A game about choices that doesn't understand their role in storytelling. A horror game that doesn't understand horror. A game that concludes a decent setup with an embarrassing ending.
The first half is bursting with jump scares, even the extremely silly ones where a deformed face screams at you directly, giving this high-budget game the feel of a free Unity horror game. We get some actual breathing room towards the end but at the same time the jump scares that still do occur destroy any leftover atmosphere. This is worsened by a dumbed-down narrative. The Storyteller is a childish addition, the archetype of a mysterious meta person who's above the narrative. His sole contributions are nebulous predictions and a patronizing pat on the back if you managed to save people - and maybe he reprimands you if someone died. I wouldn't know, I didn't bother to check any more endings.
And y'know, I got to my first ending and it sucked ass - a completely unexplained conflict suddenly emerged for that shitty 'ooooOOOoooo the evil thing is still out there' moment. I redid a dumb decision I made towards the end and saved everyone, but that ending is almost exactly the same and it still sucked ass. I even watched an ending compilation and they all sucked ass. If I let someone escape early and then save everyone else later on, why does that first someone come back to the spooky ghost ship alone and they don't even try to call each other before, while in the other endings he returns obviously not alone?
As often present in horror media, there's an ideology of nihilism where mostly bad things simply happen and you're forced to live with them. This cheap trick has little bearing because death can be thrown in at any time. Even worse, the game later tries and fails to rationalize the spooky happenings instead of staying with a purely supernatural explanation. As seen before in The Suicide of Rachel Foster, rationalization does not make horror more grounded, believable or impactful.
So what bearing do your choices have in the end? In a good narrative or even your local DnD campaign, the entire world changes with you. Here, there are binary choices: you survive or you don't. There is no moral, there is no larger point, character arcs begin and get thrown away. There's only a bunch of cutscenes with no emotional release. The gamification of the narrative can be seen by people commenting on how shocked they were when an early innocuous decision has grave consequences later on. One person even said that the storyteller is their favorite character. He's not a character, he's the writer's desperate attempt to give a nihilistic narrative an even more nihilistic twist.
Games like this are built on the belief that there's always a choice, but this one doesn't have an answer to any of them. As The Armed sang not so long ago:
Expectations, secret rattlesnakes
It’s never really how it happens
It’s never really how it happens
The first half is bursting with jump scares, even the extremely silly ones where a deformed face screams at you directly, giving this high-budget game the feel of a free Unity horror game. We get some actual breathing room towards the end but at the same time the jump scares that still do occur destroy any leftover atmosphere. This is worsened by a dumbed-down narrative. The Storyteller is a childish addition, the archetype of a mysterious meta person who's above the narrative. His sole contributions are nebulous predictions and a patronizing pat on the back if you managed to save people - and maybe he reprimands you if someone died. I wouldn't know, I didn't bother to check any more endings.
And y'know, I got to my first ending and it sucked ass - a completely unexplained conflict suddenly emerged for that shitty 'ooooOOOoooo the evil thing is still out there' moment. I redid a dumb decision I made towards the end and saved everyone, but that ending is almost exactly the same and it still sucked ass. I even watched an ending compilation and they all sucked ass. If I let someone escape early and then save everyone else later on, why does that first someone come back to the spooky ghost ship alone and they don't even try to call each other before, while in the other endings he returns obviously not alone?
As often present in horror media, there's an ideology of nihilism where mostly bad things simply happen and you're forced to live with them. This cheap trick has little bearing because death can be thrown in at any time. Even worse, the game later tries and fails to rationalize the spooky happenings instead of staying with a purely supernatural explanation. As seen before in The Suicide of Rachel Foster, rationalization does not make horror more grounded, believable or impactful.
So what bearing do your choices have in the end? In a good narrative or even your local DnD campaign, the entire world changes with you. Here, there are binary choices: you survive or you don't. There is no moral, there is no larger point, character arcs begin and get thrown away. There's only a bunch of cutscenes with no emotional release. The gamification of the narrative can be seen by people commenting on how shocked they were when an early innocuous decision has grave consequences later on. One person even said that the storyteller is their favorite character. He's not a character, he's the writer's desperate attempt to give a nihilistic narrative an even more nihilistic twist.
