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.