The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 516 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 139 out of 516
  2. Mixed: 233 out of 516
  3. Negative: 144 out of 516
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  1. Beast979
    Sep 3, 2019
    7
    overall was fun and I enjoyed the coop aspect....The only problem was the game was too short.
  2. ammilner
    Mar 11, 2020
    7
    “Man of Medan” certainly leaves quite the impression for what is to come from the rest of "The Dark Pictures Anthology" (the good parts and the not so good parts). Overall, it’s a very impressive title considering the price point ($30) and the fact that they’re supposedly going to be releasing a new entry into the Anthology twice a year, with the next game “Little Hope” due to come out in“Man of Medan” certainly leaves quite the impression for what is to come from the rest of "The Dark Pictures Anthology" (the good parts and the not so good parts). Overall, it’s a very impressive title considering the price point ($30) and the fact that they’re supposedly going to be releasing a new entry into the Anthology twice a year, with the next game “Little Hope” due to come out in the Spring-ish of 2020, though for anybody who follows gaming and the consistency of developers being inconsistent with their release dates that probably means the Summer or Fall of 2020 more realistically.

    The biggest strength that “Man of Medan” has going for it is that you can actually play it with other people. Multiple characters have been a thing in the past with choice-based games like “Heavy Rain” and “Until Dawn” but this is the first one I’ve really seen (aside the soft-boiled attempt in “Beyond: Two Souls”) to actually bring friends into the mix. For my first play through, I played with a buddy and each of us controlled 3 of the games 6 characters (though it’s really 5 and I got the short end of the stick but I’m not trying to give away too much info here) and it was exactly the kind of experience that I’ve always wanted from a game like this. It’s like having a scary movie night but we were actually engaged instead of just texting on our phones while off-and-on paying attention to “The Cave” (it’s a terrible movie what can I say). Bonus, the multiplayer mode is even called movie night!

    Being able to play through “Man of Medan” with a friend is obviously the intended experience and it’s certainly my recommendation as well. Having to deal with the anxiety that your friend could get both their characters, and even your characters, killed off added a ton to the tension of the game and, because the narrative is meant to be played in one sitting (running only 3-4 hours at most), there wasn’t any room for things to become stagnant. “Man of Medan” is a pretty straight forward horror title, it has it’s fair share of jump scares (some work but a lot fall short too) and the cast is relatively one-dimensional but where “Man of Medan” falls short it makes up for it in replay-ability, variance, and vision.

    If you’ve ever played a choice-based game before, you probably know all too well that the first play through is great and your choices really feel like they matter but the moment you go back for a second time, it becomes pretty easy to see that, while the game might’ve tried to look like there were a lot of options, there’s usually only a few main modules that change outcomes and the rest becomes circumstantial. "Man of Medan" is one of the few games that actually does have more variance after more than one run and while it still does adhere to some choice-based runarounds every now and then, it’s a pretty varied experience. For example, after beating it with my friend and coming away with 4 out of 6 characters alive, I went back in to save everyone and instead, beat it solo with only 3 out of 6 alive. Even though I thought I knew all of the beats, just the act of saving a character that I lost early on in my previous play-through threw enough of the things that I had already experienced on a different path that led me to actually do worse my second time around and that's something very rare to find in replaying anything.