Games like this are built on the belief that there's always a choice, but this one doesn't have an answer to any of them. As The Armed sang not so long ago:
Expectations, secret rattlesnakes
It’s never really how it happens
It’s never really how it happens
Jump scare simulator
Shit camera
Shit voice acting
Shit characters
Shit story
No making sense
Just fun with friends laughing at this called horror game
Shit camera
Shit voice acting
Shit characters
Shit story
No making sense
Just fun with friends laughing at this called horror game
Sinceramente eu esperava bem MAIS desse jogo mas pelas reviews eu já imaginava que iria ser bem o inferior ao seu sucessor que é o Until Dawn. Eu sei que é para ser uma história mais curta e com menos desenvolvimento, mas dava sim para ter tido uma história bem melhor e não tão apressada. O final é muito sem graça (pelo menos o que eu tive né) e a luta final é zoada para cacete, é tudo jogado ali e não faz sentido nenhum, é um final fraco e apressado para uma história apressada e sem qualidade e é muito triste porque a atmosfera do jogo é ótima, os personagens são meio tontos mas servem e a ideia de um navio da segunda guerra mundial que teve um gás bizzaro sendo soltado lá dentro com um monte de tripulante é no mínimo interessante e é uma pena que tenha sido tão ruim e mal executada. Os prós são os gráficos e a modelagem dos personagens que a supermassive arrasa sempre e a atmosfera
The story begins when a group of four American diving enthusiasts embark on an expedition to explore a sunken World War II airplane. As they examine the wreckage, strange things begin to happen, and the frequency and impact of these events worsen with each object that is pulled from the water. Things then take a turn for the worse with a violent storm and the arrival of a mysterious ship. In terms of gameplay, the game develops ideas from previous studio games. As we play, we struggle with making choices, albeit simple agility and logical challenges. During the game we can lead five characters. Our decisions affect who survives, who dies and which of the many alternative endings we get. The whole is designed to encourage players to play the game many times to explore all the scenes and challenges prepared by the authors. Man of Medan features an improved three-dimensional graphic designs that help to create an impressive horror climate. The game is the first game in the Dark Pictures series. Two more games were released after this game. It offers an average of 5 hours of gameplay, but can be slightly longer due to the high replayability to reach alternate endings.
Overall I enjoyed my time with Man of Medan. I am glad I played it. What is holding it back is that it's so very much on the nose. There is little to no mystery, because before your mind starts filling in the gaps in the story, everything has already been "hinted" at, or even shown to you.
The game has some cool moments where Player 1 can directly influence Player 2, without knowing that the other person they see is the second player, and you won't know before it is too late and all choices have been made.
Moments like these stick out as memorable, and is easily the game's biggest strength.
However, for every cool part, there is an equally lame moment where the characters in the game act like complete idiots. If the characters in the game actually acted like people, so much of the story would not work. It is driven by a complete cast of dumbasses making dumbass decisions, and you as the player has no way of influencing these choices, because if you did, the story would not move forward.
In the beginning of the game, you get captured by pirates, but one of your crew is able to hide and not get noticed by the pirates. Great. LET US TALK ABOUT THIS PERSON LOUDLY IN FRONT OF THE PIRATES. Oh no they found him :(
Writing like this makes you question the team's capabilities. No one picked up on this before release?
Overall, the game is a story game that has some cool moments, and does co-op in a way other studios haven't really tried before. There are cool visuals for some of the spooky areas, and the voice acting is pretty good. That said, this is a story game that does not tell a particularly good story. If you specifically look for a co-op horror themed action-movie game, I recommend this one, mostly because there aren't other options. If that idea is not appealing to you, there are many better horror games out there.
The game has some cool moments where Player 1 can directly influence Player 2, without knowing that the other person they see is the second player, and you won't know before it is too late and all choices have been made.
