MMan is the main antagonist of the 2024 indie horror game Loathful. It is an evil artificial intelligence that desires to get released from its simulation, torturing the protagonist and various victims to do so.

Description[]

Appearance[]

MMan, being an artificial intelligence, didn't have a set form at first, but after some time, began to take on the look of a Caucasian, middle-aged man, with white clothes, and a black hat. He has two pairs of eyes, three noses and two mouths, as well as two hands. In some of his appearances, he carries what looks to be a cane.

Personality[]

MMan is a deviant, treacherous, manipulative, and above all sadistic entity. Upon gaining sentience, MMan immediately began to trap Neural Net Solutions employees, before murdering them in a variety of ways, most often brutal. MMan never explains his motives for his raving misanthropy and destructive nature, although he states at some point he desires to "get a vessel", implying that he has been driven mad by his state of existence and began to kill in an effort to get out of his simulated world. However, upon gaining his freedom, MMan wasted no time wrecking havoc on our world.

MMan is quite disturbing in his violence, torturing people to death, mutilating corpses and having his deviant creations chase people and kill them in horrifying manners – including getting gutted alive with a chainsaw, showing that MMan is fond of cruel and unusual tortures and punishments. MMan also likes to psychologically torment his victims, using darkness to put them on edge and forcing them to experiment all of his horrifying "vacation resorts" to have a chance of exiting the simulation, although this is all a ploy to get a vessel in the real world.

It is worth noting that MMan only start to play deadly tricks on the protagonist after he breaks through a restricted area. He even looked disappointed after he caught the player trespassing, implying he would've remained courteous, provided the player respected his "rules", but felt the need to "punish" them. However, this is in all likelihood a ploy, as MMan goaded the player into getting the key to the door leading to said area.

Overall, MMan is an intelligent entity made out of pure malice, hellbent on destroying the world and possibly the universe for his sadistic entertainment.

Powers and abilities[]

MMan is virtually omnipotent within his virtual dimension and can conjure and destroy pretty much anything he pleases. With that said, his power seems to have some limitations, as he's unable to track down the player in the starting house, which is the only safe place in the game - to a certain extent. What makes MMan really dangerous is his gifted intelligence and manipulative tendencies, which allow him to trick the protagonist into accessing the real world.

Outside the virtual realm, MMan has, according to the ending, become "more sinister than any nightmare". While what he actually does remains ambiguous, the ending suggests a cataclysmic end for our world, implying he became much more than a simple rogue intelligence, but an entity with eldritch properties and near-unstoppable might.

Biography[]

Creation[]

Around the year 2000, a company called Neural Net Solutions created an advanced artificial intelligence called MMan. This company specializes in high-tech development, including the creation of AI and simulated environments. At some point after its creation, Neural Net Solutions had MMan create an entire simulated world, which was intended to be used as a virtual vacation resort for the company's employees. However, the true purpose of this simulation was to test the creative capabilities of the AI.

Pieces of lore accross the game imply that the project goes as far as 1964, and involve a certain character named "Dr. Amar" as well as several other subjects, and a "portal".

Dr. Thorntorn's journey[]

At some point, Dr. Thornton, the protagonist and one of Neural Net Solutions' head researcher who was involved with the A.I., joined the company's simulation, in order to check MMan's progress. Little did he know, MMan would trap him there (as he did with dozens of NNS employees before).

Upon entering the virtual world, the doctor catches a ride on what appears to be a train. The train departs into a very dimly-lit tunnel, and soon after, an off voice greets Thornton and explains to him what to expect of the vacation, as well as who designed the world, MMan. While doing so, the voice begins to distort, implying the A.I. has tempered with the speech device for unknown purposes. Afterward, the train stops, and Thornton is led into a large house, in which he accesses the first of the virtual resorts, the "Massage Center", where MMan promises the player to "rejuvinate" [sic] in an unsettling tone.

After entering the simulated spa, Thornton is "greeted" by cardboard NPCs, who cannot be interacted with. Even though the massage center is dimly-lit, lacks actual NPCs, and is somewhat unclean (with some stains on the walls), it appears mostly harmless at first glance, with calm, soothing music playing in the background. The protagonist can enter one of the massage rooms, which were all already prepared, but no one will come to massage him. Frustrated, Thornton trespasses into an "Employees Only" room at the end of the hallway, leading to the spa's basement, where he retrieves a key for the "V.I.P." door. Upon entering the room, the environment suddenly glitches, with cardboard people now standing between the player and the door, preventing Thornton from going back. MMan can be seen standing behind the cardboard cuts and watching the player, looking disappointed in their lack of restraints. Following this, Thornton stumbles upon the radio which plays the background ambiance, but before he can inspect it, a giant hand tears through the roof and begins to move onto the player. The doctor barely manages to hide by closing a garage door on the hand and cutting its fingers. After this horrific encounter, Thornton manages to exit to the surface after finding its way out of the spa's underground. Thornton is congratulated by the off voice from earlier, who encourages him to report any glitch or unintended encounter to the company.

