out to be RIGHT about the whole thing. I really do like the Johnny ending, it feels like a proper ending, tragic but satisfying.
It's still unclear. It could be just a coincidence about earthquake.
I believe the earthquake was a coincidence, if only because the alternative is that even the better ending seems Johnny doomed.
@@NoxY_05 well they did say the ground liquified lol
the whole point was he locked johnny away from the world for years... he would obviously be biased and easily manipulated by ralph's views... stockholm syndrome.....@@NoxY_05
I think the earthquake wasn't a coincidence but I also think Johnny survives his ending. It seems like the point of Zimforth's rituals isn't that it needs or really even cares about sacrifices, rather the actual point seems to be torturing people like Ralph, who seem to be fundamentally good and have to obey Zimforth against their own conscience. Even though the last request broke Ralph, it would be pointless to end the world since there are undoubtedly still people like him to be forced into servitude, and I suspect Johnny can walk away from it since he wouldn't be useful to Zimforth as a supplicant.
You’d think after a couple years MC would give Johnny better accommodations considering how nice he was in different aspects. Bigger cage or something.
I mean in the first years Ralph purposely didn’t talk to jhonny a lot to avoid growing attached, but I do think he deserved a pillow or a blanket after a year or two
Yeah, he could at least move a couch cushion into the cage or something.
Zimforth demands a sacrifice of someone who 1) Works 80 hours a week 2) Gets drunk instead of sleeping in their downtime 3) Has no friends or family
Me: (looks nervously over my shoulder.....)
4) doesn't go outside unless necessary.
You have downtime that's not sleeping with a 80 hour week?
@sonniepronounceds-au-ni9287 Who wouldn't get shitfaced working that much? You have to have a screw loose regardless
you work 12 hours each day without break? That's tough....
and still doesn't make a decent living
Imagine Johnny end had Zimforth start talking to Johnny then.
That's honestly what I was expecting, too. Like, if this so-called deity is this fucked up enough as to demand someone sacrifice to it on a yearly basis and throws a world-ending tantrum if they say "no", then it's also childish enough to just...move on to someone else when that person dies. That said, given Johnny's state at the end, he might not be of any use to Zimforth...
when Johnny went blind I knew we weren't getting a typical ending of deity moving on to him as next target. Ironic how his decision to blind himself would save him from that torture.
Honestly, I thought that Zimforth was going to have Johnny replace Ralph.
@@changednamelit Too be fair. He has a day. It could still happen. zimforth could grant him the ability to see once a year.
I mean it’d be pretty hard to kill blind,I can’t imagine the pain he saved himself
I really liked the story in this one. The writers did a great job at making me sympathize with the main character. I'm just as fine not knowing if Zimforth was real or not-either outcome lasts in some kind of tragedy (MC having to kill the only person who came close to understanding his predicament or Johnny having lost 10 years of his life to a cause that either IS real or isn't and having to readjust to society after so long-and disabled no less) which is the real focus for me, honestly
The art direction is also great imo, and so was the voice acting! Solid game
The ambiguity of the premise really sells it.
Zimforth is Real he is called dark emperor.he is a character from space warlord organ trading simulator
nah the game was dogwater lets be honest here
@@null_nihilityyap more lil bro
To Manly's closing thoughts on this game: Personally I thought that the grayed out silhouettes for the targets was an artistic choice to represent the main character trying to dehumanize them (make them "beasts") so he could cope with killing them. But based off of how many characters had died hair, I did wish for a character sprite or two! Lol
first manly doin numbers give me a heart plz
nu uh
Doin numbers?
You're what?!
🫀
Hey wait a minute-
The concept of such a malicious, sadistic god - one that chooses ----- specifically to carry out his bidding, condemning him to a life of torture and guilt - is interesting. The specific orders of people with random descriptions add further to the idea that ----- is being punished.
The fact that his name is not revealed to us until the end is also fascinating - was it just for immersion, or is it something to note?
Ralph's name? If you look closely you can see his name is Ralph under the distortion in the subtitles
A different comment mentioned it could be him being a slave/not human until he retaliates
@chucklebutt4470 oh ty lol I was watching with with low res so I didn't catch that
He calls Jonny by his name because he considers him a real person, but doesn't consider himself to be one because of what he does
@@treplox4318 YEP. he even says "If i were real zimforth wouldnt want me"
Ya know, the final person is kind of ambiguous in a way.
"You know who I want dead. You are mine alone, now and forever."
If this is the message R̸͕͍̄̾̊̓ǎ̶̛͔̤̱͈͌̋l̴̒̈́p̵̡͖͕͒̊ḧ̶̨̺͈̘́̄̆̂͋ gets, then it could be either Zimforth demanding he sacrifice Johnny to be the lone servant of Zimforth, OR it could be Zimforth demanding R̶̼̼̍͆ͅǎ̸͓̹̘l̷͈̬̃́ṗ̶̞̉̀́̀h̶̬͓͉̤̖̊́̀̆͐ give himself to Zimforth to be his and his alone.
