10 Video Games That Punished You For Buying Them

4. Manual Samuel

The Day Before
Curve Digital

Though absolutely one of the better games on this list - in that it's an honest-to-God attempt at making a "real" game - Manual Samuel feels no less torturous as a result.

Players take control of Samuel, who makes a deal with Death, that he'll be given a reprieve of his demise if he can manually control his body for 24 hours. 

And so, players are left to perform every mundane action possible - blinking, breathing, and so on - as quickly becomes nothing short of infuriating.

In case it somehow isn't clear, the game is 100% in on the joke, and Manuel Samuel is clearly made with enough passion and artfulness that one can't simply deem it a lazy cash-in like other games mentioned here.

However, the "artificial difficulty" of its unwieldy controls still makes it a hair-pulling slog to get through, even at just two hours in length - which, it seems, is probably the point of it all.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.