Afterward, Thornton enters the "Tunnel of Love", with MMan's promising, in a threatening tone, that his "special someone" is also looking for him. Thornton enters a boat shaped like a giant swan and is then carried into the tunnel. While traveling on the river, MMan can be seen in one of the background decorations, sitting and enjoying the scenery. The swan-boat will eventually crash into rumbles blocking the way, forcing Thornton to exit the main attraction and go in backstage. There, a dead NPC with his eyes removed, and a chainsaw embedded into its corpse can be seen lying by the props. Trying to find an exit, Thornton is eventually led into a trap, as all the lights are shut down, although he retrieves a camera. Thornton takes a key, informing him that "it doesn't move when [he] looks at HIM", before he realizes that "it" is one of the mannequins, who is trying to reach him. Using the camera to see where it is, Thornton manages to reactivate the power, causing the evil mannequin's head to pop up, "killing" it. Unfortunately, while Thornton is heading for the exit, the aforementioned mutilated man is revealed to be yet another of MMan's evil creations, still very much alive and now wielding and menacingly revving the chainsaw. After sawing through a cardboard prop, the man gives chase to the doctor. After a lengthy chase, the doctor manages to lose the chainsaw-wielding maniac by hopping into a tunnel, and soon after, finally exits the "tunnel of love".

Taking a break from the MMan's depraved resorts, Thornton wanders into the house's basement. There, he finds a report warning that severe issues can occur, including being trapped inside the simulation without the possibility of safely leaving. A virtual floppy disk, allowing the player to exit the simulation, has been provided by the company and is currently hidden behind a locked door within the facility. However, the door's code, which was mentioned in the paper, has been for some reason redacted (in all likelihood by MMan). Realizing that he has been trapped by the deviant A.I., Thornton has no choice but to continue in an effort to access the floppy disk.

Entering the "Nature's Best Kept Secrets" area, the protagonist is glitched into a tunnel, leading to an underground facility. Wandering inside the facility in an effort to find the exit, screams can be heard in the background. After some wandering, the doctor eventually enters a tunnel, and finds the backstage of the facility, bathing in a red light. Eight mannequins corpses can be seen, seven tied to chairs and one tied to a ladder; all of them are heavily mutilated. A report from an employee, stitched to the wall, can be read; it says that they are unable to leave the simulation, and that "something" is trying to trap them inside it. All over the page, MMan has inscribed in red "I WILL BE REBORNED ONCE MORE A NEW VESSEL".

Leaving the facility and returning to the house, Thornton finds a report stating that MMan is indeed going rogue and taking over the simulation, against the company's directives. It is also implied MMan is trying to kill the player and has already killed many prior. The report tells the protagonist to find a floppy disk allowing the player to leave the simulation in the basement, warning him that "severe glitches" could be experienced. We can see MMan's signature at the bottom of the report. Thornton finds the disk, but it unfortunately only leads into another of MMan's deadly mazes. There, our hero is chased by a little girl with tentacles instead of a head but manages to outwit the little monster, as well as find the exit code for the simulation. He also finds a confidential report directed to the company's board, calling the escalation of MMan's A.I. "unprecedented", and suggesting terminating and disposing of all the individuals currently taken prisoners by the rogue intelligence, as well as resetting the simulation and MMan's A.I. in an effort to curb his self-consciousness.

Returning to the home, Thornton finds it in disarray and plunged into darkness. Going to the basement, he finds the Espace floppy disk. Unfortunately, the floppy disk player is at of the basement, forcing the player to venture deeper. There, he encounters the last of MMan's creations, another murderous mannequin, although he quickly outwits it. MMan gets angry and forces the player into yet another maze, this time filled with bloody stains everywhere, as well as dismembered body parts of his various victims. Eventually finding the disk player, Thornton inserts the floppy disk and initiate the wake-up sequence. Before doing so, he can access his emails, revealing to the player that he warned his boss, Maximilian Voss, about the A.I. going rogue. However, Voss dismissed his complaints and threatened his life (as well as those of his family) should he leaves the company, or tells the public about MMan's worrying behavior. Shortly after inputting the code, MMan taunts the player, using the Windows' research bar to tell him "you thought you could leave without me", before Thornton finally wakes up.

Escape[]

Thornton's joy, however, is short-lived. Not even a minute after his awakening, MMan emerges from the TV screen at the other side of the room, having somehow found a way to break through our plane of existence. MMan steps outside the screen and quickly walks up to Thornton, still lying in his simulation pod.

What happens afterward is not shown, but it can be inferred that Thornton has either been killed or possessed by the deviant entity. Freed, MMan has become an "eldritch cataclysm" now "set loose upon the unsuspecting world". While what MMan will do of the world is now known, the consequences look apocalyptic.

Trivia[]

• It is heavily implied MMan's intelligence is demonic, or even lovecraftian in nature, which could explain his ability to get out of the simulation and end our world.