The important point is that Zimforth is a jealous b*tch, and neither R̷̬̪̲̺̓à̵̤̪̆͝͝l̷̪̳̘̲͌́p̵̛͔͍͗͂͘h̷͕͖̗̠̓͛̿͝ nor Johnny deserved this.
Almost makes you wonder what would happen if someone other than R̷͚͎̓́̉a̸̧̪̽̕͜ḻ̸̨̾p̵͉̓͘h̸͈͔̀ was influenced by Zimforth, how things would've went. Would there be a friggin' cult of Zimforth? Would it become a full-blown religion? If the MC was captured and things started going to sh*t, proving to the authorities that the MC is telling the truth and Zimforth is destroying everything for their insolence... How would our nation, or even our world handle that? I could see this getting a sequel. Either R̵̢̢̫̈́͆͛à̴̢͙͍̌̍l̸̞̟̤͕̔̿p̴̛̞̲̄̔̽h̸̭̘̜̘̿͛ sacrifices himself, appeases Zimforth by this technicality, or R̷̢̬͔̺̈́ă̸̰̜̜l̸͉͆̔̽̍͜p̸̦̓̑̈́͝h̵̯͆ kills Johnny, and then is unable to live with himself and ends his life in a non-ceremonial way at the end of this story. From there, the baton is passed to another random person.
I swear when I read that I thought they were some weird ahh yandere or some random fan of Ralph
I believe ralph said there were 3 others that he had never met in one of the scenes.
Nope. When Zimforth demands the last sacrifice Ralph says "Anyone but him, please!" clearly referring to Johnny. Pay better attention.
@ricardovonpepsistein3497 It's not a matter of attention, but interpretation. Ralph could've mistaken the message to refer to Johnny, when Zimforth would be satisfied with either man, being so sadistic that it only mattered that Ralph was in torment.
@ricardovonpepsistein3497 maybe you need to pay better attention, considering any other time where you sacrifice the wrong person, the game says "Zimforth will be displeased," while either option at the end of the tenth year gives the same "All targets abducted" response.
"Oh, that's just a game mechanic," one they could have penciled in an exception for. If you sacrificed the wrong one, you could get the "Zimforth will be displeased" text, but then lead it into the ending scene.
The dev was either lazy--which I don't think they were, this is a pretty intricate game--OR they intended this for ambiguity. This could be interpreted as either option being viable. Again, if the comment at the beginning of the gameplay portion IS Zimforth's exact message, then it makes sense for either to be viable.
It's very possible that R̶͓̞̞̉͋ã̶̖͕͍͘l̷̝̠̋p̷͈̹̱̒̈̀h̶̯̙͔̕͠͝ went straight to Johnny as an assumption; because, he's the MOST obvious option, but Zimforth even states "You are mine alone, now and forever" meaning the bulk of the comment is focused specifically on R̴̲͍͇̿͠͠à̶̯l̵̻̰̅̀p̸̨͎̹̼̎̾h̷̳̅̎̾. In fact, the inference of Johnny COULD be a red herring, with Zimforth ACTUALLY wanting R̷̩͕͕̭̓̂a̴̠̣͊̍̌̑l̷͔͑̈́̀p̶̧͍̠̻̄͒́h̸͉̏͐̌̉.
This could be considered R̴̗͂a̸̠̰̓̂l̴͓̀p̶̺͊̚h̶̰̔̚'s "final test" of sorts, as Zimforth doesn't give him any straightforward options of who to hunt, directing R̸̠͆ą̶̼͛͑l̴̲͖̣͐p̴̙̬͑̆̉h̴͓̱͍̿̀ with riddles and making him deduce which person to hunt. Since these two options are available and given RIGHT from the start, it stands to reason that this would be another test for Ŕ̷̠à̶͙l̷̢̆ṗ̶̟h̸̩͝. It also makes sense for Zimforth to do this as a form of punishment, since he'd never had to deduce between multiple targets prior to abducting Johnny; however, IMMEDIATELY following the abduction, he freaks out about how this had never happened before. If making this decision angered Zimforth and made him give R̵͉͝ͅͅä̶̮͈l̸̟̿̊̉p̵̢̟̎̑͛h̸̡̛̃̍͜ ever-harder ordeals to overcome, it'd be possible for this to be his final ordeal, consider it... a final bit of retribution for ruining this kid's life.
Either end his suffering and prove your fealty to Zimforth, or give yourself--body and soul--to Zimforth, and set him free. Either way, the two are separated, Zimforth is content, and the world continues forward.
So, yeah, either choice is valid under the right lens.
Poor Johnny just trying to say hi
"Hi there hope you have a good day! :)"
>Ralph will remember that
why did he have to kidnap Johnny?
