The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan

Man of Medan starts out well enough but just falls apart towards the end leading up to a pretty anti-climatic ending thanks to a twist that was given away at the very beginning of the story. It's not terrible but it's not nearly as good as Until Dawn. Still, as a fan of Until Dawn, I still enjoyed the story for what it was but I didn't really have a desire to go back and play through it again after finishing it the first time.

A short, spooky sail into seas that could be schlockier. For all its faults, we’d still recommend getting the gang together for Movie Night mode, and our hopes are still high for the rest of the anthology. [Issue#167, p.90]

A solid enough follow-up to Until Dawn, with the promise of more to come; hopefully, they iron out a few kinks next time.

Man of Medan is an adventure best enjoyed with a friend in Shared Story Mode, and then enjoyed with many via Movie Night. Playing alone creates a decidedly lesser experience, but it's nonetheless a must play title for fans of cinematic adventure titles

While Until Dawn was a serving of shlocky horror served up with a self-referential grin, Man of Medan has less personality, in part because it's a smaller slice of story. That said, its online modes will be game-changers for the rest of the series.

Sadly, you can’t help but compare it to Until Dawn which quite frankly did everything better. Man of Medan is over far too quickly and doesn’t have the same impact of Supermassive’s previous entry. It is, however, a short but sweet enjoyable romp which is way better when played with friends.

Man of Medan is in many ways similar to Until Dawn: based on narrative branches, dialogues and jump scares, but with less effectiveness.

The deluge of branching paths and chilling atmosphere combine well enough with its brief yet keen story that invites players to repeatedly run through it. But an abundance of cheap jump scares, semi-frequent slowdown, and initially goofy cast members mean that it pales in comparison to Until Dawn; the studio’s magnum opus that all of its titles will forever be compared to.

At its best Man of Medan delivers a confident and well crafted horror experience with a genuinely clever two player mode. But it’s unbalanced pacing has a little to much opening filler and an unsatisfying conclusion.

Despite these technical issues and occasional let-downs with the choice mechanic, Man of Medan represents a bright start for the Dark Pictures Anthology. It delivers almost exactly the same great stuff that Until Dawn did, although it does suffer from sticking to the formula a bit too much. With some polish and further innovation, the rest of the Dark Picture Anthology could be even better than what it follows on from.

Mad of Medan looks and sounds gorgeous, but it's spoiled by some technical issues and, depending on your choices, characters doing stupid things just so the plot can continue, both of which break the flow of what could have been a decent horror story. It's an excellent night or two's entertainment with a bunch of mates in a dark room and plenty of beer, though playing by yourself or online with a chum is an altogether more muted experience. This is a fair start to The Dark Pictures Anthology.

It's not easy to keep everyone alive in Man of Medan, and you won't necessarily want to, especially in 2-player co-op.

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is a solid beginning to what I hope becomes a memorable selection of virtual horror outings. The setting here didn't do much for me if I'm perfectly honest, but the memorable characters, razor sharp pacing and well-placed scares make it excellent fun with a few friends by your side.

At its best, Man of Medan is every bit as gripping, beautiful, and giddily silly as Until Dawn, but technical issues, a rushed story, and a confusing approach to player choice betray the limited resources the game’s creators had to work with. Man of Medan is currently the best option for those desperate for more Until Dawn, but I'm hoping Supermassive Games can scare up something a little more substantial for future The Dark Pictures titles.

If you can forgive some of its cheesy narrative moments and glitches, Man of Medan shows promise for a future franchise. You just have to play with a friend to fully appreciate it.

I have no idea when the next "Dark Pictures universe" entry is coming, but I'll be waiting for it.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan offers up fun frights and a solid choice-based horror experience - especially when played with others on the same couch.

It is obvious that Man of Medan's gameplay inherits from Until Dawn, but the online multiplayer mode is impressive and interesting. Beside that, it is a underwhelming game with a bad story-telling pace.

When played with a group of friends The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is an undeniably fun experience. However, the main story and core game feel rather skeletal when not being filled out by the real-world flesh and blood of your nearest and dearest. Bugs and performance issues constantly nag, but the real disappointment is that as a horror story Man of Medan is not even close to being as smart or fun as its predecessor. I hope the next entry in The Dark Pictures anthology can recapture the gore and glory from Until Dawn.

