The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is an interactive horror game that gives you control of five characters. The goal of the player is to keep your characters alive for as long as possible. The setting of the game has complete integration with the storytelling narrative. Â Even the total integration of setting and storytelling fail to make the story of the game impressive. Your choices have consequences and the results of these decisions will depend on the choices you make. The plot of the game is weak which makes it a little retarded in the genre where games like PlayStation Exclusive Until Dawn exists.
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan Plot is Weak
Man of Medan is a good horror game but the plot of this game is not that good. I don’t mean that it’s totally bad but I can’t say that it’s a good one either. I could say that it is just below average in the genre of Interactive Dramas. The game starts when four friends go to The Duke of Milan with the boat captain Félicité DuBois. There they go diving to explore the wreckage of a World War 2 plane. During their adventure a storm hits them and they get trapped into the ghost ship. Now the horror game starts and you have to survive the nightmare. Depending on your choice all five characters could die or all five of them could survive.
Characters are not Well Made
In the beginning, The Dark Pictures starts at a slow pace because the plot is introducing characters. Once you get into the ghost ship, the horror elements will come into play making the game interesting. Despite constant horror elements and the fear of the unknown, the plot of the game remains weak. The game heavily relies on jump scares to surprise player which almost becomes boring at the end of the game. By the time you play it for the second time, such tactics would get quite annoying. Some of the scenes will remain the same despite your choices in the game.
Some factors of the scenes in the game can create inconsistencies in the plot. These inconsistencies can lead to plot holes which makes the plot worn out in the long run. For instance, there are pieces of meat speared everywhere on the ship. The plot never explains the reason for their presence. The game has weak dialogue in horror sequences making its plot elements weak. The reaction of characters in certain moments is quite unrealistic. Even in the moment of fear and panic characters don’t display realistic acting. The acting voice, acting and general plot are the weak points for Man of Medan given its genre.
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan has Amazing Visuals but Mechanics are Average
The game has some amazing visual making it quite realistic at times. Characters have good expressions on their face concerning the plot and acting. The bad acting can overshadow these details but these details still look great. When you look at the ship you will realize that it is quite detailed. The entire game takes place in a ghost ship so its details make a huge impact on the feel of the game. The ship can describe most of the story because its spooky, detailed, rusty and filled with elements of horror. The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is trying to create the perfect setting for an interactive movie in the form of a game.
Despite its amazing visuals and details The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan loses frame rate and shutters making it feel like a little clumsy. I played it on PS4 so it might not be a problem on Xbox or a high-end PC because these systems are more powerful. While playing the game you will also need to control characters. The camera view of the game is 3rd person but I would like to call it semi third person. The game’s camera angles create some problem while controlling characters.  Sometimes the movement and physics of characters would seem odd because controlling them would be hard due to camera angle. Surroundings of characters can obscure them and it usually happens in corridors. During the gameplay, you will have a chance to control every character.
Choices Can Have Great Consequences and It Can Change Personality of a Character
Whenever you are choosing the dialogue you will have three options. One option would always be keeping silent or do nothing, It just an option that let you ignore the scene. This option can have a great impact on the outcome of a decision so you shouldn’t always select it if you want to save characters. The combination of different options will give you different outcomes each time. From time to time a person in the sleek suite will appear on the screen. It seems like that person is the one narrating the story. Who knows maybe it’s something else entirely but we could know about him after The Dark Pictures Anthology is completed.
Dialogue choices will not only affect the outcome of a scenario but the personalities of characters as well. You can save your character’s skin and leave the other characters behind or you can save other characters. The evil choices that you make through your character will give that character a negative personality. Each character starts with an average personality which changes with your decision. If your character keeps on selecting negative decision then it will start to have the choice of only negative options. So your choices have huge consequences on a character and outcome of an event.
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan has Amazing Multiplayer and Coop Option
You can play the game for the second time to get a different outcome but the experience is far greater in multiplayer. The game has a movie mode where you and your friend would play with different characters at the same time. This option does not depend on the internet and both of you will be able to see each other’s actions. Your actions could have huge consequences on your friend and vice-versa, so keep that in mind. Every small decision is crucial for the survival of characters.
Multiplayer of the game is a different experience. I highly recommend it because it creates a gameplay experience unique only to The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan. In Multiplayer you and your friend could play different sequence. The two of you could decide for yourselves without knowing about your decision’s impact on your friend. There are sequences in the multiplayer that are not available in single player. Sequences would be different for you and your friend. It is possible that the character of you and your friend would not come into contact with each other. No matter how I look at it, multiplayer seems to be the perfect way of playing The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan. If they continue this trend with The Dark Picture Anthology then they are going to make one hell of an Anthology.
Is It Your Type of Game?
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is Supermassive Games attempt to bring Until Dawn type games to all the platforms. The game has a weak plot and acting but that doesn’t make it a bad horror game. In fact, the game has some amazing qualities that need appraisals. Its multiplayer mode is exceptional creating a unique gameplay experience for players. If you like interactive horror games then The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is the game you need. On the other hand, if you are more into traditional horror, shooting or action games then it might not be the game for you.
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