Because he said his name: Ralph
One greatest reason I don't play video games myself... despite Manly's explanation I still have no idea how to play this game. Looks pretty cool tho
I'll use a fake example, you get a target that says "They watch a lot of ANIME, a useless scourge on the world" then you'd go to the timeline of multiple people and start unlocking nodes that have randomized time costs and an unknown level required factor. You always aim for the shortest time level needed required nodes and they refresh every time you unlock another node. You'd then look for nodes that say Watching ANIME, but then you might get more than one with WATCHING ANIME so you've only narrowed it down to two, so you'd look for some unique node like WATCHING BAD ANIME or WATCHES DUBS ONLY then you know ya that's where the "scourge" part comes in. But then you get a twist, you unlock a node on someone you wrote off that has a WATCHES ANIME while posting on twitter while liking Kotaku posts, then you know aha that's the real scourge. Then you'd just narrow down details of their life for the end quiz. Sometimes they have overlap schedules where they hang together so you'd look for something distinct from the others near that time frame.
@@ManlyBadassHerothis post is pure perfection lmao
@@ManlyBadassHero But then I found "laundering scarf" and "recording CZcams voiceover" and decided to spare them because the world needs them. Plus the other guy had a time slot labelled "venting" so definitely not to be trusted.
@@ManlyBadassHero "Watching Dubs Only" 💀
@@suitovTruly sus.
The fact that Ralph got away with all of these murders (and the ones that he did before Zimforth lowered down the deadline to do the sacrifices) makes me realize the fact that there may very well be a lot of people in the real world who live alone with no one to check up on them. The fact that Manly did not break the ribs if the abducted person had children adds to that realization.
There also seems to be some kind of supernatural disguising effect on him (The distortion of his name, his reaction to Johnny recognising him being to kidnap him) so it's possible when the police investigate they just wouldn't find him
Many many elders and other people are found only months later when their rotten corpses smell too foul to be ignored by neighbors. In rural areas it could be years.
As sad as it is, thousands of people simply disapears every year. To give you an idea, just in France, 175 people per day are registered disapearing. Out of those, around 8000 adults disparitions per year are considered "weird / worrisomes" (as in, not just a random person being gone for a day or two). In just one country.
Ralph stalked each of his victims for about a week before abductions, crimes itself seems too unrelated to connect them to single serial killer. One spree a year at random dates, no motive, no relations to the victims, no modus operandi discovered since bodies were never found. If we assume the area Ralph operated in had high enough crime rate that up to 3 missing persons a year wasn't an unusual spike, I'm afraid Ralph didn't even need a divine intervention from Zimforth to stay under the radar for the entire time.
VA for Ralph killed it in that last scene.
20:43 I KNOW YOU CAN FIT THROUGH THOSE BARS JOHNNY
SKINNY LEGEND JOHNNY
SKINNY J
----- having to resort to stalk and track his potential victims, learning their schedules interest etc adds further to idea he's being punished, in my interpretation. He tries to assauge his guilt by calling them beasts but the toll that it takes on him is evident. Having to abduct Johnny just because he was recognized, speaks to his developed paranoia and fear.
ofc the guy named Chad is one spiking drinks and trolling on social media. Actually the typical high school bully in movies lol.
Very good (albeit sad) game, voice acting is excellent and makes you feel awful for both Ralph and Johnny. The ending where Johnny lives definitely feels like the true one.
What's even more clever about the Johnny ending, is that even if the world doesn't end after a day, it still works, as the person Zimforth describes on the last killing also fit's ralph himself, as it just says "You know who I want dead. You are mine now and forever", So despite ralph thinking it was Johnny, this also could apply to ralph, as sacrificing himself to Zimforth means that for his entire life he would have been stuck serving him and potentially into the afterlife for forever, and ralph technically knows the person Zimforth wants dead, that being himself, meaning he could have saved the world by killing himself, and set Johnny free.
Wow. That schedule in the final year, that was a real stroke of genius to use the interface we've gotten used to in that way. The way it gives the player a choice is really creative too.
The voice actors absolutely killed it. This was such an emotionally brutal game. Hurt really bad and I feel like I need a palette cleanser of cute cat vids, but I loved it.
Also that ending song was haunting. They really nailed it thematically
The game's premise lowkey reminds me of Herbert Mullin, he is a real life serial killer who killed to (according to his confession) prevent earthquakes.
I am surprised no one has done something like this sooner.
There were a few flash games before with that idea in mind, but it was unclear that the protags new that would happen beforehand if they failed.
There is also a black mirror episode similar to this.
The protagonist has to kill I think three people within three days to save the world
@@leobe2104That was my first thought too!
The voice acting is FIRE. 14:55 like COME ON.
the intro monologue caught me off guard right away, i was not expecting this to have voice acting like that
I wish I knew the VA's names 😭😭
Meh. It’s stage style. I hated it. It was really that bad and hearing the same royalty free synth music grew annoying very quickly.