If you enjoyed Until Dawn, then you will certainly like Man of Medan which uses the same gameplay mechanics. It is just unfortunate that the game is less scary than expected.

Supermassive’s newest work is a step back from Until Dawn on every level – including visual design which, though solid, ends up monotonous in comparison. [12/2019, p.58]

Personally, I’m genuinely excited for future Dark Pictures instalments. And I’m still playing Man of Medan, figuring out its hidden traps and machinations, despite my frustrations with it.

It’s not hard to find faults in Man of Medan, both in terms of story and gameplay. And yet we can’t stop playing until we’ve seen several endings. At the same time, we can’t shake the feeling that this is a downgrade compared to Until Dawn – a game released four years ago. But still, there is quite a lot to like here, and the low price makes it a solid purchase for horror fans.

Even though the formula is similar to the one used in the beloved Until Dawn, Man of Medan suffers from a poor story combined with equally poorly written dialogue. The multiplayer modes are the highlight here, though, so if you plan on visiting the "Ghost Ship" you should call your friends.

Man of Medan seems like a good start for the Dark Pictures Anthology, but as a standalone title it somewhat stutters out of the starting blocks.

Men of Medan promises a story about ghosts but the only ghost on the ship is the system of choiches and consequences, flat and shallow, "un-supported" by an unstable framerate and by command system that feels old and intricate. What saves this debut from failure is the atmosphere and the possibilities about future episodes.

Combining Until Dawn’s style of mild horror with online multiplayer works great, but the actual story and characters fail to engage.

With Man of Medan, Supermassive builds on the foundation established in 2015's Until Dawn. While the core of the game remains the same, driven by dialog, choices, and quick-time events, the developers has added some multiplayer action to the mix. The two-player online Shared Story is the primary highlight here, allowing two players to simultaneously determine the course of the story. Unfortunately, the story itself isn't as good as the horror yarn spun in Until Dawn.

Man of Medan is built from the same mold as Until Dawn, but the writing lost a bit of charm on the way, and the technical performance hinders the game greatly. After multiple playthroughs of the game, I’m still left with several questions—not about the story, or about what’s next to come for The Dark Pictures, but about the sustainability of this long-term eight-game project. Is one game every six months too much of a workload? Will there be enough variety to keep the tropes from being stale? And will these neat co-operative modes be good fits for whatever story is to come?

Man of Medan is still telling a weak story, though, as much as Shared Story plasters over this with its excellent take on co-op, which lets you plan things out and work together to craft the narrative you want to tell (and kill the characters you find the most annoying). If you can organize a session with someone else who owns the game and play through the whole thing together, it's an excellent experience; but if you're after another single-player horror narrative experience like the one offered in Until Dawn, it's very disappointing. As a show of the potential for the Dark Pictures Anthology, Man of Medan is largely a success, but as a first episode, it leaves plenty to be desired.

This is a decent start to The Dark Pictures Anthology, but at the end of the day, I really do feel that Supermassive could have done just a bit of a better job at polishing up the issues and tying up the plot a little better.

While it feels like a not insignificant step down from the breakout hit Until Dawn, Supermassive Games’ latest attempt at interactive horror still serves up some compelling thrills and chills. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan definitely gets better the deeper you get into its story, but traveling that path is fraught with technical issues and questionable narrative direction more often than it should be.

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan pales in comparison to Until Dawn in practically every way and only surpasses it in its amount of jankiness.

One hopes Man of Medan will function similarly to a mediocre TV pilot for a series that only later finds its footing.

The game is a bitter disappointment for me. Because just where Until Dawn triumphs, Man of Medan fails.

Man of Medan kicks The Dark Pictures Anthology off with a whimper rather than a bang. The format has a lot of potential, but this was undoubtedly the wrong story to showcase it. The narrative is slight and rarely gets out of first gear, the characters are annoying, the scares limp, and the dialogue unnatural. There's constant technical hiccups. In fact, the scariest thing about Man of Medan is how it ever went gold in the state that it's in.