PIT OF BABEL - Brutal Game Where You Grind Cute "Creatures" To Build A Tower To The Heavens 

Fellow dev of the game, thanks for playing Manly! Nice use of the "slam block against other blocks to tidy them up", a technique I like to use myself ;]

13:14 *smashes a block into the tower* "Push it back in! Yeah! Manly engineering! Firm it up! Firm up that tower!" I love how this man has figured out how to use a block as a hammer and just is so excited about his discovery!

13:21 Bashing a building into shape is the manliest tradition

That tower collapse at the end was pretty damn satisfying.

The creatures need to die as an individual to become a part of the tower. In the story, one character chooses to become a part of the collective while the other chooses to stay as an individual. It doesn't seem to say either choice is right or wrong, but depends on what you want to become.

The line “WHY IS IT STILL STANDING??? I MADE IT TO STURDY!!” Is like that one video where engineering students played jenga

I do love that his 'repairing' the tower is essentially a man beating the frame of a building back into shape with an I-beam lol

Welcome to the Sound Foundation Club, how Sound Foundation are ya?

Pretty genius take comparing all the tetris blocks, despite their different shapes, creating structure, to different languages building the tower of babel. This game is wacky love it. Although the purring of the creatures when they sleep is too cute... why ;w;

You might not like it but this is how peak engineering looks like

Alright. Imma say it. "Blocks for the Block God."

"I don't want to be God. I just want to be a little better than this" This story sounds like an allegory how people who are desperate to change themselves for the better can end up becoming part of a cult.

The art in the game reminds me of another game where you play as a little creature while trying to avoid being eaten in the ocean

The Tetris Game from Hell - I imagine that it's a similar feeling to never getting first place in Tetris 99 and trying to reach the top

Disappointed that we did not see a divine being crash into the tower.

I think there's some connection between the memories in the notes of losing a child (and feeling shame about it, perhaps implying guilt) and the player sacrificing these small, fleshy, almost fetus-like creatures for their own ambition

"Grub Gott!" is likely meant to be "Grüß Gott!" a common German greeting meaning "Bless god!". "ü" pronounced by making an "ee" sound with o-shaped lips, very close to the sound you get when a "y" is pronounced "ee" like "cynical", "ß" is equivalent to "ss".

I don't think I'll ever forget the lore of this. I watched this video months ago and had to find it again because this concept haunts me. Particularly "What now? Even if you walk away you'll still be permanently mixed up. Tormented by memories of lives you've never lived." and "I don't want to be god. I just want to be better than this."

I was wondering if we were the one who chose not to join, and we were building up to escape the pit.

It appears that the story implies that the real reason humanity was dispersed from the Tower of Babel had less to do with the perfect language and instead was about the loss of individuality. This place is a cognito hazard that could have doomed humanity had the angels not been sent

You cannibalize the rotters to build the tower. That's the symbolism. Between that and the narration, my interpretation is that It's all about sacrificing your humanity in pursuit of something that's supposedly greater but ultimately isn't worth the sacrifice, or indeed worth much of anything. The rotters are people, they're the human race being sacrificed in pursuit of a false promise of godhood. Somehow I got a feeling there's more to the doulas.

High key this concept is actually existentially horrible.

RU-vid:recommend this video Manly:cute "creatures" Me:SoS

While the fact that the tower held initially is very impressive, the reason for the slow collapse was rotational inertia and the fact that gravity pulls only downwards rather than sideways, not structural integrity. A very tall structure will always take a long time to fall to the side.

Even a few minutes in this game highly reminds me of a concept I read in a game design book at some point. It was something arguing that the content of a game's story and narrative is important to consider, because Tetris would be far different if instead of stacking blocks, that if you were throwing people into a pit and stacking them only to have their bodies disappear when a full line was made. It was probably an old book since that seems like an obvious thing even without that metaphor, but it's a weird imagery that's stuck with me and I'm curious if the game makers have read that same thing or if this is just a weird coincidence.

Getting memories of Berserk with the building mountains of bodies to climb up... This is a really fascinating story, though.

Third Impact meets Tetris, nice.

ManlyBadassHero: *reads an interesting an well-written bit of lore that describes the mental state of a distraught mother* Also ManlyBadassHero not two seconds later: "So what happened to that block I had?"

Jesus, what an extraordinary plotline. I was enticed through the whole thing. At one point, I couldn't give two shits about how the tower was being made, I just wanted to hear the next dialogue!

I thought the title was "Pit of Bagel"

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but Hell Tetris wasn't it.

Gotta love Manly slow descent into madness as he tries to make a perfect tower. Stating that the cute meat bugs are just meat and that all their useful for is to get more blocks for his tower. (Around after 27:00 is when I thought of this.)

Text (of the story of the game): 1- 4:00 2- 10:00 3- 15:12 4- 21:44 5- 29:31 6- 33:06

Just using the blocks to bang the pieces back in the funniest thing since I'm using this as background noise and every so often I hear nothing but "BANG CLANG CLANG BANG" and I look back and a precariously made tower it's honestly great

ok but not being quirky or anything but this game IS highkey relaxing- like the noises and the rain and just building like.. ignoring the morbid killing of the nasty red things it's kinda meditative.