The storyline was stolen from the movie Frailty. It’s exactly the same other than the specifics of how everything is handled. A father receives messages from God to kill “demons” on a list he gave him. He abducts, questions and kills with an axe named Otis and eventually brings his sons into it. One of which has to be confined til he breaks and joins in. They grow up to be serial killers. The end. It’s a fantastic little thriller starring Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey.
@@icahopilm898 1:11:23
Ralph is voiced by Jarret Griffis and Johnny is voiced by Xalavier Nelson Jr.
@@Selnathorn I'm an idiot. Thank you!!
I think this was one of the most emotional games I've ever seen, despite how short it was, despite how much was left up to interpretation, it really changed me. dev, I dunno if you're out there reading the comments, but this was incredible. you've got some real talent. I would love to see more games like this
We’re all looking at videos, watching streams, and occasionally reading comments. We appreciate all the nice ones. Thanks. 😊
If you loved this, I'd super recommend Manly's playthrough of Hitchhiker. It's an old one, but the narrative is great. It feels no different from a recent vid, since Manly never changed. He's really introduced me to some indie gems.
Do you mean HIKEBACK from 3 years ago? Time flies.@@spaghetto9836
@@spaghetto9836did it get deleted i can't seem to find it
@@bananafone1414 Wait, I'm sorry, the title is HIKEBACK, & it's about a hitchhiker 😭.
Zimforth threatens to end the world if some guy won't sacrifice someone. Where he'll get his sacrifices after the world is gone then?
Is he stupid?
He is an alien god he is called dark emperor
It says he's a cruel god. I think he's honestly fine with either, but prefers the first one. He knows MC will kill if it means saving the world.
I like to imagine that Zimforth doesn't *need* sacrifices, he's just an asshole. When the world is destroyed, he'll just find another one.
@@zacmayes2802yeah I see it as it wanting entertainment, he enjoys watching the process how it makes the main character hate himself
Is there a lore reason for this?
yall, im actually going to cry
👍
Cry Mor
The music and the premise really hurts
@alexread6767 EXACTLY-
this entire story is just really unfortunate, and everything is in the morally grey..
Johnny is the only person I feel really bad for the most, he didn't deserve any of this 😭😭
Ralph's VA knocked it out of the park with those final pleads. My heart almost clenched on his behalf. I hope those two get paid generously 😂.
You know, I usually don't love stories that are super open to interpretation and open ended, but the way this game did it was was actually really cool. I adore Johnny, it would have been so easy for him to just hate Ralph for ruining his life but I think he recognized that Ralph wasn't doing these things because he wanted to, he wasn't some crazy murder, he was just a normal guy, doing what he thought needed to be done. This story is painful in the best way possible and I know it'll be stuck in my mind for a long time.
I watch a ton of horror gameplays, and few ever get to me. This one did. This could've been a simple, yet very elaborate horror game where you murder people to appease a cruel unknown entity. But the addition of Johnny added a layer that completely changed how we view it all.
I got so attached to both these guys as they shared so many emotions. I actually felt a little happy when Johnny was finally allowed upstairs.
That made me question why Ralph felt he needed to abduct him and why he assumed he couldn't let him outta the cage, even though his legs atrophied to the point he could no longer walk (which makes me wonder how tf he was able to walk during the true ending). As others have speculated, Ralph must've been paranoid about Johnny revealing who he is to the authorities, even though Johnny was just saying hello.
When i tell you that the tears never stopped falling after Zimforth chose Johnny, that's an understatement. The sinking feeling in my stomach never left. My god, that entire ending was heartbreaking. Johnny was the only real connection Ralph had in his haunting life. It doesn't matter of him saying "i love you" was romantic or platonic. Ralph needed Johnny as a comfort and a distraction, if only for a minute. Johnny's empathy and compassion was unmatched.
The voice acting... Holy hell, the voice acting. I can't possibly praise them enough. They put their all into every line. None of it felt forced or fake. A+ work all around.
The ending song absolutely tore my soul apart. It's so damn sad. Feels like it's Ralph begging Johnny to stay. Made me cry harder.
This game is a damn masterpiece. The only thing that was confusing (beyond what i believe to be intentional by the dev) was how the hell Ralph was able to remove the "water the flower" necessities after stabbing himself. There's no damn way he opened his entire abdominal area by himself. Also, why did Johnny want his eyes removed? A blindfold could've worked just as well. More to the point, how did Ralph ensure there'd be no rusk of infection after removing his eyes? I highly doubt Ralph would know how, even after his years of removing organs and ribs.
Those are small things that really don't matter, though. The game is a solid 10/10. The OST, the plot, the stakes, the voice acting, the emotional connections, the mysteries... It's perfect.
Comments like these are what make developer's day, I really hope they read this! Most devs comment on Manly's videos anyways
Agreeing with you 1000000% on this, you worded this so much better than I ever could!
Johnny's legs must've recovered after Ralph brought him upstairs. He was standing up while helping wash his dishes in a cutscene. Ralph probably helped him walk later on.
