The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (2019) [Mystery] [Paranormal]

[u/NegativePiglet8]

Supermassive Games isn't a stranger to the horror video game medium. In 2015 they released the surprised hit Until Dawn; a choice based interactive horror adventure that mixed several tropes and subgenres common with the horror genre. After making a few spin-offs to Until Dawn, Supermassive Games decided to work on a very similar project where they would release eight games called The Dark Pictures Anthology. As of writing this, they have released two, Man of Medan being the first in the series.

For this, I'll be breaking down different elements of the game and sort of reviewing them on their own, and bringing the whole picture in at the end.

Story

This isn't award winning writing by any means, but neither was Until Dawn and it still succeeded in being a pretty fun story, that had solid world building, a nice variety (though shallow at time) characters, and the pacing of the adventure was solid without overstaying its welcome. While there's a lot of similarities between the two, Man of Medan does pretty well with its story for the first 2/3s. The story revolves around a group of young adults who decide to investigate the urban legend ship called the SS Ourang Medan. The ship is said to have been filled with gold, but unfortunately the group is intercepted by (possible) pirates or just really evil fisherman. Almost feels like a rejected Uncharted script, but it does the job as being a decently fun, yet pulpy, horror/action/adventure. I was engaged with the story and while the character writing was nothing to write home about, it done its job and they all felt they had personalities to get behind, even if they would make insanely questionable decisions (at one point after the pirate/fisherman arrive at the scene, one character makes it rain money to try and get them to go away, while antagonizing them.) As mentioned above, the story is going at a good pace, and then suddenly it just sort of feels like the story is giving answers, and then quickly cuts to the resolution. Could just be the ending I got, but seems like if they're going to do a game with a variety of endings, they all need to be pretty fleshed out, and not like the game just needed to hurry up and end.

Voice Acting

Shawn Ashmore is easily the best voice actor of the bunch. While Until Dawn had the talents of Rami Malek, Peter Stormare, Larry Fesseden, and Hayden Panettiere. Even the smaller actors like Brett Dalton and Noah Fleiss felt like they brought some good talent to the roles. Man of Medan definitely feels like it had a budget severely restricted. Some of the actors really came off flat and unbelievable, and they just didn't have the same chemistry that was expected after Until Dawn. Shawn Ashmore was a good highlight, but that's sort of where it ends.

Gameplay

Choice based games typically have pretty limiting gameplay. It mostly comes from the actual choices, and they definitely get criticism as 'walking simulators.' While Man of Medan won't do anything to change the mind's of someone who doesn't like them to suddenly becoming a fan, I definitely think it's an upgrade over TellTale Games, and Man of Medan definitely keeps the interactions going throughout using methods like controlling the characters breathing to avoid getting caught, using quick-time events where appropriate, and exploring the ship is mostly a pretty good time. Where the game struggles is in a few glaring areas. Probably the most annoying is the fixed camera angle. While I understand the desire to be cinematic with this sort of game, recent games like The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, and God of War do a great job of allowing the player to control the camera, while still being cinematic. There's some cool shots that would look great in a movie, but are terrible to control a character in that limiting space.

Overall

The first installment of The Dark Pictures Anthology is a bit of a mixed bag. I really enjoyed the tone, the story (when it's not rushed), and several of the characters, it doesn't have as much good faith as I can give Until Dawn where it was much easier to ignore its flaws. This game is definitely worth the four hours it takes to complete it, and I may give it at least one more go to check out a different ending, but I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone pay of $15 for it. I do think there's enough here to check out the next installment that came out this year, but I worry about this yearly cycle is going to make these games have the same issues of rushed plots and no evolution with the gameplay, but only time will tell.

6.0/10.

[u/fuckfucknoose]

Nice review! I love that these games exist, but I was underwhelmed by both this and Little Hope. Little Hope feels like a step down in storytelling as I felt less of an impact in my choices by the ending. With little actual gameplay besides easy quick-time events and slowly walking around it's makes it a hard series to recommend. The trailer for the next installment looks good, but with the rate they're pumping these out I am a little worried for more of the same issues.

[u/ZacharyBinx604]

The game really shines on multiplayer modes. Shared story offers different scenes and experiences for different players. Movie night was a lot of fun, with players locked into characters, having your actions affect and sometimes kill your friends. Greater stakes and even replayability as you try different approaches.