    “Man of Medan” certainly isn’t my game of the year, and it lacks some polish and uniqueness that could’ve made it stand out as more than just a lower priced game to play with your friends on a Friday night but it accomplishes what it set out to do.    … Expand
  3. Aeolian
    Apr 5, 2020
    7
    It's not as good as Until Dawn, but it still offers a chilling experience. The dialog sometimes feels a bit off, character reactions are not quite what you would expect, but it still delivers a twisted story line with moments that will have you scratching your head. Sound design was good, graphically, kind of low budged compared to their previous title, characters, not so memorable. It wasIt's not as good as Until Dawn, but it still offers a chilling experience. The dialog sometimes feels a bit off, character reactions are not quite what you would expect, but it still delivers a twisted story line with moments that will have you scratching your head. Sound design was good, graphically, kind of low budged compared to their previous title, characters, not so memorable. It was a good play. I'm looking forward to the next title.… Expand
  4. DrZomboid
    Oct 30, 2021
    7
    Stunning looking game with minor tehnical hick ups. Too short and characters are sometimes stupid. Controls can be pain. Cool story and great atmosphere.
  5. SuperkenGaming
    Feb 15, 2021
    7
    The Dark pictures Anthology Man of Medan
    Deserving more love
    Man of Madan is the first in a standalone series of horror games from the team that brought you Until Dawn. And I love what this series is doing, its givingyou bite sized interactive horror experiences. Man of Medan is only about 3 and a half hours long, but for good reason, this is a game all about consequence. 5 kids go    The Dark pictures Anthology Man of Medan
    Deserving more love
    Man of Madan is the first in a standalone series of horror games from the team that brought you Until Dawn.
    And I love what this series is doing, its givingyou bite sized interactive horror experiences.
    Man of Medan is only about 3 and a half hours long, but for good reason, this is a game all about consequence.
    5 kids go for a dive, things happen, next thing you know youre on a ghost ship and trying to escape.
    Much like Until Dawn, you control each of the 5 characters… Though this is more than just an interactive movie.. as all 5 vcan die, you can awkwardly misstep and that’s the end for yourcharacter, there is no last second heroic save you can expect from movies and that’s what makes supermassive so unique with what they deliver.. youre choices and actions have consequence.. where the game falls flat though is in its story, there isn’t much o a mystery to solve here, theres word on this mist that makes you go crazy, but its more so just an escpe the shi[ alive story, nothing pulling you through other than that… but it still manages to do well enough to make you want to go back and do things differently if you do lose a character, which is what a game like this needs to do, it needs to want you to go back and choose different paths, I just wish things were more interesting, though there is only so much you can do with a ghost ship, but at the same time, not enough was done with this ghost ship. They played with the idea of seeing the ship and ghosts form different time periods, and I would’ve loved to see them play with this more..
    Overall though, Im happy with what Supermassive Games seems to be doing with this series, it’s a fresh take on the horror genre, no more finding missing doorknobs and valves for 10 hours, just a to the point story of try to keep everyone alive..
    AI give The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
    a 7/10    … Expand
  6. ClassicRPM
    Feb 14, 2021
    7
    Decent story and very cool environment. The game is very enjoyable as long as you see your choices are the right ones. But I think it has a major flaw: it doesn't allow you to re-load a scene if you just messed up. And, once you finish the game, you don't have total control over which things you wanna replay and see the different outcomes, but instead it forces you to play the whole thingDecent story and very cool environment. The game is very enjoyable as long as you see your choices are the right ones. But I think it has a major flaw: it doesn't allow you to re-load a scene if you just messed up. And, once you finish the game, you don't have total control over which things you wanna replay and see the different outcomes, but instead it forces you to play the whole thing again, starting from the chapter of your choice.

    I think it's a risky game the developers are playing: on the first playthrough you can get quite frustrated. Some dialogue options have some truly random consequences. Also, the quick time events (which I wish did not exist in any game!) can get you by surprise and, oops, this character died.
    If they let you choose to reload if you wish to do it, this would be fine (you'd still have the option of playing "hardcore", and just accepting your mistakes). But not letting you reload at all can turn this game into a very frustrating experience. And, what about letting you reload freely after you finish at least one playthrough? That's also not available. Terrible shame! I would replay it more if I could.