@@abandonedcharcoal5404 Johnny was stuck in that cage for years before finally being let out for brief periods. He couldn't even walk a few feet during his escape attempt. There's no way Ralph could've helped him rehabilitate his legs to the point he could walk. At best, he'd need crutches or some kind of assistance.
My guess is that the dev just forgot about Johnny's legs being atrophied, which is fine. It didn't take away from the story at all.
@@MidnightSonnetwell given that the interactions we see with the characters are years apart, that’s plenty of time to learn how to walk again.
It's insane that Johnny spent a third of his life locked in Ralph's basement
I think the grayed out people were meant to show how “you” see them not as people but beasts, i whould have likes if the last level had there full art though
I just wish we had gotten like. Any amount of lore about zimforth. Cuz wtf is "water the flower."
But this game is SUPER cool ngl
Im assuming « watering the flower » is a reference to healing the Earth so an apocalypse doesn’t happen, to not water the flower will lead to its death. No not feed Zimforth a corpse will lead to Earths death
I suspect the devs were trying to keep Zimforth's existence ambiguous, so to give clear lore could've interfered with that.
The steam page refers to Ralph as a "modern day druid" and he calls Zimforth the lord of the earth in his opening monologue, so it seems pretty likely Zimforth is an ancient nature deity or something adjacent, tying in with the natural disaster aspect and the sacrificial rituals being described as to ''water the flower', but more in-game explanation or even speculation so they can still keep things vague would've been really cool.
He's the god of spiders and enemy of all life.
@@CottagecoreGoblin Imagine if Zimforth is just Earth and they go to Ralph and say "I kinda am just in some diet you can't understand so feed me these people and we will all be fine" until Johnny takes Ralph's attention and Zimforth got jealous like a greek god and said "Suddenly, I have cravings for disabled people. Equality and all y'know."
That was an interesting concept. You learn about your target and then take them out and harvest their body in a way thats kinda like diffusing a bomb lol. The art and animation is real cool. The voice acting was real good. 10 years being locked up that way is such a long time. If Zimforth was real then i wonder what does it do next unless its satisfied with Ralph going out the way he did. At least i think the main characters name is Ralph. On the other hand if the entity doesnt exist, its a real gruesome story about a serial killer and his captive.
The way he acts and this is set up, this is very much a guy with severe delusions. Thinking he is being instructed to "save the world". And definitely kills random people imagining them as sacrifices.
Johnny says at the end he only has one day, the world is going to end because johnny didnt die
He says if he only has one day (he's going to make it count)@@The_Sharktocrab
@@itsgonnabeanaurfromme This is just one interpretation. The game is specifically made so that both interpretations are equally valid, otherwise the endings wouldn't have been this ambiguous in the first place. For what it's worth though, Zimforth is a real entity in the dev's other game.
@@Lernos1 i completely agree. it could be a brain tumor or something but its just as likely that an actual eldritch horror just likes screwing with this one specific guy. the whole point of the game is that you never know which one is true. im of the opinion that it was real given the fact that ralph (this probably isnt accurate but its how i interpreted him choosing specific groups of people before narrowing down to specifics) has a list of names/an idea of where to go before he knows who the people actually are, and zimforth is real in the creator's other works. any other interpretation is completely valid though
Don't be like Ralph, take better care of your human pets.
Give them a cage they can comfortably stand up in and walk two steps in any direction.
Let them out for a walk and sunlight exposure at least once a week.
Feed them a proper balanced diet.
Take care of your human's hygiene.
Play with your human and give them toys so that they won't feel bored.
Don't be like Ralph. Be a good owner.
Ralph was such an irresponsible owner. He says he "is sorry" John had to see the rituals and yet he didn't do anything about it beforehand? My brother in Zimforth, you had entire year to build proper dungeon and you didn't even bother to set up some cheap dividers.
That's a brutal story. I really like the connection between Johnny and Ralph. It's incredibly fucked up though. It's such a complicated situation. Is it perhaps madness? Ralph has good intentions, but also the fear of the world itself in him. I can't imagine what Ralph put himself through in the Johnny ending, cause it seems he performed the ritual on himself. Which had to be excruciating, but apparently he was willing to go that far for Johnny's sake. Tragic mess.
I feel that the gray characters are meant to represent how Ralph didn’t look at them beyond their “face value”, similar to his referring to them as beasts.
Only once a year? Psh... that's light work.
IRN, I hope we ain't getting the same pay with me hauling my ass here...
Well, I guess the fbi is coming for you then admitting stuff
THOSE ARE ROOKIE NUMBERS, YOU GOTTA GET THOSE NUMBERS UP.
Rookie numbers.
More than once a year and it gets hard to convince people to rent the house
haven’t seen a good like this in a long while, well built, if you focused on Ralph’s name before we learned it, every-time it was said it looked more and more like “Ralph” and not an odd vibrating blob, and on the last time(it was censored/filtered) it was just clear it was Ralph, great game.
