The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is a nice starting point to a series that tries to recreate the horror movie scene with a choose your own adventure gaming experience. From the start you are thrust into a story of what is real and what isn't and you try to play the game the best you can with the info you have on hand.

Graphics are nice, with added ray tracing for DX12 launcher, and environments are believable and characters are pretty fleshed out, with a few minor flaws here and there like exaggerated faces and reactions sometimes throwing you off. Sound design is good, nothing special, but enough to make you feel uneasy at moments, which is what you need in a horror game.

I enjoy this style of game, it's part movie, part book, part game that makes it a great game to sit back and relax and just enjoy playing.

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.

Man of Medan has everything I love: choices that truly matter, an engaging horror story, and fantastic co-op options, but it's held back by a rushed and emotionless ending. It can be played solo, in couch co-op, or online co-op, and I found online co-op to be the only one I can’t recommend, the definitive way to play this game being, in my opinion, in couch co-op (Movie Night). The playthrough was gripping, with stunning visuals, immersive atmosphere, and a strong sense of mystery, but it ended so abruptly that it left a huge void. The lack of proper closure for the characters made the final moments feel hollow. Still, despite its flaws, it’s a great short horror experience that I’d recommend to fans of the genre.

A shipwreck drifting at sea—an island shaped by the dreams of the dead.
Here, between shifting waves of reality and illusion, the self begins to fade.

Man of Medan works alright as a horror B movie but it lacks the flair and finesse of Until Dawn. A large part of this is because the story isn't adequately fleshed out. Despite decent VA, the script is subpar and characters often lack proper emotional responses - not to mention odd facial animations and the occasional visual glitch. Spooky jump scares in MoM are aplenty. These are fun to experience with a friend and while making different choices is intriguing and can lead to a character's early demise, MoM's ultimate reveal is underwhelming. Supermassive punctuates each chapter with brief commentary from the curator, an observer NPC who judges your gameplay but doesn't hold a candle to the disturbing presence of Dr. Hill or the Quarry's fortune teller. Still, choices-matter games like these are, much like pure stealth, painfully infrequent so I am grateful for a short unspectacular journey rather than nothing at all. Buy on sale. Achievement hunters please note that one of the trophies requires playing co-op with a friend online.

sent conrad away in the speedboat and he literally disappeared for the entire rest of the game. 10/10

Great game, played with my husband. Absolutely love this series, has us both jumping at scary moments and then laughing at each other.