Moments like these stick out as memorable, and is easily the game's biggest strength.
However, for every cool part, there is an equally lame moment where the characters in the game act like complete idiots. If the characters in the game actually acted like people, so much of the story would not work. It is driven by a complete cast of dumbasses making dumbass decisions, and you as the player has no way of influencing these choices, because if you did, the story would not move forward.
In the beginning of the game, you get captured by pirates, but one of your crew is able to hide and not get noticed by the pirates. Great. LET US TALK ABOUT THIS PERSON LOUDLY IN FRONT OF THE PIRATES. Oh no they found him :(
Writing like this makes you question the team's capabilities. No one picked up on this before release?
Overall, the game is a story game that has some cool moments, and does co-op in a way other studios haven't really tried before. There are cool visuals for some of the spooky areas, and the voice acting is pretty good. That said, this is a story game that does not tell a particularly good story. If you specifically look for a co-op horror themed action-movie game, I recommend this one, mostly because there aren't other options. If that idea is not appealing to you, there are many better horror games out there.
Very buggy, characters are not compelling, goofy dialogue.
The premise it's built on is interesting enough to carry your enjoyment throughout at least. Best enjoyed with a friend.
The premise it's built on is interesting enough to carry your enjoyment throughout at least. Best enjoyed with a friend.
This review contains spoilers
Until Dawn was an unexpected treat for me, so when Supermassive announced they were gonna do a whole anthology series, I was on-board from the word go. Gaming doesn't really have anything like that (unless you consider, like, Final Fantasy an anthology series, but that doesn't feel right), so getting it from a studio that had proven its ability to play with cinematic horror with casual, super-approachable gameplay was a slam dunk in my book. So while I didn't get Man of Medan right away, I didn't delay too long, and I charged through it over a weekend.
...Man of Medan was fine. Not amazing, not terrible, but a'ight. I'd sort of hoped for amazing, which is why (as of this writing) I haven't picked up any other of the Dark Pictures Anthologies games. But I think that's sort-of unfair for the game. It's not trying to be as ambitious as Until Dawn; it's perfectly happy to present a tense horror scenario for a few hours, then call it quits. There's a decent mystery at play, and the visuals, while kinda hard to see at times, are a pretty good blend of photorealistic mocap and out-there horror fare. For a bite-sized release, it's fine enough.
I am fascinated by this game's "Bearings". They're the replacement for Until Dawn's "Butterfly Effect" system, and while they generally don't feel as impactful due to the absence of Until Dawn's Totems, they're perfectly serviceable and make for a solid enough measuring stick for a player's playthrough and choices. There's a catch this go-around, though: paying attention to and acting upon established bearings is not unilaterally good. If you're playing through this with the intent of saving as many people as possible, trying to ace all the plot beats underlined by the Bearings will actually screw you over. I'd been conditioned by Until Dawn to try and do all my homework, get all collectables, see sidequests through, etc, so I took that same approach here, dutifully relating the name of the ship to satisfy "Military Bandwidth" and, in my second try (more on that shortly), being sure to save the Distributor Cap in... "The Distributor Cap" (sort of wish they played with these names a bit more). I didn't get any endings that otherwise would've stranded the player characters on the ship, but if I had, my 'clearing' "Military Bandwidth" would've ensured that everyone died! Furthermore, because I took the trouble to save the Distributor Cap, I essentially guaranteed a bad ending for Conrad, since I'd made the decision to have him escape and get the coast guard. The game counted it as everyone surviving, but between the millitary coming, Danny being alive, and the other coast guard dudes with him - Conrad couldn't be long for this world.
Fresh off my playthroughs, this annoyed me and struck me as bad design. Why put so much focus on this system highlighting how well you did, and then use it in service of screwing the player over in the end? Perhaps I should have realized from collectables that the US Military would still consider a 72-year-old bioweapon a military secret, and that they'd shoot anyone who knew too much on sight, but the whole thing felt cheap and dumb.