Never have I ever related so much to "Manly Engineering"

As a Christian, yes this is EXACTLY what happened

Some are content, some want something more. I wonder, when he becomes "a little better than this," is he content? Is it enough to become one with a sea of voices, memories, thoughts and ideas? After working in an office, being a lawyer, whatever he did before... Was it really that soulless? I suppose a man in a business suit is likely the most desperate for a change. For something better. I hope he's happy in that sea of sand. The ever crumbling tower.

so the snakes produce "deceit" with which the small ones are being fed until they can in turn be sacrificed to the machine to produce bricks that are irrelevant to them in the first place. i like it, nice artsy form of commentary

_It parallels the Bible story well_ Man aspires and builds to become "one" and greater until MBH concludes the effort and demolishes the Tower. :D Most interesting line was where the one man didn't want to be God, just a better man. Cool game and very cool that each player to become part of the Tower's legacy.

I don't know anything about the Bible, but this game was pretty soothing. Reminds me of the philosophical concept of holons, where things are self-contained "wholes" and yet are also parts to other things (cells to an organ, organs to a body, bodies to a community, etc.). They are all distinct entities, but they exist in a wider context, struggling between individual and collective interests. Standing out vs. fitting in, both of which have their own pros and cons. The cells of the body are distinct in shape and function, but must work together to maintain an organism so that the organism can in turn feed and protect them (like people in a society). I don't really understand what God means to Christians, so the existential dread in pursuing divine meaning flies over my head, but as a lover of biology, it feels nice. Being both individual and together is built into the fabric of life. So while this game has a sorta bleak atmosphere, it gives me a sense of hope. Cuz the universe allowed humanity to evolve and live and experience so many things, both within, between, and beyond ourselves. Even if we're constantly struggling with those desires, our existence, in whatever form it may take, is undeniable.

“Tis there was a man Named ManlyBadassHero...he would demolish any scary game that stood in his glory path...everybody knew of him and thus dubbed him a LEGEND...”

About this language, that's actually kind of a thing, so it would seem. Studies have found that, even with no way to physically signal to each other, the vast majority of animals are always capable of signalling something to one another from incredible distances. They're really efficient about it, too. Nobody really pays attention to that since it isn't important, but I'm pretty sure they just know how to think to each other, which is pretty cool.

What Id like to know is how much did Manly actually played this!! The cuts are highly appreciated, but I fear for him.

So a hardcore jenga?

I like how he managed to make those blocks straight despite placing an extra unnecessary block on the bottom-right area.

I love how to describe everything on screen. I’m legally blind and it’s awesome to not have to squint at the screen.

Weird game. I'm not sure if I've "enjoyed" the vid - the game made me so incredibly unconfortable. Both the killing of the cute critters and the story told made me shudder. But in a sense, I guess the game managed to make it's point, then? I feel so weird...

Alternate Sub-Title: Manly Becomes an Architect in the Abyss (aka Manly's Soul)

You always find the most fascinating games, and your voice in these kinds of games is incredibly relaxing despite the content of the games themselves Xp

Based on this story, humans were a true hive mind originally. Then god decided to make us individuals. It wasnt to spite us or prevent us from reaching heaven or god. Tge tower of Bable showed god the efficiency and power of a hive mind. But also the lack of individuality in a hive mind. Which is an important part of free will. The important stepping stone that he wanted to give humans. So he broke our hive mind into individual pieces. Literaly.

The story portions are very interesting. It's the whole individual (lesser, organism) vs. collective (greater, cellular), and I'm not sure what I'd personally choose. If I had to choose I'd rather be a piece in a puzzle rather than water spread throughout a lake, although maybe that's kind of defeating the point of a collective and is more like a fusion from Steven Universe xD

Cute? Things??! Oh this is going to be good. Also, early gang wassup!

Now I imagine Lovecraft or Geiger jamming out to the Tetris Theme song

The storyline has some real Water Womb World feel to it. But I guess some sort of deep biological meaning behind something Biblical tends to run that route. It's really kinda neat imo, even if it's existentially awful. We're all but individual cells that have lost the ability to come together. And what exactly were we when we were together? Was that organism what was made in God's image? What 'language' did we all speak together before it was separated from us? The little creatures are all really cute tho, even the little piggish one that ate the rotters...

if the analogy is that we're the cells of god, then isn't pov character cancer as he chooses to reject the organism he is part of, tho a little better than cancer as he doesn't try to become god (own organism), he just wants to be

The games you play are painful to hear but at the same time it quite lovely to listen to a soothing voice.

Biopunk Tetris with a side of chronic guilt and the perpetual staining of your subconscious. Take my money!

Wait, I just thought about it...Shouldn’t it be ‘Badass, Manly Hero’? Oh man I’ve reached my mental peak...