    In short, quite a good and short (4h / playthrough) experience but with some frustrating mechanics (lack of reload, QTEs, unpredictable choice options).    … Expand
  7. TheMegaGodz
    Sep 29, 2019
    7
    While the run time is a bit short, it's still an enjoyable game. Not quite as scary or suspenseful as Until Dawn, but still decent. Would recommend it if it were on sale.
  8. MasterRiley
    Aug 31, 2019
    7
    Man of Medan doesn't live up to the quality of its predecessor, Until Dawn, but it is still fun and worth playing through at least once. It follows a group of friends on a scuba dive/treasure hunt. They soon get taken prisoner by a group of pirates and are forced with trying to escape a mysterious and supernatural filled ship. It is up to the player, to make dialogue and action choices forMan of Medan doesn't live up to the quality of its predecessor, Until Dawn, but it is still fun and worth playing through at least once. It follows a group of friends on a scuba dive/treasure hunt. They soon get taken prisoner by a group of pirates and are forced with trying to escape a mysterious and supernatural filled ship. It is up to the player, to make dialogue and action choices for the characters that change the outcome of the story. Based on your actions, all the characters can live or die. The game looks great, it is very cinematic and has a great setting. Overall the characters are likeable and the story is interesting, but neither are as memorable as what Until Dawn was able to deliver. The new selling point to Man of Medan is that not only can you play the game in singleplayer, but you can also play it in couch co-op or online co-op with your friends. This is a really cool new feature that allows for more people to enjoy the game all at once.… Expand
  9. JimmieReview
    Sep 1, 2019
    7
    A decent follow up to Until Dawn. The story is interesting enough, good mix of building up tension, fights/escaping and some nice dialogs. Graphics are real good, as expected and so is voice acting. It does fall a bit bellow what I had hoped for because the game is just to short. I would have preferred more of just about everything, deeper characters, more environments to explore, a longerA decent follow up to Until Dawn. The story is interesting enough, good mix of building up tension, fights/escaping and some nice dialogs. Graphics are real good, as expected and so is voice acting. It does fall a bit bellow what I had hoped for because the game is just to short. I would have preferred more of just about everything, deeper characters, more environments to explore, a longer story, more dialogs. What is here is good, but its a much shorter story than until dawn. It is of course much cheaper too, but I would have preferred a more expensive version that was fully fleshed out… Expand
  10. abekdd
    Aug 30, 2019
    7
    The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan tiene una apuesta muy clara: la rejugabilidad. Desde esa premisa, el título de Supermassive Games ofrece una aventura de terror que, si bien no pasa de ser la típica que hemos presenciado en mil películas de serie B, puede llegar a dejarte con un sabor amargo dependiendo del devenir de alguno de los personajes. Con fallos puntuales que pueden serThe Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan tiene una apuesta muy clara: la rejugabilidad. Desde esa premisa, el título de Supermassive Games ofrece una aventura de terror que, si bien no pasa de ser la típica que hemos presenciado en mil películas de serie B, puede llegar a dejarte con un sabor amargo dependiendo del devenir de alguno de los personajes. Con fallos puntuales que pueden ser corregidos, como los tirones de FPS o el problema de optimización y carga de las texturas, Man of Medan es un interesante primer paso de cara a un compendio mayor. Y, de momento, resulta difícil otorgarle mayor nota cuando los errores pueden fastidiar la experiencia.… Expand
  11. CoreGamer1408
    May 21, 2020
    7
    Ok getting the bad out of the way some infrequent performance issues with frame rate and some really bad facial uncanny valley moments. The scares were cheap, but still very effective. I liked the cheesy horror style and I was really creeped out in a lot places. Very basic game play mechanics as in move here, look at this, do some QTE. The focus of this experience is the characters and theOk getting the bad out of the way some infrequent performance issues with frame rate and some really bad facial uncanny valley moments. The scares were cheap, but still very effective. I liked the cheesy horror style and I was really creeped out in a lot places. Very basic game play mechanics as in move here, look at this, do some QTE. The focus of this experience is the characters and the story with game play taking a back seat for sure. A short game, but I believe it has up to nine endings. So yeah lots of replay for all those ending unlocks. First run nobody died, but the optional choice of asking the Curator for clues really helped.… Expand
  12. nandika
    Oct 14, 2019
    7