However! Now that I've had time to sit on it, I better appreciate what they were going for. The "Bearings" don't exist to pass moral judgement. They're purely neutral observations of choices and consequences. The Curator says as much himself. The Analyst was there in Until Dawn to pass judgement, but that's not The Curator's scene - he's just the man who holds all the stories. And anyway, isn't it proper genre work to have an ironic twist at the 11th hour that foils all the hard work the heroes (and player) put into trying to survive? There's any number of horror movies that shake out like that, the best of which being the ones that get the viewer to think. And it took me a while, but darn if it didn't get me thinking.
Ah, yes, I got two separate endings. My first playthrough saw me get both Julia and Fliss killed (thank you for the sassy "Right There With Ya, Boys!" achievement, game). I call some shenanigans on Julia for failing to diffuse things with Junior, but Fliss getting got was 100% me getting twitchy, knowing full well what was going on and that I shouldn't have gotten twitchy. I reloaded my save afterwards, jumping back to right before Julia was ded, and did my best to save everyone, with the mixed results as mentioned before. I will complement the game's Chapter system for being suuuuuuper flexible and making backtracking while retaining some progress nice and easy.
My perspective on this game was definitely skewed by having played Until Dawn first, and not being able to look at this title separately. With distance, I find myself thinking of this a bit more highly of what Supermassive was going for here. Does that make it resonate better with me? No, not really, but I better respect what they were going for here. Honestly, sorta makes me want to try Little Hope, see how they progress the template for Dark Pictures. Though, given how much that title seems to be playing with the Salem Witch Trials (with which - heh - I'm decently familiar), and seeing how the point of Man of Medan was taking a rationalist stance on its seemingly supernatural mystery, I dunno that there's a whole lot for me to be surprised by. Still, nothing ventured...
P.S. - I didn't mess around with them, but I appreciate all the alternate modes for existing. Trying to add variety, particularly cooperative multiplayer, to what's more or less a high-budget visual novel is commendable. Can't personally vouch for how well it works, but I appreciate that it exists!
P.P.S. - The Bends + Booze ≠ Guaranteed Death, game. MAYBE it reacts poorly with the toxic gas in Julia's system, and the three things are just the right cocktail for a fatality. But still, what the hell.
...Man of Medan was fine. Not amazing, not terrible, but a'ight. I'd sort of hoped for amazing, which is why (as of this writing) I haven't picked up any other of the Dark Pictures Anthologies games. But I think that's sort-of unfair for the game. It's not trying to be as ambitious as Until Dawn; it's perfectly happy to present a tense horror scenario for a few hours, then call it quits. There's a decent mystery at play, and the visuals, while kinda hard to see at times, are a pretty good blend of photorealistic mocap and out-there horror fare. For a bite-sized release, it's fine enough.
I am fascinated by this game's "Bearings". They're the replacement for Until Dawn's "Butterfly Effect" system, and while they generally don't feel as impactful due to the absence of Until Dawn's Totems, they're perfectly serviceable and make for a solid enough measuring stick for a player's playthrough and choices. There's a catch this go-around, though: paying attention to and acting upon established bearings is not unilaterally good. If you're playing through this with the intent of saving as many people as possible, trying to ace all the plot beats underlined by the Bearings will actually screw you over. I'd been conditioned by Until Dawn to try and do all my homework, get all collectables, see sidequests through, etc, so I took that same approach here, dutifully relating the name of the ship to satisfy "Military Bandwidth" and, in my second try (more on that shortly), being sure to save the Distributor Cap in... "The Distributor Cap" (sort of wish they played with these names a bit more). I didn't get any endings that otherwise would've stranded the player characters on the ship, but if I had, my 'clearing' "Military Bandwidth" would've ensured that everyone died! Furthermore, because I took the trouble to save the Distributor Cap, I essentially guaranteed a bad ending for Conrad, since I'd made the decision to have him escape and get the coast guard. The game counted it as everyone surviving, but between the millitary coming, Danny being alive, and the other coast guard dudes with him - Conrad couldn't be long for this world.
