The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan | |
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Developer(s) | Supermassive Games |
Publisher(s) | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
Director(s) | Tom Heaton |
Producer(s) | Dan McDonald |
Designer(s) |
|
Programmer(s) | Prasanna Jeganathan |
Artist(s) | Robert Craig |
Writer(s) |
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Composer(s) | Jason Graves |
Series | The Dark Pictures Anthology |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 [1] |
Platform(s) | |
Release | PS4, Win, XBO 30 August 2019 PS5, Xbox Series X/S 27 September 2022 Nintendo Switch 4 May 2023 |
Genre(s) | |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is a 2019 interactive drama and survival horror video game with paranormal horror elements developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the first game of the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology , a series of standalone horror video games. Man of Medan features a cast of five playable protagonists and a multilinear narrative influenced by player choice. The game's decision-making scenes, of which there are several, can significantly alter the trajectory of the plot and change the relationships between the main characters. Due to these choices, any of the five protagonists can die permanently.
Shawn Ashmore stars as the game's leading actor, playing one of the diving squad's members named Conrad. Taking place in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean near French Polynesia, Man of Medan focuses on four college students and the captain of the boat, Duke of Milan, who embark on a diving trip in pursuit of the remains of a WWII-era plane. After a hostile encounter with a group of modern day pirates, the five protagonists are forced by said pirates to sail the seas and search for something called the "Manchurian Gold", subsequently coming across what seems to be a ghost ship where they encounter visions of phantom creatures.
Man of Medan was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 30 August 2019, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 27 September 2022, and for Nintendo Switch on 4 May 2023. A second game in the anthology, Little Hope , was released on 30 October 2020.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is an interactive drama and survival horror game developed on Unreal Engine 4 by Supermassive Games [2] and played from a third-person perspective in which single or multiple players assume control of five different characters that become trapped on board a ghost ship. [3] Players are required to make decisions based on their character's "head" or their "heart", or can choose for them to do nothing, while selecting between different options when interacting with other characters. The selection of options are stylised as a compass, which is both representative of the characters' "moral compass" and reflective of the game's nautical themes. The narrative changes and adapts to the choices that the players make, thus making it possible for players to keep all playable characters alive or to have some (or all) of them die. Choices also affect the characters' personality traits (which affects subsequent cutscenes and dialogue options), as well as their relationships with each other. The game can be played multiple times, as there are multiple endings and multiple scenarios based on the decisions that the players make. Action sequences mainly feature quick time events, most of which, if missed, can lead to dire consequences for the characters. As players explore the ghost ship, they can find different "Dark Pictures" that gives them premonitions of what may happen in the future. [4] Players can also uncover the mystery surrounding the tragedy that occurred on the ship in the past, which can help save their character's lives in the present. The game uses tank controls for character movement, which affects how they move around. [5]
Inspired by the popularity of their 2015 game Until Dawn 's streaming, and the number of people playing the game with their friends by sharing the controls, Supermassive Games introduced two different multiplayer modes in The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan titled "Shared Story" and "Movie Night". [6] "Shared Story" allows two players to play co-operatively online. "Movie Night" allows up to five players to select their own characters and prompts them to pass the controller at each turn.
Man of Medan is presented as an unfinished story in the possession of the omnipresent Curator (Pip Torrens/Tony Pankhurst), [lower-alpha 1] who requests the player's assistance in completing it.
A prologue, set after World War II, details an American warship in Manchuria being overrun by ghostly apparitions, causing the death of the crew.