    no point in playing it if you played Until Dawn... the long narrative passages are too disjointed from the quick and frustrating buttonmash sequences.
  13. MahdIGH
    Aug 30, 2019
    7
    Some times high graphics and showing details is not enough to make a good game. Yes, things have changed. Maybe some years ago when a company made a high-detailed game, we would appreciate them but now not only should it be high-detailed, but also the game should have a good story. Supermassive changed sth after until dawn. They changed the way of storytelling and making horrifying jumpSome times high graphics and showing details is not enough to make a good game. Yes, things have changed. Maybe some years ago when a company made a high-detailed game, we would appreciate them but now not only should it be high-detailed, but also the game should have a good story. Supermassive changed sth after until dawn. They changed the way of storytelling and making horrifying jump scares. But now we are experiencing Man of Medan. An anthology game. I've never seen an anthology game before, but we should see how were Supermassive successful in performing that. Man of Medan is a good start for The dark pictures and people can buy the next part of the Dark Pictures with confidence. Maybe one of the most important point in horror movies and games is inducing the sense of fear. Players should never know when will they be scared or how. For example, Silent Hill is one of the most successful horror games because it changed the meaning of horror. I don't expect the creators to invent sth new but at least I want sth scary from them. Sth that I would dream when I fall asleep, but they couldn’t scare me like past horror games even Until Dawn.
    Maybe you heard sth about butterfly effect or sth like this. They perform this mechanism as well as until dawn. Every decision can change the way of story-telling or even death of a character.
    In every horror movies or games or even story-based games, the quality of the voices, sounds of the environment or even the sound of the wind is so important. Besides, these games should have great graphics and Supermassive was successful in it but we can see some frame drops and a few technical problems and sometimes the problems can prevent from experiencing a scary scene. One of the weaknesses of Until Dawn was the story. Its ending was predictable and Man of Medan is too. We can't see any surprises after act 3 and it's a very bad weakness for a story-based game.
    Some times the position of the camera can make you feel like watching a horror movie but sometimes It really bothers you because in some places it's difficult to control the characters well.
    The design of the jump scares is really really really good. The game is based on jump scares just like until dawn but they performed it better than until dawn. It's that scary that you will shout for seconds.
    Maybe the game will be a bit boring for some player because players should just press buttons, read notes and books, watch cutscenes, interact with some items and make some decisions, but the combination of all of these make a good adventure game. It doesn't mean that you can press buttons comfortably without thinking. Pressing buttons is one of the most intelligent parts of the game. You may ask why. In some adventure games, players will be bored so they will lose an important decision or even a cutscene. But in Man of Medan every scene attracts you.
    The delusion of making decisions. In some games like telltale's games, you should make some decisions but they really don't change the ending or the way of storytelling and they just change some details in the story. But now I can see that Man of Medan is different if you press a wrong button, you will see a different story with a different ending.
    The story was finished where it had to because if the creators had continued the story, they would have finished the story badly
    Man of Medan is 30 dollar game with 5 to 6 hours gameplay and it has good
    Co-op. In some cases like the graphic and the design of the jump scares, the game is better than Until Dawn but in the way of storytelling and characterizations the game is a bit weaker.
    Overall, Man of Medan is a game for horror games fan and even adventure games fan and they can experience a good game but they shouldn't expect that they will certainly be scared.    … Expand
  14. inmh
    Aug 31, 2019
    7
    Pros:
    -Beautiful graphics
    -Lots of good jumpscares/generally eerie atmosphere -Excellent replay value -Great acting -The STAY CALM! segments were a nice translation from Until Dawn's DON'T MOVE! segments. -The price reflects the length of the game (iirc it was like $29.99 USD) Cons: -Not happy that you HAVE to play co-op to get certain collectibles (and therefore, their    Pros:
    -Beautiful graphics
    -Lots of good jumpscares/generally eerie atmosphere
    -Excellent replay value
    -Great acting
    -The STAY CALM! segments were a nice translation from Until Dawn's DON'T MOVE! segments.
    -The price reflects the length of the game (iirc it was like $29.99 USD)