Fresh off my playthroughs, this annoyed me and struck me as bad design. Why put so much focus on this system highlighting how well you did, and then use it in service of screwing the player over in the end? Perhaps I should have realized from collectables that the US Military would still consider a 72-year-old bioweapon a military secret, and that they'd shoot anyone who knew too much on sight, but the whole thing felt cheap and dumb.
However! Now that I've had time to sit on it, I better appreciate what they were going for. The "Bearings" don't exist to pass moral judgement. They're purely neutral observations of choices and consequences. The Curator says as much himself. The Analyst was there in Until Dawn to pass judgement, but that's not The Curator's scene - he's just the man who holds all the stories. And anyway, isn't it proper genre work to have an ironic twist at the 11th hour that foils all the hard work the heroes (and player) put into trying to survive? There's any number of horror movies that shake out like that, the best of which being the ones that get the viewer to think. And it took me a while, but darn if it didn't get me thinking.
Ah, yes, I got two separate endings. My first playthrough saw me get both Julia and Fliss killed (thank you for the sassy "Right There With Ya, Boys!" achievement, game). I call some shenanigans on Julia for failing to diffuse things with Junior, but Fliss getting got was 100% me getting twitchy, knowing full well what was going on and that I shouldn't have gotten twitchy. I reloaded my save afterwards, jumping back to right before Julia was ded, and did my best to save everyone, with the mixed results as mentioned before. I will complement the game's Chapter system for being suuuuuuper flexible and making backtracking while retaining some progress nice and easy.
My perspective on this game was definitely skewed by having played Until Dawn first, and not being able to look at this title separately. With distance, I find myself thinking of this a bit more highly of what Supermassive was going for here. Does that make it resonate better with me? No, not really, but I better respect what they were going for here. Honestly, sorta makes me want to try Little Hope, see how they progress the template for Dark Pictures. Though, given how much that title seems to be playing with the Salem Witch Trials (with which - heh - I'm decently familiar), and seeing how the point of Man of Medan was taking a rationalist stance on its seemingly supernatural mystery, I dunno that there's a whole lot for me to be surprised by. Still, nothing ventured...
P.S. - I didn't mess around with them, but I appreciate all the alternate modes for existing. Trying to add variety, particularly cooperative multiplayer, to what's more or less a high-budget visual novel is commendable. Can't personally vouch for how well it works, but I appreciate that it exists!
P.P.S. - The Bends + Booze ≠ Guaranteed Death, game. MAYBE it reacts poorly with the toxic gas in Julia's system, and the three things are just the right cocktail for a fatality. But still, what the hell.
Gostei bastante, um jogo rápido com uma história boa, e um susto que quase mata a gente.
this game made me scream like a little girl for the first time in my life, that being said, it's full of cheap jumpscares and the plot is weak, it's like a bad netflix movie you put on before bed just to push yourself to sleep.
Конрад, братишка. Мы с тобой!
Если вы искали игру с шикарным сюжетом, шикарным кооперативом, где вы не просто бегаете рядом, а от выбора и действий одного зависит другой, то это игра определённо западёт вам в душу
Если вы искали игру с шикарным сюжетом, шикарным кооперативом, где вы не просто бегаете рядом, а от выбора и действий одного зависит другой, то это игра определённо западёт вам в душу
Muito Bom!
The clunk didn't work this time.
I enjoy these type of games. Choose your own adventure narratives or whatever. Until Dawn was comically absurd the way it was trying to be twelve different horror movies at once and the hokey acting. The clunky branching game fit with that. You forgave things that weren't fleshed out because it was one big b-movie. Here, with Man of Medan, it just doesn't work as well.
The narrative is more linear with less layers. But the clunky branches are more abundant. I dunno if I picked everything perfectly that they didn't flesh out well, or if it's all bad. Either way, my entire experience was jerky and silly in bad ways instead of fun ways. Many times there would be two or three silent loading transitions with nobody saying anything. Other times things would unfold without interactions or choices being made. Characters would appear in new places. And all sorts of other clunk.
