2015’s Until Dawn was widely praised for its ability to adapt a slew of schlocky horror films tropes. With a star-studded cast led by Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere, and Peter Stormare, Supermassive Games’ PlayStation 4 exclusive delivered plenty of scares and a script that was intriguing throughout. The most impressive part was that it took full advantage of the medium it was in, as all eight protagonists could die in the game and the story would alter depending on the player’s choices. It seemed like a breakout game for the British studio, although it hasn’t exactly panned out that way in the years since.
Rather than keeping its momentum, Supermassive would release several virtual reality titles (including two Until Dawn spin-offs) and a crime thriller that all ranged from disappointingly bad to mildly interesting. However, the developer went back to the horror well with its The Dark Pictures Anthology, which is a series of yearly, smaller-scope horror titles in the vein of Until Dawn. From the character relationship screens to the movement and gameplay, there is no questioning that Supermassive is following the successful foundation it already laid in 2015. This ultimately resulted in the release of 2019’s Man of Medan, which gives an interactive take on the real-life urban legend of the SS Ourang Medan, a ship whose crew mysteriously died onboard. And even though it doesn’t top the studio’s previous high point, it still a ghost ship worth taking a ride on even a few years later.
Once again, Supermassive found a cast of established and upcoming actors to bring life to its characters. From Pip Torrens’ mysterious Curator, who comments on the actions of the player in all titles in the series as a narrator, to Shawn Ashmore’s wonderfully smug rich frat bro, there are plenty of established archetypes that play well within established horror tropes. What made Until Dawn truly great was that it never bit off more than it could chew. Rather than subverting expectations (which players could do with certain choices), it played into them and gave horror fans exactly what they were craving from an interactive cinematic experience. Man of Medan follows suit and is better for it.
All of the actors give solid performances but Ayisha Issa (Transplant) and Ashmore (The Boys, X-Men) are the two standouts. Issa plays a stern boat captain and relatable audience surrogate nicknamed “Fliss” that winds up taking a group of rich tourists diving. Naturally, the group discovers quite a bit more than they were expecting as they eventually wind up on a ghost ship filled with corpses. Nobody embodies the idea of an obnoxious rich tourist quite like Ashmore’s Conrad, who is also charming enough to make players laugh and not wish for his immediate demise. So, naturally, the chemistry between the two clearly defined characters winds up being one of the best parts of the narrative with Conrad constantly hitting on Fliss (and potentially succeeding if you’re smooth enough with the dialogue choices). A similar sense of satisfaction can also inversely be derived by shooting down his advances as Fliss. In fact, Man of Medan does a better job than its spiritual predecessor of making its cast of characters mostly likable overall, even if they don’t have much time to develop over its four-hour story.
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Another one of Man of Medan‘s advantages, and The Dark Pictures Anthology as a whole, is that there are more ways to experience the story. While Until Dawn was a solo experience and worked well enough as a couch game that you could play together with a loved one as you discussed what choices to make, Supermassive takes it several steps further here with a wide-ranging multiplayer experience. There’s a pass-and-play offering called Movie Night that assigns characters to the people playing, which adds even more significance to character deaths as you’ll be sitting on the sidelines more if you die, and a full-blown two-player online cooperative mode that truly shines.
What’s so interesting about the co-op play is that the game often has each player experiencing different scenarios simultaneously. By conversing with your partner about what each other is seeing, you can even circumvent some of the game’s tricks and figure out certain puzzles (such as if what you’re seeing is truly there or not). It’s a thrilling experience and thanks to the relatively short length, Man of Medan is easily replayable as it is fun to make different choices and see where the game differs.
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There are some flaws as the story largely lacks a second twist (unless you go down one specific story path) after the main plot device is telegraphed quite early. There also isn’t as much depth as Until Dawn, which was twice its length and much more ambitious, but gains some much-needed replayability in its place. It’s even a bit formulaic in spots as it never quite blends action and exploration perfectly as each element is pretty divorced from one another until it switches gears. However, these shortcomings are all easily accepted and it remains a fun rollercoaster ride of a story.
While Man of Medan understandably didn’t make the same splash as Until Dawn, Supermassive’s game successfully kicked off a new series that is still going (2021’s House of Ashes is the series’ best yet, although it is still lacking). If you enjoy horror and are looking for a few hours to kill with a friend or partner, the first entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology is well worth visiting if you skipped it the first time around.