    Cons:
    -Not happy that you HAVE to play co-op to get certain collectibles (and therefore, their trophies). I thought going into this that co-op was going to be an added feature, not something you HAD to do if you wanted to get, like, half the trophies for the game. I expect that with stuff like Far Cry and RDR2, but not narrative-heavy games like this.

    -Game starts very slowly. Takes a while to get to the scary stuff; Until Dawn did much better at injecting that tension before we actually hit anything genuinely scary.

    -Characters were not as well-developed as they were in Until Dawn; which is a shame, because Until Dawn had some genuinely unique and fun characters.

    -Maybe it was the length of the game, or maybe it was because they just give too many hints in-game, but it's not difficult to figure out the reason behind why everything is happening. I wish they could have made it more ambiguous until the end as to what the REAL explanation for everything was. Fell a little flat for me as a result.

    -ETA: Due to the way they structure the post-game chapter selection, if you decide to pick a chapter to replay, you get two options: Overwrite your save, or create a new one. And if you accidentally hit "Overwrite", guess what? You've now LOST your ability to choose the chapters you replay, because you've just lost the post-game save. So you get to replay the game and finish it again before you can replay another chapter. I'm tempted to lower my rating because that is BULL.

    Overall not a bad game. But when they release Little Hope, I seriously hope they reduce the amount of necessity that goes into co-op to get basic completion trophies.    … Expand
  15. Milidante
    May 3, 2020
    7
    The game have some potential to be better than this but developers did not use that. I think little hope could do better if super massive take care of some issues.
  16. WeirdSinbad
    Jul 15, 2020
    7
    Good but the mystery of the game is too easy to solve. Just not as compelling as untill dawn which kept me intrigued to learn more
  17. Ex0dus25
    Sep 2, 2019
    7
    graphically, super playability is pretty good,
    story not much and jumpscare but other 7/10
  18. Ward2019
    Jan 16, 2020
    7
    A reskin of Until Dawn. Similar mechanics, still the same jump scares. I enjoyed the story however. I picked it up on sale for 18$. I wouldn’t recommend paying the full retail.
  19. Descole
    Apr 6, 2020
    7
    Its a funny game. Izs quite short and not as good as until dawn but its fine. For 30 bucks its absolutely fine
  20. ilya_zotov24
    Jul 25, 2022
    7
    _Good game _
  21. Rysak23
    Jul 29, 2020
    7
    Not bad game but if will deference with until dawn it's heaven and earth. Until dawn was a masterpiece
  22. DARU3108
    Jul 9, 2020
    7
    Even if i love this type of games i can't give this more than 7, the price is fair and the game play is appreciable but very far to perfection.
  23. davidthesloth
    Jul 22, 2021
    7
    Good horror game with a lacklustre story. Definitely overshadowed bit's predecessor Until Dawn however strives in it's surprising amount of multiple narrative choices and endings. The addition of multiplayer/co-op with friends was a nice touch also. However, the load times are far too long and is very very poorly optimised as there were many texture and framerate issues that I experiencedGood horror game with a lacklustre story. Definitely overshadowed bit's predecessor Until Dawn however strives in it's surprising amount of multiple narrative choices and endings. The addition of multiplayer/co-op with friends was a nice touch also. However, the load times are far too long and is very very poorly optimised as there were many texture and framerate issues that I experienced while playing it on PS5.… Expand
  24. 14r33c
    Nov 28, 2020
    7
    Graphics [7]
    Gameplay [7]
    Narrative [7]
    Entertainment [8]
    Sound [8]

    [+] Environment and sound effects.
    [-] There are a lot of expected moments; characters could be better; not to scary.