Dang this game's ui is SUPER unique!!! Genuinely super cool so see both as a concept & in action omg
Its literally adobe premiere lmao
actually this game is gonna stick with me for a hot minute lmao. the story was really really good, the characters were also pretty damn good, and the vagueness of the endings is very well-done. my favorite horror games are ones that give you ethical and psychological issues to work through, like SOMA and Mad Father. i think Life Eater is gonna be in my top 10 :)
Wow, I was not expecting the quality voice acting. Not through the vid yet, but this game seems awesome. Really unique stuff. You really feel awful for both main characters.
I have this one interesting interpretation. So, everyone knows Stockholm Syndrome, very present here. But a lesser known "condition" are the various forms of shared psychosis. Here, Johny has been told the last ten years that if Ralph fails, the world ends. The only time he doesn’t, a massive disaster happens. If thats coincidence, Johny might still fully believe it. So theres a chance everything was fake, and that this "Zimforth" contacts Johny just because Johny believes it must happen.
I know its never eluded to what happens after Ralph dies, but I think this could be an interesting view into stuff like psychosis
Zimforth is Real he is called dark emperor.he is a character from space warlord organ trading simulator im sorry if i ruined it
Oh, might need to go check that out.
And plus, it was more of a thought experiment than a fan theory. Just something I thought was a fun concept
I think Zimforth was never going to end the world, lest they lose all the humans they could toy with. Instead, I think the earthquake was a threat effective enough to coerce Ralph into killing more people. Not saying your theory is wrong though, nothing is exactly proven
@@erihtea0719 Yeah, it wasn't meant to imitate what happened, more just a fun thought. Especially now that I know it actually has context
Life Eater, the long distant relative of Snake Eater
oh god. What a harrowing game.
"That was just a dream, right?" My guess is - completely unrelated and coincidental occurrence! we'll see.
Well, it was never... directly. Answered.
And that's why one of the voices I recognised! It's made by the same people/person/ that made that El Paso Elsewhere.
baaa
and Soul Eater
This game hurts and makes you emotional. The voice acting, the art, and the fact you have stalk people to know them without "knowing" them is an interesting concept as well. Zimforth might act like a parasite in Ralph's brain (thinking like endoparasite?) as he's slowly eaten from the inside, literally or figuratively from guilt.
I mean, taking this game as a canon prequel to Space Warlock Organ Trading Simulator would mean Zimforth is both real and also the kind of being who would do this.
It's such a creative idea for a game made all the better that it's tragic. They're not super common or anything but we have plenty of games where you're evil... not too many where you're truly mortified where you are compelled to be evil. I don't think any god was actually talking to Ralph, but that doesn't change it from his perspective. As far as he was concerned, there was only one choice and he hated it. Adding Johnny, a true innocent who got dragged into this for no reason other than bad luck, made for such a strange "friendship". Excellent stuff, although I do agree we needed more missions like the old man in a coma.
The vibe of this game is phenomenal
Well, that was something else.
What funny to me is one of them had green hair and i was like "that one" and was correct
the story and the voice actors truly made this game magnificent and even as a viewer i was very much absorbed and couldn’t help but empathize with the two. I truly loved the ending where johnny gets to live as it truly showed Ralph’s human qualities despite his countless murders for the last time.
i love how we can hear Ralphs name for the first time at the johnny ending.. i really loved johnny and ralphs relationship.. beautiful game
34:09 "We have to figure out who's the bad dude..."
"..."
"...Bald." (starts clicking)
Ok that got me good
I would love a sequel where Zimforth uses Johnny as a vessel and Johnny has to find someone else to eventually replace him.
That's originally what I thought was going to happen if Ralph chose not to kill Johnny, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw the Johnny ending. Although, I do agree, that's another interesting concept
Man... Man! I love everything about this. It's an odd niche, but I absolutely _love_ stories about serial killers where you are genuinely unable to tell whether they're just crazy or if there are forces beyond mortal ken that is directing things, and this really nailed the concept of it in a way that I would have figured would have taken much longer in a video game.
This game has one of the best storylines I’ve seen in an indie horror game ever. A beautifully drawn tragic tale of cognitive dissonance, learned helplessness, and cruel gods. Proof that your ending can go EXACTLY where the reader expects it to go and still be a compelling narrative.
i saw the thumbnail and immediately thought of vinny vinesauce, it’s all i can see now
one of the split timelines
Same
vinny if he ever gets a neurolink and chat gets access to it somehow
16:03 EVEN THE MC QUESTIONS HIMSELF ND FEELS BAD FOR JOHNNY BUT MANLY JS GOES "no"
Shadow the Hedgehog taught me everything I know
@@ManlyBadassHero OH MY GOD IM LITERALLY CRYING MANLY NOTICED ME
@@ManlyBadassHero u and shadow r my spirit animals 🙏🙏
@@ManlyBadassHero I always ask myself, what would Shadow the Hedgehog do...
