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.