It wouldn't be fair to bash this game for not being as good as Until Dawn, but it's hard not too when seeing how big of a step down this is from Supermassive's previous game. Like it's predecessor, Man of Medan's characters rely on you to keep them alive by making choices that will determine their fate. Like Until Dawn, this game lets you discover clues and secrets along the way that will help you piece together what's really going on. The totems also make a return, only this time in the form of paintings.
Instead of Wendigo's and their vengeful human brothers, this game's protagonists face what seems to be a ghost ship and a band of angry fishermen (or pirates, the game isn't really clear on that.) I almost preferred the mystery behind this game and the setting was a nice change from the snowbound ski-lodge of Until Dawn. I'm terrified of anything underwater based, but thankfully there's not a lot of scares here that rely on a fear of the deep.
Speaking of the scares, the game fell flat more than once. The majority of them are so predictable or in-your-face that they just aren't scary. I remember the apprehension of simply turning a corridor in Until Dawn, but Man of Medan was a breeze to get through, beyond a few cheap jump-scares. Also, once the mystery begins to unravel, it becomes pretty obvious what's going on so it's not hard to know what decisions to make to keep people alive. The quick time events seemed to be the only points in the game that ran smoothly, with a lot of the cut scenes and movement segments taking a while to focus and feeling a little unresponsive.
Character-wise, this game really isn't too great. Julia is pretty horrible and I was tempted to just kill her off for the sake of it. Her brother, Conrad, was by far the best and was actually pretty funny. Brad and Alex felt far too cliché and their dialogue was cringe-worthy at points. Finally you have Fliss, the outsider so to speak, who's treated pretty unfairly by the others at first. With Man of Medan, I had no problem keeping all the characters alive and the clues gave the mystery away early enough that the only real danger is the quick-time-events. The best new addition to the game is the Curator, he's no Peter Stormare that's for sure, but he's still ridiculously cool and I thought it was pretty neat how he popped up in the background of the story - I look forward to seeing more of him in Little Hope.
I'm still a big fan of the overall concept of this game specifically and the mystery is well-thought out at least. An interactive-horror anthology series is honestly a dream come true so I feel a little bad rating this so low, but knowing what Supermassive are really capable of, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Another opening rendition of O Death carries over from Until Dawn, only this time a more rock-fuelled version that feels just a little too "Mall-Ninja" for my liking.
All in all, this is still a decent experience and if you really wanted to, you could finish it in one sitting. I'd recommend playing the shared or party versions with other people as it makes games like these a lot more fun. If you liked Until Dawn, you'll still like this, just don't expect it to be nearly as atmospheric or scary.
Instead of Wendigo's and their vengeful human brothers, this game's protagonists face what seems to be a ghost ship and a band of angry fishermen (or pirates, the game isn't really clear on that.) I almost preferred the mystery behind this game and the setting was a nice change from the snowbound ski-lodge of Until Dawn. I'm terrified of anything underwater based, but thankfully there's not a lot of scares here that rely on a fear of the deep.
Speaking of the scares, the game fell flat more than once. The majority of them are so predictable or in-your-face that they just aren't scary. I remember the apprehension of simply turning a corridor in Until Dawn, but Man of Medan was a breeze to get through, beyond a few cheap jump-scares. Also, once the mystery begins to unravel, it becomes pretty obvious what's going on so it's not hard to know what decisions to make to keep people alive. The quick time events seemed to be the only points in the game that ran smoothly, with a lot of the cut scenes and movement segments taking a while to focus and feeling a little unresponsive.
Character-wise, this game really isn't too great. Julia is pretty horrible and I was tempted to just kill her off for the sake of it. Her brother, Conrad, was by far the best and was actually pretty funny. Brad and Alex felt far too cliché and their dialogue was cringe-worthy at points. Finally you have Fliss, the outsider so to speak, who's treated pretty unfairly by the others at first. With Man of Medan, I had no problem keeping all the characters alive and the clues gave the mystery away early enough that the only real danger is the quick-time-events. The best new addition to the game is the Curator, he's no Peter Stormare that's for sure, but he's still ridiculously cool and I thought it was pretty neat how he popped up in the background of the story - I look forward to seeing more of him in Little Hope.
I'm still a big fan of the overall concept of this game specifically and the mystery is well-thought out at least. An interactive-horror anthology series is honestly a dream come true so I feel a little bad rating this so low, but knowing what Supermassive are really capable of, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Another opening rendition of O Death carries over from Until Dawn, only this time a more rock-fuelled version that feels just a little too "Mall-Ninja" for my liking.
All in all, this is still a decent experience and if you really wanted to, you could finish it in one sitting. I'd recommend playing the shared or party versions with other people as it makes games like these a lot more fun. If you liked Until Dawn, you'll still like this, just don't expect it to be nearly as atmospheric or scary.