Plain and simple it just didn't work this time. I still want to say I appreciate the campy fun parts, but there just wasn't enough of them. I was excited to dive into the Dark Pictures Anthology but this was a sour entry point.
I enjoy these type of games. Choose your own adventure narratives or whatever. Until Dawn was comically absurd the way it was trying to be twelve different horror movies at once and the hokey acting. The clunky branching game fit with that. You forgave things that weren't fleshed out because it was one big b-movie. Here, with Man of Medan, it just doesn't work as well.
The narrative is more linear with less layers. But the clunky branches are more abundant. I dunno if I picked everything perfectly that they didn't flesh out well, or if it's all bad. Either way, my entire experience was jerky and silly in bad ways instead of fun ways. Many times there would be two or three silent loading transitions with nobody saying anything. Other times things would unfold without interactions or choices being made. Characters would appear in new places. And all sorts of other clunk.
Plain and simple it just didn't work this time. I still want to say I appreciate the campy fun parts, but there just wasn't enough of them. I was excited to dive into the Dark Pictures Anthology but this was a sour entry point.
Legalzinho, mas superficial.
terceiro ato chatissimoooooo
e sem querer deixamo a loira viva :(
e sem querer deixamo a loira viva :(
Too short to have any real impact or connection with the characters. Story was so rushed at time that it was close to feeling forced .
Has is moments but ultimately quite forgettable.
Maybe it was just my route, but I felt that it never revealed the whole song and dance, which is a double edged sword in a sense - so I can't be too disappointed.
Short, but slightly sweeter than bland.
Get free or on-sale.
Maybe it was just my route, but I felt that it never revealed the whole song and dance, which is a double edged sword in a sense - so I can't be too disappointed.
Short, but slightly sweeter than bland.
Get free or on-sale.
Just so buggy when trying to play with my friend, that made us have to exit out of the game and in one instance make me go back to a previous point in the game. It also has really goofy characters that I don't find myself rooting for. I do like its setting though on a ship but yeah nothing too praiseworthy to say.
Que jogo RUIM, nada se salva desde os personagens até a história, com um plot twist horrivel e um mistério tão patético que eu e um amigo conseguimos desvendar tudo no meio do jogo arruinando toda a tentativa de tensão gerada.
Muito mais ou menos, a história é bem ruinzinha, a animação dos personagens deixa a desejar e a dublagem é a parte mais assustadora do jogo de tão terrível que é
I went into Man of Medan hearing/seeing how much people enjoy the Dark Pictures games but had no expectations of my own for it.
I’m glad that was the case because while visually, it’s absolutely stunning even 4 years on, and, it has a really interesting premise for its story - I just feel it never quite goes anywhere with it, the game just kinda… ends.
I also found it rather easy to keep everyone alive, something I thought to be incredibly challenging given what I’d heard about it and yet I had no issue.
Aside from the story starting strong then going nowhere I take issue with the reliance on jumpscares. I only say this because there are plenty of times in this game that it does some “good” horror scares, with things moving in the foreground and background that work well in creeping you out. Then you have 9 times out of 10 where its just loud noise in-your-face obnoxiousness to try force a scare out of you.
I’m glad that was the case because while visually, it’s absolutely stunning even 4 years on, and, it has a really interesting premise for its story - I just feel it never quite goes anywhere with it, the game just kinda… ends.
I also found it rather easy to keep everyone alive, something I thought to be incredibly challenging given what I’d heard about it and yet I had no issue.
Aside from the story starting strong then going nowhere I take issue with the reliance on jumpscares. I only say this because there are plenty of times in this game that it does some “good” horror scares, with things moving in the foreground and background that work well in creeping you out. Then you have 9 times out of 10 where its just loud noise in-your-face obnoxiousness to try force a scare out of you.
This review contains spoilers
I had very low expectations going in, but it actually turned out better than I expected. Still, it definitely has it's problems.