I love how he reads out game text, it’s relaxing but also creepy! :)

Two things from my experience in the game. I somehow got the secret rotter, or so I think. He was white on top and his lower section was green, almost like he was literally rotting. He could breed infinitely, but I accidently Threw him in the tar pit moments after getting him... Also, I made it to the top but my final block didn't count, because my whole tower came tumbling down at the worst moment. The whole time my tower was a ticking time bomb, because there was a split in the middle that kept expanding. I didn't watch the whole video but I can tell that your channel is worth a sub, I really like your style.

This remind me of Evangelion were everyone chose collectivism so they wouldn't be lonely and misunderstood instead of individualism

These creatures aren’t cute but... their petrified shrieks when they get grinded... I love them

Glad I read the description first. I was gonna say the art style reminded me of Swallow the Sea. Very captivating and disgusting in a prefect balance.

As an engineer myself, I'm very proud to see your use of percussive maintenance!

Evening Manly. Schools out and sephiroth just dropped. Hope you're enjoying the winter season

Quick Analysis: The tetris blocks represent the efforts of different people to create or rebuild something they believe will reach heaven or achieve longstanding glory like the different languages and cultures that arose after the fall of the Tower of Babel. The blocks come from the petty sacrifices of innocent creatures that come from the abyss and they all return to the abyss, “dust to dust”. So the player creates a tower symbolic of hubris and the idea that they are doing something worthy of those sacrifices when the tower itself will fall regardless.

37:23 this is what my my brain sounds like when i try and do basic math

So basically. The tower of babal is a representation of language as a whole. It comes from Genesis so its in a ton of religious text. God saw the builders of the tower and decided they were trying to flee a second flood, so he cursed the world with multiple languages so no one man could understand the next. So each builder couldn’t agree on what to do, so the tower fell. The tower falling basically means that languages spread around the world. The rotters are like the builders, they make noise and thats it. The other things that scream are other languages. And the worms are a game mechanic. Inb4 some christian or jehovah witness person (jehovahs witness believes in the tower being real) corrects me on the story.

Didn't think i'd watch this but both the game and your voice made me keep watching

This definitely looks like a game by the swallow the sea dev, that style can be seen from a mile away. Edit: what did I just watch.

You can tell good you tubers from bad ones with videos like this. A good video game channel can convince viewers to watch videos like this, where you have convinced the audience to watch you play horror Tetris for 40 minutes. Good job.

This reminds me of a game called Babel Tower where you build a tower by starting from mining to carving bricks and then cutting trees and carving them to planks to build the tower

I like the story a lot. It made me think how I'd react if I forgot everything. Or in a scenario like the people where in. It always made me think that it would be a terrible fate to become one. Indavuiality is very import in creating new things and think of new things.

So, the artstyle really reminds me of those shorts in Perfect Vermin. Really, the shading and linework

Instantly recognized the art style of Swallow the Sea! Love that game, so I have high hopes for this one

The red kirby looking creatures you sacrifice are almost adorable in their own weird way

*WAKE UP* *EAT* I love it every time, LOL

Saw thumbnail, thought "it looks to be from the same devs who made "Swallow the Sea". Clicked, saw the description - bingo!

I like to call it “meat Tetris” (One of the developers also made Swallow the Sea, don’t remember which though)

I would definitely read a book about the pit of Babel. It seems like such an interesting world

I really love the writing in the game. It reminds me of so many different authors, and all of them good. Lovecraft, Bunyan, Dante, Goethe, and others I can't remember right now

What a fascinating concept

Oi, Manly! These edibles ain't shi- *gets grinded up into blocks*

The little red squeaky things are weirdly adorable. I'd keep one as a pet.

"Some of you may die, but that the sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Caught a manly video in the first minute of upload? Very anime

I realized I had seen your videos somewhat constantly without realizing it was always your channel. I dig the channel theme, so I'll sub.

bruh, so this is what Griffith from Berserk had in his mind... that's horrifying

How to ram up a tower? A stick! POINTY STICK DOMINANCE, but without the point! What a ManlyBadassCivilEngineer. I really expected the three environmental tetrominoes at the bottom to disappear to trigger the collapse. Maybe they were supposed to?

I liked how you referred to the little snake food guys as spotted eels (the ocean variety)!

37:12 FINALLY, SOME CATHARSIS

27:56 he's slowly descending into madness

Ah yes,wassup "before 1 hour" gang Btw manly you should play Lucy the eternity she wished for it's a game about cute robot anime girl

The grinder made me remember the end of "Swallow The Sea"

"push it back in, yea manly engineering." I'm so surprised that worked though.

TETRIS but you build the tower by hand and use weird creatures to make the blocks, the sequel to your inner thoughts

As a Christian man studying to be a pastor, this is how the tower of babel was made before God scattered them.

a brutal game of tetris with way more lore and an actual objective

I'm gonna be honest, I wasnt super interested at first because I though this was a review of the game but you really brought it to life and you got a new sub :) I'm excited to see more of your stuff