    7 (Good) ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯
  25. Nox92
    Jan 18, 2021
    7
    It has enough eerie moments, jump scares and plot twists to be considered a solid horror game but unfortunately minor plot holes and inconsistencies in the story keeps it from being amazing. Definitely recommend playing it with a group of friends or a significant other.
  26. DangerDave1409
    Nov 3, 2022
    7
    Not as perfect as "Until Dawn" but still amazing. Played it two times and can only recommend it. Graphics are bad, but I didnt expect something else. German synchro is **** too
  27. Manx2K
    Jan 11, 2023
    7
    Man of Medan is good, much better than House of Ashes but not as good as Little Hope and The Devil in me.
  28. drlowdon
    Dec 24, 2022
    6
    A group of divers discover a sunken WWII plane in the South Pacific, and soon find themselves facing dangers from local fisherman as well as other more supernatural entities.

    Man of Medan is largely a narrative lead game with player interaction involving making decisions for the characters and the odd QTE. Unfortunately failing the QTEs (which can appear suddenly and easily catch you    A group of divers discover a sunken WWII plane in the South Pacific, and soon find themselves facing dangers from local fisherman as well as other more supernatural entities.

    Man of Medan is largely a narrative lead game with player interaction involving making decisions for the characters and the odd QTE. Unfortunately failing the QTEs (which can appear suddenly and easily catch you out) seems to have more of an impact on what happens than any of the decisions you make, and along with a cast of mostly unlikeable characters, it doesn’t make for a particularly satisfying experience even when played co-op.    … Expand
  29. sityoazzdown
    Jul 5, 2022
    6
    A little bit better than little hope, but so far the first two games of the anthology has some of the most monotonous gameplay, even for a interactive game. It does have a better story, decisions, and characters, but still falls flat in terms of horror and the interactive genre. Not bad if you want to snag it on sale , though.
  30. vault2wasteland
    Sep 6, 2019
    6
    I was super excited about this game after playing a few playthroughs of Until Dawn and loving that game

    This is an enjoyable game but not worth the full price as it is really short. I thought it was just about to get to the good part after playing for a few hours after work and next thing I knew, the credits were rolling. I knew it was going to be a shorter game but it still took me by    I was super excited about this game after playing a few playthroughs of Until Dawn and loving that game

    This is an enjoyable game but not worth the full price as it is really short. I thought it was just about to get to the good part after playing for a few hours after work and next thing I knew, the credits were rolling. I knew it was going to be a shorter game but it still took me by surprise.

    Also there needs to be a casual mode as I constantly failed the heart beat sections. I switched the button mash option to hold button mode but got a character killed at the end because it wasn't obvious to me that it was a hold/mash button QTE so I just pressed the button once quickly and failed the QTE.

    I still can't understand why the other character made the choice they did which resulted in my character getting killed either so the whole outcome just seemed stupid and unnecessary story wise.

    Also the character that should have been devastated by my character dying seemed like they were just mildly upset and totally accepting of the unnecessary situation in which one character got the other character killed.

    The narrator was probably the best character in the game

    I'd say it's a short bit of fun but wait for it to go on sale (like I should have after reading reviews)    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 70 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 70
  2. Mixed: 38 out of 70
  3. Negative: 3 out of 70
  1. Carole Quintaine
    Jan 29, 2020
    75
    Even though Man of Medan is far less inspired than its studio predecessor Until Dawn, it offers an enjoyable horrific atmosphere, with good ideas and well thought out sequences. Unfortunately we would have appreciated more surprises and an extended lifespan, which would have given us the time to be really afraid. Everything is going too fast and we have the feeling that the story is sloppy. Too bad because this first chapter of The Dark Pictures has a good potential, but all it does is just scratch the surface.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Oct 25, 2019
    60
    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]
  3. Gaming Nexus
    Oct 11, 2019
    70
    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.
    Read full review
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