REVIEW

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan Review

by Rob Pritchard, November 12th, 2019

Back in 2015, Supermassive Games released a cinematic survival horror game named Until Dawn, which proved to be a critical and commercial success. Instead of following their triumph with a full-blown sequel, the developers decided to develop a series of spiritual follow-up titles under a franchise named The Dark Pictures Anthology. Man of Medan is the first game to be released from this project, this time releasing on several platforms instead of being a PlayStation exclusive.

As you may expect, Man of Medan is a shorter experience, so that the development team can release multiple stories within the same framework. This approach is similar to the episodic structure used by Telltale Games, albeit without any story elements or characters crossing over. The only exception to this rule is the Curator, a Twilight Zone style omnipotent narrator, which observes the players actions and gives occasional hints should they desire it. What makes these sections engaging is that the library shifts and changes depending on your decisions in the main story, making each playthrough of the game unique for each player’s experience.

Moving away from the snowbound cabins of Until Dawn, the game’s plot focuses on a group of twenty-something adults who are on a diving expedition in the middle of the South Pacific. Their seemingly simple endeavour turns sour when their boat is overtaken by a group of pirates, and after a dramatic storm, they are forced to take shelter on a haunted military ship named the Ourang Medan. The choice and consequence system that was the lifeblood of Until Dawn makes a triumphant return, with your choices this time around being categorised under Heart and Head decisions represented by a moral compass.

What makes Man of Medan unique is that your characters can be assigned specific traits if they make certain types of decision on a regular basis. A good example of this is if you decide to flirt with Captain Fliss as Conrad, or shy away from social contact whilst playing as Brad, they will be this way throughout the rest of the adventure. Whilst the narrative altering mechanics are just as strong as they were in Until Dawn, the shorter length of the story leaves us less time to get to know our cast members, with several characters lacking the screen time that they rightfully deserve.

Aside from the choices and story, the gameplay of Man of Medan has been greatly improved. All the optional pickups and context sensitive areas are now highlighted when you look in their direction, making it much easier to find particular objects and specific secrets that you have been searching for. The quick time reaction mini games have also returned, with the new addition of a rhythm action sequence where you press buttons in the time with the characters heartbeat to keep them calm. Each area of interest is highlighted with a distinct white aura, allowing you to do away with the endless searching for objects to interact with. You can alter this within the game’s options if you prefer a more traditional experience, but it is nice to have the option to proceed through the narrative at your desired difficulty level. It is also possible to play the game using two players, either using a DualShock 4 or a mobile device as the controller to control characters within a scene at different times.

Just like it’s older sibling, Man of Medan uses a realistic graphical style that you could almost mistake for a live action movie. The development team opted to change the game’s framework to Unreal Engine 4, which has allowed for a multitude of graphical effects that raise it beyond the high standard set by Until Dawn. The PS4 version did have a few drops in the 30 frames per second framerate, particularly during the scenes where the characters are faced with an imminent threat. It is not enough to break the immersion, but it is certainly noticeable on more than one occasion.

The soundtrack of Man of Medan is a relatively standard affair for a game that is essentially an interactive horror movie. There are several intense orchestral pieces during the tenser moments, as well as some softer tones during the times when the player is allowed to relax. The voice acting is consistently well performed and includes actors such as Shawn Ashmore, who played Jack Joyce in Remedy’s Quantum Break, and Arielle Palik, who played several roles in Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

Overall, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is a competent follow up to the success of Until Dawn. The high-quality graphics, emotive characters and immersive soundtrack build an enjoyable experience, but the story lacks the same strong narrative hooks that the original thrived upon. If Supermassive Games can take these lessons on board whilst developing the next instalment of the series, the next generation of horror video games will be a nightmare worth waiting for.

Although it doesn’t have the strong narrative of its older sibling, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan has all the right ingredients for a solid interactive horror movie styled video game.