The first thing you notice is how bad the voice-acting is. For the main cast, it wasn't too bad and the dialogue is so fast that you barely get enough time to even notice the acting. But with the characters in the opening, it was seriously laughably bad; enough to really ruin the tension for that section.
What I find worse than the acting, though, is the dialogue. It's quite clunky and at times, incredibly unrealistic. The characters don't really react to their situation how real people would. It's not helped by how fast the dialogue is, which dampens the emotion behind the lines and is hard to keep up with at times.
I will say, I did like the atmosphere. Wandering around the ship genuinely felt tense and unsettling, especially later in the game where they really lean into the ghost story jumpscares. And as a big fan of the BioShock games, I loved the setting of a dilaptated, abandoned ship from the late 40's. The scene where there's music playing in the distance and you get chased by the pin-up girl is great – I wish they did more scenes taking advantage of the era like that.
I played on Challenging, and it did genuinely feel challenging. The QTEs and timed choices went by very fast, and although the heartbeat sensor itself wasn't too hard, the fear of messing it up made each scene using it appropriately tense.
The story itself is interesting, but definitely could have been fleshed out a lot more. I like that (spoilers for Until Dawn) it was the reverse of the twist in UD – a supernatural threat that turns out to just be a scientific threat instead of a killer that turns out to be a supernatural threat. I thought it was a fun little nod to their previous game, and I like that they didn't just repeat what they did with UD.
A lot of the clues (or as it's referred to in-game, 'secrets') felt pretty useless. It was just a bunch of stuff you can already inferr just by playing, and didn't really offer up much new information. When the characters use them to piece things together, instead of feeling like a big, satisfying reveal, it just felt like a bland retelling of what I already realized an hour ago. And maybe I just missed some clues, but it felt like the story was incomplete? Like, what was up with the demon-summoning book and church? The 'monster' skeleton in the coffin? Were those just red herrings or hallucinations? Because I feel like they should've had more weight. Not to mention, there was never a conclusion to Alex wanting to propose to Julia, or Fliss seemingly being a criminal.
Easily the most disappointing was the ending. After the encounter with the two-headed monster, I assumed there was more to do. It was a good chase scene, but nothing that felt like a finale. Argubably, the chase scenes before it were a lot more stressful and longer. But then the ending abruptly triggered. Followed by a very awkward, anti-climatic 'interview' section. Maybe they thought it'd be too much like UD, but I think they should've had an actual interview take place. Or, at the very least, a proper epilogue – maybe the character's lives months/years after? I will say, though, that I liked the post-credit scene. It was a bit confusing for me – as lots of things in this game were – but it was still a good watch.
This isn't even mentioning all the weird, little things such as loading screens in awkward places; the QTE animations skipping and making it look like Conrad was teleporting during his chase section with the pin-up girl; and, the dialogue being delayed/skipping.
Overall, it was kind of buggy, had okay characters (Brad and Fliss were my favs!) and an incomplete story with a anticlimatic ending, but a genuinely scary and unsettling atmosphere.
The first thing you notice is how bad the voice-acting is. For the main cast, it wasn't too bad and the dialogue is so fast that you barely get enough time to even notice the acting. But with the characters in the opening, it was seriously laughably bad; enough to really ruin the tension for that section.
What I find worse than the acting, though, is the dialogue. It's quite clunky and at times, incredibly unrealistic. The characters don't really react to their situation how real people would. It's not helped by how fast the dialogue is, which dampens the emotion behind the lines and is hard to keep up with at times.
I will say, I did like the atmosphere. Wandering around the ship genuinely felt tense and unsettling, especially later in the game where they really lean into the ghost story jumpscares. And as a big fan of the BioShock games, I loved the setting of a dilaptated, abandoned ship from the late 40's. The scene where there's music playing in the distance and you get chased by the pin-up girl is great – I wish they did more scenes taking advantage of the era like that.
I played on Challenging, and it did genuinely feel challenging. The QTEs and timed choices went by very fast, and although the heartbeat sensor itself wasn't too hard, the fear of messing it up made each scene using it appropriately tense.