In the present day, brothers Alex (Kareem Alleyne/Tom Weston) [lower-alpha 2] and Brad (Chris Sandiford/Tom Weston) [lower-alpha 3] are preparing for a diving expedition into the South Pacific Ocean alongside Alex's girlfriend, Julia (Arielle Palik/Zara Sparkes), [lower-alpha 4] Julia's brother, Conrad (Shawn Ashmore), and the ship's skipper, Fliss (Ayisha Issa/Storm Stewart). [lower-alpha 5] Alex and Julia seek out to find a World War II wreck plane rumoured to have crashed. Meanwhile, a group of fishermen consisting of Danny (Russell Yuen/Jozef Aoki), [lower-alpha 6] Junior (Chimwemwe Miller/Michael Addo), [lower-alpha 7] and leader Olson (Kwasi Songui/Winston Thomas) [lower-alpha 8] crash into Fliss' boat, the Duke of Milan. After the expedition group celebrate, the fishermen ambush the boat and take the protagonists hostage; Brad may optionally remain in hiding. Conrad attempts to steal the fishermen's speedboat, which he can either successfully do so and flee, remain captured, or be killed in the attempt. Olson discovers the coordinates of a seemingly hidden treasure named Manchurian Gold and seeks out to find it with the Duke crew in his captivity.
The Duke crashes into the SS Ourang Medan, the freighter featured in the prologue, which the fishermen board, taking the Duke of Milan's distributor cap to prevent the crew from fleeing. The protagonists immediately plan to regain the distributor cap and escape. The group is split after Fliss is recaptured and Brad is either too captured or leaves the Duke and re-joins her, while the others secretly follow. Both groups begin to witness unknown threats, optionally resulting in deaths: Fliss searches the ship's lower deck, potentially alongside Brad, and locates the Manchurian Gold, a leaking chemical substance; Conrad, if he remained captured, pursues Fliss and is pursued in turn by a female sailor who “ages” into a corpse-like appearance; and Alex and Julia are attacked by Olson and a hallucinogenic version of Alex.
The surviving protagonists regroup and head towards the radio room to request extraction. They contact the military, optionally revealing their co-ordinates and the ship name. The group then again splits, with one team heading further into the generator room and the other remaining with the radio. The team heading to the engine room successfully reactivate the power and surmise that Manchurian Gold was actually a hallucinogenic bioweapon developed during World War II to induce hallucinations on victims.
As Olson pursues, one of the protagonists at the radio decides to investigate after hearing a gunshot. If Alex stayed behind, he goes down with whoever is with him and finds Olson dead before being attacked by rats and optionally destroying the distributor cap and/or dying. If Alex did not stay in the radio room, only one protagonist will investigate. This protagonist is forced into a fight with Olson, with the distributor cap either being recovered or destroyed in the onslaught. If at least one of the generator protagonists survived, they emerge and send a cargo door crashing down on Olson to kill him, with the other protagonist either escaping or being crushed also. Otherwise, Olson kills the radio protagonist before succumbing to a heart attack.
The surviving group members reunite on the outer deck of the ship, with the overall outcome depending on the fate of the group via player choice, whether the Duke of Milan's distributor cap was saved or destroyed, and whether the military was called for assistance alongside whether the ship name was disclosed.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan was developed by Supermassive Games. After favourable reception of their 2015 title Until Dawn, the team realized that there was a market for interactive drama horror games, and wanted to expand the concept to a larger audience. [7] Thus, The Dark Pictures Anthology series was created, with Man of Medan being the first of eight planned instalments in the series. [8] Supermassive Games stated that they plan on releasing the subsequent seven games every six months in the anthology, with each game based on a horror trope that will feature a unique story with no correlation to the other entries in the series.
Man of Medan was inspired [9] by the urban legend of the SS Ourang Medan, which is about a ghost ship that had allegedly become a shipwreck in Dutch East Indies waters in the late 1940s. Its entire crew was found deceased under mysterious circumstances, with their faces twisted into horrified expressions, which seemed to indicate that they were terrified and had suffered before passing, despite having no visible signs of injury to their bodies and the ship being seemingly unscathed. An effort was made to bring the SS Ourang Medan back to port, but before it could be transported, the ship exploded and sunk underwater. Theories of how the crew died vary, ranging from the rational to the paranormal. The story is most likely fictional, as there is no evidence of the ship having existed at all. [10] The word Ourang (orang) is Indonesian or Malay for "man" or "person", while Medan is the largest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra; giving an approximate translation of "Man from Medan".
