The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan Reviews
While Man of Medan isn’t the greatest game you’ll play this year, it does a good enough job of setting the Dark Pictures Anthology series out to sea.
Combining Until Dawn's style of mild horror with online multiplayer works great, but the actual story and characters fail to engage.
Despite its technical shortcomings, Man of Medan is a decent maiden voyage for Supermassive’s new Dark Pictures Anthology series.
Supermassive Games is quickly proving that they have a knack for high budget adventure projects that many studios simply do not. I have no idea when the next "Dark Pictures universe" entry is coming, but I'll be waiting for it.
A new entry in the horror genre that offers a clear and effective gameplay proposal. Some technical hiccups lessen the experience, but its a very enjoyable adventure, specially if you try the multiplayer.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Just like Until Dawn before it, Man of Medan is a knowingly schlocky and incredibly fun horror movie in video game form, tailor-made to bridge the gap between those two mediums. It's never truly terrifying, but always edge-of-your-seat thrilling right through to what can be quite an abrupt ending. As jarring as that may be, it's a great way for Supermassive to leave players wanting more and ultimately keen to check out additional short-form, budget-priced entries in the intriguing Dark Pictures Anthology.
As only the first entry in Supermassive Games' new anthology series, The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan offers a very replayable experience that is a lot of fun both in single player and with friends, leaving us very excited to see what they have in store for future entries yet to come.
Players will probably find themselves rattling through the game just to see things through, and might even get a kick out of tweaking some outcomes – but the first Dark Pictures tale is unlikely to linger in the memory for long.
Fans of horror and adventure games will have a blast here. Any fan of Until Dawn should not worry, this one lives up to the hype.
Man of Medan brings a strong multiplayer focus to the cinematic horror of Until Dawn.
Man of Medan weaves a brilliant and compelling story punctuated by some genuinely creepy moments. More importantly, your choices matter, and the multitude of collectibles and different outcomes based on your decisions means there's more than enough reason to keep plugging away at Supermassive Games' latest horror romp. It's not without its issues, sure, but they're not enough to deter from what is one of PS4's best interactive dramas.
Supermassive’s back in full swing.
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.
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. The links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Wccftech.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Early disclosure of the story and awful save system are disappointing, but a great cast of characters awesome graphics, atmospheric scenes and interesting integration of online cooperation are able to bring you the pleasure for a couple of evenings, if you decide to check all consequences of your decisions.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Man of Medan is an enjoyable adventure. The story, albeit a little bit predictable, is quite interesting with a good amount of branches and different endings. Some dialogues do not seem to take into account what happened before and there are a few technical problems, but overall it's a good experience, and an interesting start for The Dark Pictures Anthology.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
With more instalments to come in the Dark Pictures universe, there’s definitely space for improvement. And if the entire package is aiming to build on the surprising success of Until Dawn, it needs to make some adjustments.
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 are looking for a different experience, a leisurely game and with some doses of terror we recommend that you take a look at this Man Of Medan because it is a good title, different and fun to play alone or accompanied.
Review in Spanish | Read full review