Manny's (Restaurant)

**Manny's** is a fast food restaurant serving as the primary location of the events of the 2023 indie game of the same name. The restaurant reveals itself to potential customers who are in life threatening situations and require food and water to survive and appears to be under the control of a creature known as a Maneater. Manny's restaurants are shown to have as little as one to as many as six employees working at any given time. Only a person who has killed another human being can order from the establishment.

## History

The only history of Manny's available is in the form of numerous drawings made by a child found around the premises. The pictures, when viewed in order, depict a family: a father, a mother, and a little girl, who find themselves in a situation where Manny's appears before them. In the restaurant, the father learns of the secret that he must kill others to order a meal. Driven to desperation by hunger and thirst, the father murders his wife in front of the little girl, who runs away from her father. The father orders a meal, but returns to kill his daughter some time after he has consumed it. His name, Wesley, appears on the donation wall inside the restaurant. Due to the preferences of the restaurant, even though he culls the child's soul, it is not enough for him to afford a meal anyway.

## Manny's

In the game *Manny's*, Bryan first sees the restaurant as he begins to starve to death on the deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. Its presence to Bryan is shocking, as it is impossible for a restaurant to be present on the island. Inside, he meets the restaurant's sole employee, Tyler, who appears confused at Bryan's behavior towards finding the restaurant. The restaurant has no working telephone and its only use to Bryan would be as a means of acquiring a meal. Bryan is only able to order a meal from the restaurant by having previously murdered a pregnant woman while they were both stranded at sea on a life raft. The player has a choice of ordering the restaurant's signature meal, the Double Manny Combo or a Manny Nug Combo. The outcome is the same no matter which meal the player chooses.

There are no prices on the restaurant's menu, as payment is in the form of human souls which the customer must collect by killing other people. Bryan receives the meal for killing the woman on the raft, though doesn't realize that this is his form of payment at the time. The murder of the woman's unborn child does not entitle Bryan to a full meal as per the rules of the restaurant, but rather only allows him to make a donation to "Manny's House", a charity run by the restaurant and a parody of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, an independent American non-profit organization created by McDonald's.

The restaurant has a reward system in place for staff who perform the duties of the restaurant above and beyond what is required of them in the form of a traditional Employee of the Month award. Tyler says that the rules of the restaurant are the same here as they are anywhere, likening the dealing of souls for food to ordinary capitalism.

When the Seven Seals of Hell around the restaurant are opened, the rain and the ocean surrounding the island turn a blood red and the signs and logos depicting Manny change into bizarre and horrifying depictions of the character. There is an cave-like system, which looks similar to Hell, hidden below the restaurant, accessible by a hatch on the floor of one of the restaurant's freezers. In this cave, the staff of the restaurant, including Tyler himself, perform a ritual for a giant creature, called a Maneater, living under the restaurant. The logos and signs of the restaurant are caricatures of this creature.

Four days after Bryan is rescued from the island, Manny's once again manifests itself for him, though not under the same life threatening conditions as last time. Bryan enters the restaurant, shocked that it seems completely normal, with multiple employees working in the kitchen instead of just one. The game ends with Bryan finding the donation paper he signed while on the island, suggesting that the restaurant was real the entire time and that Bryan is either still trapped in Manny's or that he may never be free of Manny's completely.

## Appearance of restaurant

Manny's presents itself to the customer as an ordinary looking, friendly and inviting fast food restaurant as a means of drawing the customer in. It only appears to potential customers at night and is not present during the day. It has electricity, running water, a full kitchen, freezers, a working bathroom, booths and individual seats, as well as a child's play place. The restaurant also has a drive-thru if the conditions of the outside world permit it to be used.

The mascot of the franchise is Manny, also the main antagonist of the game, depicted as a brown humanoid figure wearing a Manny's "M" logo apron with a large red crystal on his head. The logos and graphics show Manny in a cheerful mood with a cute face, often seen carrying a tray of fast food, carrying comically sized hamburgers, or winking. His trademark look is a winking face, a style reminiscent of 1950's era restaurant mascots. Manny's has many prominent features, including a large lit outdoor sign with a facial logo of Manny, neon signs, a drive-thru, and a kid's play place with a slide and ball pit. The restaurant also has a donation wall with multiple Manny logo shaped papers taped to it with the signatures of former customers on them.

The outside of the restaurant has a large lit sign with Manny's signature winking face on it, as well as a neon sign above the front door that shows the name of the restaurant. There are numerous glass windows that run along the perimeter of the restaurant to allow potential customers to see inside. As well as the front door, there are also two side doors on either side of the restaurant as well as a back door for staff members only. Near the back door is a large lit menu used for the drive-thru. There is also a drive-thru window on the left side of the establishment connected to the kitchen.

