The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan

Man of Medan is an interactive drama and paranormal horror game. It is part of the The Dark Pictures Anthology series. It’s a game where 5 characters can be played by you or with a small group of other players. The evolution of the story is influenced by the player's choice and those choices can alter relationships between each character.
I found that this game had a slow start, meaning that it took me a while to get into the story. But when I got grabbed by it, I completed the game quite fast. I had quite a few jump scares! Graphics and sounds are nice! I think that it’s better to play this game with a controller instead of the keyboard. I found it was harder to control characters with a keyboard than the controller.
The story is about 4 friends and a captain going on a boat on an expedition to find a WWII wreck. While on the expedition, they get caught in a storm and find the shipwreck. They say that this game is inspired by the urban legend of SS Ourang Medan, a ghost ship. Strange things happen on this boat and you’ll have to focus on keeping all characters alive. Unfortunately, in my first play through, I managed to save only 3 of them. Took me about 4-5 hours to complete the story once. To fully understand the story, I think the game needs to be played more than once. Happy gaming!
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☑ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10
---{ Author }---
☑

Nice little scare tale game with some very minimal interactivity. Mostly just you deciding from a few options to continue to story or moving from room to room to get some discoverable items for some story background. Not much action here so if you're in a mood for a bit more "chill" game to watch and play then this is the game. There some nicely timed scary moments in the game and thankfully not many tasteless jumpscares.

- The story of this game is not bad for a "horror-teenager-adventure" and its fair with gaming hrs.
- the graphics are well wdone.
- The game runs smoothly 99% for me.
- QTE (Quick-Time-Events) inside that game. Its possible to change the time-events in settings
- All decisions are QTE (means you need to decide in time) - just take your time to do so can be a different outcome of course
- Gameplay can be weird sometimes with Stick or WASD but still running smooth
It was a Freebie to get so if you have it in library and or you like horror-adventure, I would recommend this game, give it a try. The first one in Anthology and always time to improve things.
Personally i dont know the other games by now but im sure playing in future and i like those games (not so much QTE hehe)
Its good to have the possibilty at end to go through scenes
@SupermassiveGames : Do NOT put trailer again for other games - just saves space and time - thx :o)

Steam Deck performance review of Man of Medan:
This game is listed as unsupported but here is my steam deck performance feedback after spending +40 hours and 100% achievements. I kept the game on the default graphical setting. If you want a full review of the game itself, there are plenty of reviews online.
Long story short: It runs! Perfectly. Better than some verified games and the best performing Supermassive Game so far that I have played on the steam deck.
I encountered no game breaking bugs, no crashes, no freezing, no frame rate issues. Nothing to force me to restart the game or steam deck. In fact, this game ran a lot better than Dark Pictures: House of Ash, which was listed as playable and had severe graphical glitches, frame rate issues and crashes.
Problems I encountered with Man of Medan:
1. Minor audio glitches in some of the extra menu features videos.
2. Very rarely, texture pop ins and loading while in-game.
3. Minor graphical glitches and environmental clipping while navigating the environment.
4. Battery drain. I'm using the original LED version and my battery lasts only about 90 mins with about 50% brightness while off the charger.
That's it. The game runs just perfectly on the steam deck and is completely enjoyable.

Great game. It's short, but the story is very interesting filled with intense turn of events where your choices actually DO matter.

I love when a game is based on a "true story" and then adds its own spin on it. It's a fun and quality experience, but the main plot point is blatantly obvious in the first 15 minutes of the game. 8/10

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan aims to provide an immersive, horrifying experience but doesn't hit all the marks. Being the first episode in an anthology series, the bar had definitely been set high, but some of the criteria were not met. One of the most outstanding features of Man of Medan is its atmospheric setting. It takes place on a ghost ship, and indeed, it is creepy beyond compare due to the little eerie details that have been included in it. The developers do an excellent job of making this environment closed yet eerie — a perfect combo for a game with a horror narrative.
The game story involves five characters that are trapped within this haunted ship. The branching narrative influenced by the player's decisions is a plus. Each decision can lead to a different outcome, making the game highly replayable. But the story is somewhat predictable and relies too much on horror cliches. Although there are a few genuinely surprising twists, much of the plot feels too familiar to those who know their horror fiction.
One of the things that Man of Medan doesn't do too well is character development. Notwithstanding specific good voice acting, characters often become one-dimensional. Their reactions to such horrifying events at some points feel very contrived or overly unrealistic, which in itself removes the player from what is happening. Furthermore, the QTEs that drive a lot of the game are just really irritating. Half of the time, they come out of nowhere and can result in a cheap character death, never something particularly fun.
Entirely some detail has been included in the character models and the environment. Lighting effects mainly support the hauntingly eerie atmosphere. Now and then, technical issues pop up, like frame rate issues and clumsy animations that spoil the immersion. One of the exclusive features of the game is its multiplayer modes. Man of Medan does not include just an online co-op; it also contains an option for local cooperative play in a Movie Night mode, where players pass the controller to make decisions. These modes add a social element to the horror experience, which can be quite a hoot. But all this social interdependence is predicated on the stability of a connection that can, if lost or interrupted, compromise all of the above.
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is an ambitious horror game that doesn't quite live up to its potential. The setting and atmosphere are good, though the story and characters never particularly stray from cliche territory, and the gameplay mechanics sometimes hit wide of the mark. It is a good start in an anthology series, with much room to grow in future sequels.