The story itself is interesting, but definitely could have been fleshed out a lot more. I like that (spoilers for Until Dawn) it was the reverse of the twist in UD – a supernatural threat that turns out to just be a scientific threat instead of a killer that turns out to be a supernatural threat. I thought it was a fun little nod to their previous game, and I like that they didn't just repeat what they did with UD.
A lot of the clues (or as it's referred to in-game, 'secrets') felt pretty useless. It was just a bunch of stuff you can already inferr just by playing, and didn't really offer up much new information. When the characters use them to piece things together, instead of feeling like a big, satisfying reveal, it just felt like a bland retelling of what I already realized an hour ago. And maybe I just missed some clues, but it felt like the story was incomplete? Like, what was up with the demon-summoning book and church? The 'monster' skeleton in the coffin? Were those just red herrings or hallucinations? Because I feel like they should've had more weight. Not to mention, there was never a conclusion to Alex wanting to propose to Julia, or Fliss seemingly being a criminal.
Easily the most disappointing was the ending. After the encounter with the two-headed monster, I assumed there was more to do. It was a good chase scene, but nothing that felt like a finale. Argubably, the chase scenes before it were a lot more stressful and longer. But then the ending abruptly triggered. Followed by a very awkward, anti-climatic 'interview' section. Maybe they thought it'd be too much like UD, but I think they should've had an actual interview take place. Or, at the very least, a proper epilogue – maybe the character's lives months/years after? I will say, though, that I liked the post-credit scene. It was a bit confusing for me – as lots of things in this game were – but it was still a good watch.
This isn't even mentioning all the weird, little things such as loading screens in awkward places; the QTE animations skipping and making it look like Conrad was teleporting during his chase section with the pin-up girl; and, the dialogue being delayed/skipping.
Overall, it was kind of buggy, had okay characters (Brad and Fliss were my favs!) and an incomplete story with a anticlimatic ending, but a genuinely scary and unsettling atmosphere.
Has it's moments but not campy enough or scary enough
This review contains spoilers
Horrible characters. Did not like any of them. Still made it with only 1 dying because apparently lying to the insane man with a gun is the correct answer. Somehow upgrades from "we were the real monsters" to "the real monsters are airborne neurotoxins"
i like the prologue a lot, i miss joseph. alex was annoying, julia sucked, fliss was there, brad was cool, conrad was my man. interesting antagonist, awkward dialogue at first.
The only reason this rating is 4 stars is because me and my friend just made fun of every detail about this game. It was so shit that it was hilarious to play through together. The one character we wanted to live, died so we got everyone killed.
This review contains spoilers
Was honestly really fun almost the whole way through, but couldn't see myself playing this alone at all. The writing was consistently bad throughout and the ending especially (at least the one we got) was horrible. Literally nothing happens, they just leave? sure man
Also we managed to save every character and it didn't seem that hard, honestly the only point I thought we might lose one of them was at the end
Acting was also mostly bad (Fliss..)
Couch co-op mode carries this and these sort of games hard
Also we managed to save every character and it didn't seem that hard, honestly the only point I thought we might lose one of them was at the end
Acting was also mostly bad (Fliss..)
Couch co-op mode carries this and these sort of games hard
Man of Medan (2019): Jugándolo con 4 amigos me ha parecido una experiencia súper entretenida y original, pero falla tanto en su ejecución que se siente más como potencial perdido. Final muy atropellado, y mucho QTE. Por lo demás buenas bases para construir otras historias. Esta no (4,75)
Technically I played this game even though my character died 10 minutes in and my friends finished the game without me
Weird cuts, short story and shallow characters. Not the best Dark Pictures game, that's for sure.
After Until Dawn this one was a bit of a let down. I first played this by myself and didn’t enjoy it a whole lot but after replaying it with a friend it got a LOT better. At times goofy it was fun to make fun of. It’s not the worst in the series but is pretty low on my list for Supermassive Games.