RJ Lake should look into taking comissions. The voice acting was phenomenal.
The voice acting in this game was incredibly good, man. The voice acting gave such a powerful impact to the storytelling, and really fleshed out each of the characters.
In case the dev sees this, I'm curious; Is Zimforth a Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator reference?
Edit: Holy shit it is, that's awesome that it's all connected
Yep Zimforth the dark emperor
His name is a pun on classic eldritch names and most likely just a standard reference to point at
Manly uploads makes my soul a little less empty
What's this a prime sacrifice for Zimfroth Owo
@@gerardoalvarado8425 No, it's just empty like his soul.
Hey manly I know you mostly play new releases but would you ever consider playing through the rusty lake series? I honestly think you might enjoy it, all of the games are really interesting
What i found interesting in this game is that Johnny literally goes through the five stages of grief here. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
I already do this, so it’s nice to know my hobby has meaning.
*Hol' up-*
So cool! What’s the name of the guy in your basement?
insanely emotionally complex game
Man that was actually sad. Either johnny lives a happy life knowing that ralph killed himself because of him or ralph kills johnny and lives the rest of his sick days without a friend.
the god is most likley real when you consider how many years they went without a major disaster before and after
He's definitely real in the dev's other game about the Space Warlord.
The rest of the world does not count? Also the sun sacrifices
Them playing Catan is great. I just started working on a resin 3D print of the board for a friend of mine.
Man. His name wasn't corrupted.
Ralph only became a real person after he defied Zimforth.
A lovely little narrative touch.
I KNEW I heard Johnny's voice somewhere before, but it didn't click until I saw the credits. It's the same VA (and game director) as El Paso, Elsewhere, Xalavier Nelson Jr.. Neat.
"we have to figure out who is the bad dude...... 👆BALD" - manly 2024
I genuinely wonder if you can actually waste all those 100 hours during the endgame part. There's no respective achievement for it, but it still would be interesting to see what would happen if you somehow managed to do it, even though im okay with an open ending of the game. If there's nothing that would be a wasted opportunity for a little Easter egg from the devs or something of that kind, too
Fantastic idea, fantastic execution. It reminded me of "Her Story" with the way you have to use logic to fill in gaps piecemeal, combined with the random luck factor of finding exactly the right keyword/time slot that gives you a huge puzzle piece.
It was a solid choice never to confirm or disprove Zimforth's existence, of course. I feel like they _could_ have given you a hidden "run out the clock" ending for the final choice... but only if it too was inconclusive. (Idk, something like the pair of you drink yourselves into a blackout but then both die in a fire/police shootout for robbing the liquor store/dog alien abduction, making it a less satisfying ending that ushers people off to get one of the main endings.)
not even halfway through but i do wonder if it's going down the schizophrenia fake-out route or not. i'll just have to see
It's left it up to interpretation it seems.
i hope not. i hate endings like those, it makes everything that happened during the story not matter.
@@wtf-why-do-we-have-handles-nowwhy does it not matter? It's pretty clear that this is the case. And he still did all those murders.
@@wtf-why-do-we-have-handles-now Not matter? I mean, it only makes it not matter if one of the answers would make it not answer.
This leaves it a Schrodinger's situation where you cannot fully be certain one way or another. It's like Total Recall. The adventure could be real, but it also might not. It's not like a horror movie where everyone dies and nothing changes. This is a suspenseful game where you just don't know
@@morganblackhand2020.
I saw a clip of this on TikTok from the creator of the game, and I had no idea you'd touch something like this! I still went into this completely blind, so I learned as I watched, and had nothing spoiled.
I knew Johnny was going to be a sacrifice at the end of the story. He was too important of a character to not be. The prompt saying that Ralph could be a sacrifice in his stead was unexpected however. Also, I like how you choose to interpret the earthquake as a chance, though I agree with Johnny- the chance is *too* coincidental to actually be a chance. But given how Ralph sacrificed himself to save Johnny, I also wonder how Zimforth's chooses his followers. Would Johnny become a follower? Would him being blinded make him invalid for the job, since he needs to be able to watch the sacrifices? Would Zimforth _restore_ his sight so he could do the job? _Can_ Zimforth restore his sight?
Overall, the story is extremely interesting, and I like how the gameplay kept introducing new challenges, though they could have added more black haired characters, or any characters with kids. None of the sacrifices had children, despite the fact that the old man would've made the most sense, and would've been easy to show.
Zimforth probably chose good people who will suffer from their actions most (emotionly)
Earthquakes happen each day everywhere it is not too much coincidence, you would be a good Mayan
Can someone explain to me WHY he had to kidnap Johnny? It's not like Johnny saw him do anything. Just remembered him from somewhere or another. Can someone please help me?