Inside the restaurant is a full kitchen, complete with stovetops, deep friers, ice cream and coffee machines, soda dispensers, several prep stations and two large freezers. There is a place where staff can hang their Employee of the Month plaques, where Tyler has hung his eight consecutive awards. There are also two cash registers; one at the drive-thru window and one at the front, as well as a key cabinet located beside the back door with keys to the doors of the premises. For safety, there are multiple fire extinguishers located around the kitchen. Oddly enough, both freezers on the premises are empty, leaving one to speculate where the food comes from and how it is made.

The restaurant also has bathrooms for both women and men. The men's side contains a child's drawing as well as some graffiti on the stall's wall that spells out "MANEATER" in large capital letters. There is also a staff only room that is not accessible in the game. There are multiple booths as well as individual seats in the dining room. There is a child's play place with plate glass that allows customers to see inside, complete with a club house structure, a red slide and a ball pit. Numerous logos of Manny as well as two neon signs with the restaurant's name adorn the walls of the restaurant. There is a large donation wall beside the front counter, where customers can write their names on Manny's logo shaped papers. Some of the donations do not just include names but also the hurried scribblings of former customers asking where their loved ones are, incoherent ramblings, questions, and even profanities. All of the signatures on the wall represent customers who have murdered children on the premises.

The restaurant houses seven seals which protect the barrier between the real world and the Underworld. These seven seals are used for the staff to pass between both worlds in order to fulfill their assigned duties. These seals rest on a different plane of existence than ordinary human beings and are thus invisible to the naked eye. However, something within the restaurant allows Bryan to be able to see these unholy objects. Tampering with all seven of them allows Bryan to enter the Underworld, the same as an employee.

## Staff

During the events of *Manny's*, Tyler is the only prominent staff member of the restaurant. As well as Tyler, there are also several faceless staff members, who are general employees of the restaurant, though they assume other duties instead of being the literal face of the establishment. While Tyler greets and feeds customers, the other employees take on tasks that are not regularly shown to customers, like helping with the demonic rituals that take place beneath the restaurant. With the establishing of a staff reward program, it can be assumed that there are many more prominent members of staff in other Manny's restaurants.

#### Confinement

Staff are not allowed to leave the restaurant for any reason. While they are not allowed to leave, they are allowed to apply for Paid Time Off (PTO), where it may or may not be approved at the discretion of the acting manager. If PTO is approved, staff may be allowed to leave. However, Tyler infers to Bryan late in the game that the staff, unlike the customers, are actually dead and cannot return to their previous lives permanently. Staff also cannot see the world outside of the restaurant. Mostly this is due to the restaurant appearing in many different locations and not being bound to one place both in time or space. The outside world is shown as a void beyond the premises of the restaurant. Staff can freely enter the Underworld, but are required to do so after the successful culling of customers' souls as a direct result of their transaction. All staff must be present to transfer the energy of the souls to the acting manager in a ritual that takes place in the Underworld.

#### Personal possessions

Staff are allowed to have personal possessions, as evidenced by Tyler's use of numerous suitcases when he tries to flee the restaurant ahead of his PTO approval. Though personal possessions are allowed, phones are not allowed in the restaurant under any circumstances.

#### Employee of the Month awards

Staff who perform their duties exceptionally, specifically those duties both in and below the restaurant, are awarded Employee of the Month. Staff who earn these awards consistently are more likely to be approved for PTO and are allowed certain freedoms that other staff members may not be privy to.

#### Physical harm

Unlike the customers, staff cannot be harmed either by customers or by other staff. Staff can be "killed" in a sense, but will come back to life with no visible injuries after a short time. Staff are also not allowed to directly harm the customers and must resort to convincing the customers themselves to kill each other for meals. Due to the perilous outside situations that the customers find themselves in, most customers oblige in killing others.

#### Potential powers

As a result of the bending of the rules of reality, staff also have the inhuman ability to appear in different areas of the restaurant instantly. Staff are also able to determine through unknown means that a customer has paid, meaning they can tell how many people the customer has killed and, as a result, how many meals they can afford.

#### Punishment

Staff may also be punished by the acting manager for various infractions in the restaurant. This can include not fulfilling an order for a customer, revealing too much information about the nature of Manny's, speaking about their previous lives before being employed, asking for help from a customer or helping customers in any way. Any staff that try to venture outside the confines of the restaurant, with exceptions to the Underworld below, will be punished. Any kind of slacking on general upkeep of the premises can also result in punishment, similar to that of an ordinary restaurant.

A staff member may be fired, which results in their contract becoming void, where the staff member may disappear into purgatory or may be eaten by the Maneater with the same result. Tyler reveals that employees are under contract and that it was offered to potential employees as an alternative to passing on to "eternity". Their existence in the restaurant depends entirely on their employment at Manny's.

