The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan Reviews
Looking back at it, Man of Medan isn’t the awesome successor to Until Dawn we wanted, but it’s a good step to delivering that successor. While it inherits a similar structure – and it’s bizarre performance issues – it just isn’t as enthralling as what came before. Some routes are disjointed and the cast and environment aren’t as interesting as the sassy clique that fought off the Wendigos, but it’s still a strong horror experience that makes for a fantastic co-op experience. The look on your friend’s face when you accidentally kill his character is one you’ll never forget.
Man of Medan is basically the same as Until Dawn, just featuring a different coat of paint and a bit shorter and adequately priced. Supermassive Games have delivered exactly what they've promised and from that point of view, it's hard to be disappointed.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Sure, Man of Medan has a few rough edges, but it’s a confident first step in a new series of games. It keeps the core of what made people love Until Dawn and breathes fresh life into it by adding more depth to the branching narrative system, and including an excellent multiplayer side. A little more polish and a bit more bite to the game’s finale would be nice, but this is still a hugely entertaining slice of interactive horror that brings the thrilling uncertainty of other people’s decisions to the murder party.
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.
It may be clever, scary and intriguing, but Man of Medan rarely reaches the heights of its stablemate and elder sibling, Until Dawn. Perhaps its a case of difficult second album syndrome, or more likely, it’s just too weighed down by the tropes and trappings associated with the genre. (And the sooner Supermassive ditches its penchant for fourth-wall-breaking, creepy old narrators, the better.)
Supermassive Games have managed to again tap into what makes a good horror tale. 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.
The concept behind Man of Medan does not reach its full potential in the singleplayer mode due to the short play time, missed meaningful turning point opportunities and a lot of technical issues but manages to do a lot right in the different multiplayer parts of the game. If you are looking for a good horror evening with friends in front of the TV or online you should give Man of Medan a chance.
Review in German | Read full review
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan presents some amazing steps forward in the narrative adventure genre made by Supermassive Games. They have truly outdone themselves with their attention to story development and overall design.