He's not mentally sane and therefore doesn't think rationally
i think it was ralph hadn't viewed himself as a person who exist to anyone but zimforth for so long that when he was actually percieved by someone else that wasnt zimforth he was afraid that he was going to be condemned for the nature of the killings
@@jhg888
Mkay... Maybe, I guess. Thanks for actually trying to help me out. 👍🏾🙏🏾
@@pulse1001 yeah that was just my interpretation of it LMAOOO could just be bro was so paranoid he was like Fuck it we ball too😭
This story is so painful but so GOOD. It references so many things that have happened in the real world, and combines it into one disgustingly heartwarming narrative,,,
I thought this would be a spooky game! Why'd you have to go and dropkick my emotions like this? 😭
I'd give my snake.
Not for honor, but for youuuuu...
Life Eater...
Wild pm fan spotted?
Ughh “thumbs up”
The ladder to that basement is long as hell, I bet.
Omg I actually sung this
PM? Like, Project Moon?!
If by any chance any of the devs are reading the comments, I want you to know that this was a great experience and you've all done an amazing job. The art is wonderful, the story is engaging, the voice acting is phenomenal, both endings are cathartic in their own unique ways. And I simply love it, I'd buy it myself if I could afford it.
Honestly great game. I love the open question if the world was going to really end. I mean, if that earthquake was actually just a coincidence, then obviously it's good Ralph died. He's obviously a monster who's killed at least 30 people and kidnapped one more. But you almost feel for him. You know that he doesn't want to do this.
As for Ralph's ending, we don't really know. He could keep on doing his crimes, now truly having lost everything. Johnny's has the hope that well, maybe the world won't end. Maybe he was just a crazy freak. But if it was gonna end...did he do the right thing?
That was... that was one hell of a game. I always love games that encourage the player to pay attention to any and all schedules of targets or interferences. But this? This is like that but even MORE!
And yet everything was so chilling, I practically knew Zimforth wanted Johnny as the 10th sacrifice... it was like waiting for your own execution.
How they did the endings was nicely done, gives the player a hard choice
I talk big in this comment but god damn I could've wet my pants if I wasn't careful
The soundtrack, the voice acting, the design, everything was so immersive. I'll definitely check out this for myself, thank you for the play through manly
Technically, Ralph is still Zimforth's, even in the Johnny Ending, so... Maybe they're all good??
I like to think that the god actually exist, it makes it actually scarier for me. Yeah, the crazzy guy who kills because the voice told him to is scary since is more realistic... But being a puppet, without any opportunity to choose, to be obligated to do this inmorals sacrifices... To have an excuse to end someones life. It horrofies me in a more deep way. Not to mention that there is no enjoyment from the protagonist, he really doesn't want to do it, but he has to. It's like if they send him to war without any type of training or preparation.
Zimforth is real he is called dark emperor.he is a character from space warlord organ trading simulator
@@Mrhandgrenade Oh, i didn't knew that, thanks!
Just started the video and theorizing zimforth is a successful invader zim 🤔.
İ dont get what you said but Zimforth is Real he is called dark emperor.he is a character from space warlord organ trading simulator
@@Mrhandgrenade oh wow! I was mostly kidding, haha! The cartoon invader Zim always wanted to take over earth 🤷♀️ . Thank you for the info.!
Zimforth (Zim, for short) appears to be Invading this guy's life. Hm...
talk to the wrong guy at the store, end up on 24/7 john channel
A heart-wrenching game! To know that both are under such duress the entire time, and the anguish of making the final decision. Incredibly written story and amazing music! Thanks for sharing, Manly!
This was pretty intense. Reminds me of an old Bill Paxton movie I watched where a father and two sons kill for God and God covers their tracks. Pretty unhinged but awesome premise.
You are the only commentary I can handle while watching a playthrough of a game. 😊👍🏻It’s not all loud and annoying.
Honestly, the victims just being silhouettes with no visible features makes sense in the context of the game. Visibly giving them unique characteristics would personify them too much and the protag did not see them as people even if they had names. It's basically the inverse of the protag who very distinct features but no name, up until Johnny's ending.
As for psychosis, [Ralph] definitely had something and Johnny gained it to some degree due to his isolation with [Ralph]. Years of only being presented with that world view made it easier to believe.
There are some inconsistencies though with how the game presents the passage of time though. The gameplay starts after [Ralph] had apparently been doing this for 20 years already. He kidnaps Johnny after being remembered going to the grocery store. If you're in the same place for 20 years and you're going to the same places, you'll get remembered. The man owns a home, a phone, shops. Probably has a job. He would be known.
Wow. That was my favorite game you’ve covered yet. Incredibly well put-together.
Ok but can we also please talk about how amazing the end credit music is?? Like wow. it truly captures the dark bonechilling insanity Ralph must've experienced ever since first being contacted and the agony he feels for his deeds and what he forced upon Johnny - the wish for a companion he know doesn't feel love for him in return because of how fucked the situation is and the wish to keep him safe despite it all. Absolutely phenomenal game
I like the way you edited this one. The story was really neat.
I was expecting eldritch terror, not like, sentimental terror. The guion and the voice acting was just... Brutal