## Customers

Customers of Manny's are the victims of the Faustian bargain and are allowed one meal of anything on the menu of their choosing. The price of one order is one human soul, which the customer must take from another human being by killing them. If the customer has not killed anyone, they will not be able to order a meal. If there is only one customer present and therefore no way for the sole customer to complete the deal, the restaurant may pull in another customer from somewhere else in order to satisfy the conditions of the Faustian bargain. Bryan experiences this during the main events of the game when Victor Petrovsky appears in the restaurant during the second night, with no visible means as to how or why he is there. Customers have full authority over the bargain and have the ability to reject the deal and not kill anyone. Unfortunately, this usually results in the demise of the customer, leaving them at the perils of their outside situation.

Customers who threaten or otherwise do not follow the rules of an ordinary restaurant will be expelled from the premises and access to Manny's will be forbidden. Any customer that is ejected will not be able to see or interact with the restaurant again in any capacity, being left to die. Though customers can not physically access the Underworld via the hatch in the freezer, Bryan is the only customer able to pass this barrier by opening the seven unholy seals that protect the barrier between the real world and the Underworld. The seals appear to him after he finds seven child's drawings on the restaurant's premises left by a previous customer.

#### Faustian bargain

Manny's relies on a "deal with the devil", or a Faustian bargain type system with all of its transactions. The restaurant incentivizes its customers to kill each other as a means for the restaurant to collect the customer's souls and for the customers themselves to gain the requirements necessary to order food, thus saving their own lives. Customers are only presented with Manny's under life-threatening conditions requiring food and water to survive and does not show itself to people based solely on the fact that they have killed someone.

Bryan's exposure to Manny's is due to the inevitable outcome of him starving to death on the deserted island, offering him a way to save himself but at the price of killing another human being. A customer, however, has the free will necessary to be able to reject the deal, though their rejection has a great chance of resulting in their death due to outside conditions. Much like in the tale of Faust, the "deal" is nothing more than a trick to gain more souls by getting desperate people to kill one another. Customers, in the end, really have no choice but to accept the terms of the deal, unless they wish to perish in their present situation. In the non-canon ending, Manny's manifests itself to a man in snow gear traversing an oppressive Arctic landscape who is faced with the same decision as the game's protagonist.

## Charity

Manny's has a charity called "Manny's House", which is a direct parody of the Ronald McDonald House charity created by the McDonald's Corporation. Customers can choose to donate to this charity by killing children, whose souls are more "innocent" than an adult's soul and are therefore not worth as much. Tyler explains that an adult's soul is more corrupted than a child's soul, thus making it both worth more and better tasting to management.

During the events of Manny's, Bryan's killing of the pregnant woman on the life raft allows him the ability to donate to Manny's House, due to his killing of her and her unborn child. In his madness, Bryan donates the soul to Manny's House by writing "Bryan was here" on a Manny's logo shaped paper and sticking it on the donation wall. Where the donated souls go and what they are used for are unknown.

## Other restaurants

During the main events of Manny's, there are a total of three different Manny's locations seen in the game:

1. Manny's on the deserted island
2. Manny's in the Arctic Circle, where Bryan works in the non-canon ending
3. Manny's in the city, which Bryan and Tom visit after indy.'s concert in the canon ending.

The final example is different, as Bryan and Tyler, having succeeded in killing Manny, presumably the last Maneater alive, means that Manny's can now manifest itself to virtually anybody and will prey on souls within its vicinity.

## Trivia

* The Manny's that appears in the non-canon ending of the game directly contradicts the fact that Manny's only appears at night, appearing to manifest itself during the day. However, this geographical location experiences a phenomenon called the "midnight sun", or a consecutive 24 hour period of sun that is usually experienced in regions of the Arctic and Antarctic.
* The entire interior layout of Manny's is based off of an actual McDonald's restaurant that the creator, Bonesaw577, used to frequent as a child. The location of the restaurant is in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada. As such, the entire restaurant, both in brand and appearance, is based off of McDonald's.
* There is a tiny phone booth hidden on top of Manny's, directly above the men's bathroom. This is an easter egg of Bonesaw577's first game, CALL ME 555-9175. The game was played live via text input from viewers of Bonesaw577's stream through Twitch chat. The phone booth in Manny's can be interacted with three times, once in each level where Manny's is present, each producing a different voice line from the Twitch game. While the man on the call is voiced by Bonesaw577 in Manny's, the man is voiced by Gianni Matragrano in the Twitch game.
* The inaccessible "DO NOT ENTER" room between the two bathrooms can be accessed by glitching through the ceiling by jumping into one of the open bathroom doors. Inside is a dead halibut from the fishing game, as well as several things scrawled on the walls, including a copypasta about speedrunners cheating at video games by using glitches, a shoutout to Ovendonkey, the game's sole QA tester for finding the glitch, and a texture that simply reads, "BONESAW IS READY!" There is no way out of this room if the player falls into it, forcing the player to restart the game to continue.
* In order for the ocean water to not be visible when the player opens the hatch to enter the Underworld, the entire restaurant and the water itself is animated to move up and down, respectively, to ensure the water doesn't show up under the hatch. During the animation of the hatch opening, the water level outside appears to drop dramatically.