The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan Reviews
The shorter narrative and anthology presentation suits the title better than a standalone full-priced title
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.
I think this is much more fun and takes advantage of the fundamentally social nature of the choose-your-adventure style gameplay in Man of Medan.
Man of Medan is a stellar example of how to push boundaries and innovate within genres that seem restrictive at first glance.
Man of Medan keeps afloat thanks to an atmosphere full of charm, sufficiently original multiplayer gameplay, and a valuable sense of investigative discovery that supports the limited exploration.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is a must-play for anyone that appreciates horror gaming at its finest, for anyone that enjoys picking away at how a game is put together, for anyone that's got even a passing interest in finding the best storytelling vidoegames have to offer.
Overall I really enjoyed Man of Medan though and I’m looking forward to replaying it—and to whatever comes next for the series, as it’s pitched as an anthology.
If you like other choose-your-own-adventure games like Until Dawn, Life is Strange, and Detroit: Become Human, there’s definitely fun to be had here, but it is a flawed experience compared to other recent efforts.
Supermassive Games proves that lightning can strike twice with Man of Medan, which (mostly) successfully carries the torch handed down by Until Dawn while adding a clever co-op twist.
Supermassive's next step into horror starts strong.
Despite some technical hiccups, Man of Medan succeeds as an engrossing interactive thriller that will keep you on your toes for the duration of a couple of playthroughs. With so many different ways to play the game, alone or with friends online or locally, Man of Medan is an overall great horror experience.
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.
All in all, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Episode 1 - Man of Medan is a worthy follow-up to Until Dawn. It hits a lot of the same notes, and it's clear the developers understood the group appeal of watching-slash-playing a cheesy horror film with friends. There are still some weak points, but Man of Medan shows a willingness to learn from the previous game's mistakes and leaves us curious to see the next part of the anthology.
Combining Until Dawn's style of mild horror with online multiplayer works great, but the actual story and characters fail to engage.
Man of Medan combines a strong cast with a memorable story, interesting choices, and co-op play to create an excellent interactive horror movie.
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.
Despite its technical shortcomings, Man of Medan is a decent maiden voyage for Supermassive’s new Dark Pictures Anthology series.
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.