The game is also inspired by the horror movies: Ghost Ship (2002), Triangle (2009), [11] [12] [13] Insidious (2010) and The Shining (1980). [14]
Supermassive and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment officially announced the title on 21 August 2018. [15] The game's cast includes Shawn Ashmore as one of the playable characters and Pip Torrens as the Curator, an omniscient individual who observes the events of the game and communicates directly with the player. [16] It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 30 August 2019. [17]
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions were later released on 27 September 2022, alongside a patch for all versions that included new content, quality-of-life features, and accessibility options. [18] A Nintendo Switch version was released on 4 May 2023. [19]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | PC: 75/100 [20] PS4: 69/100 [21] XONE: 69/100 [22] |
Publication | Score |
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Adventure Gamers | [23] |
Destructoid | 7/10 [24] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | [25] |
Game Informer | 7/10 [26] |
GameRevolution | 2.5/5 [27] |
GameSpot | 6/10 [28] |
GamesRadar+ | [29] |
Hardcore Gamer | 3/5 [30] |
IGN | 7/10 [31] |
PC Gamer (US) | 81/100 [32] |
Push Square | [33] |
Shacknews | 6/10 [34] |
USgamer | 3/5 [35] |
VG247 | [36] |
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2019) |
Man of Medan received "generally favorable" reviews for PC and "mixed or average" reviews for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Metacritic. [37]
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan was the third best-selling game in the United Kingdom in its week of release, behind Astral Chain and Wreckfest . During its first week on sale, 81% of the game's retail copies were sold on PlayStation 4, versus 19% on Xbox One. However, Man of Medan didn't reach the same level of physical sales in comparison to Supermassive's 2015 title Until Dawn , selling 61% fewer physical copies at launch than the PlayStation 4 exclusive. In August 2020 the game sold 1 million copies [ citation needed ]
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
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2019 | The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards | Best Action and Adventure Game | Won | [38] |
Best Audio Design | Nominated | |||
Creativity Award | Nominated | |||
Best Social Game | Won | |||
2019 Golden Joystick Awards | Best Multiplayer Game | Nominated | [39] | |
2020 | NAVGTR Awards | Animation, Technical | Nominated | [40] |
Camera Direction in a Game Engine | Nominated | |||
Direction in a Game Cinema | Nominated | |||
Lighting/Texturing | Nominated | |||
MCV/Develop Awards | Visual Innovation of the Year | Nominated | [41] [42] | |
Narrative Innovation of the Year | Won | |||
16th British Academy Games Awards | Performer in a Supporting Role (Ayisha Issa) | Nominated | [43] |
The second instalment in the Dark Pictures Anthology series, Little Hope , was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 30 October 2020. [44] On 27 September 2022, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions were released. [18] A Switch version of the game was released on 5 October 2023. [45]
The SS Ourang Medan was a reported ghost ship and proposed urban legend of the 1940s. The vessel was supposedly discovered adrift after briefly broadcasting an SOS. The ships that responded to the SOS were reported to have discovered all the crew dead under suspicious circumstances. As they subsequently prepared to tow the Ourang Medan to port, a fire reportedly broke out in the hold resulting in its eventual sinking.
Survival horror is a subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and vision, or through various obstructions of the player's interaction with the game mechanics. The player is also challenged to find items that unlock the path to new areas and solve puzzles to proceed in the game. Games make use of strong horror themes, such as dark mazelike environments and unexpected attacks from enemies.
Medan is the capital city of North Sumatra province, Indonesia
Alone in the Dark is a survival horror video game series originally developed by Infogrames. In most of the games, the player controls private investigator Edward Carnby, who goes to investigate a haunted house or town that is full of undead creatures.
Hunter: The Reckoning – Redeemer is a 2003 hack-and-slash shooter video game developed by High Voltage Software and published by Vivendi Universal Games for the Xbox. It is based on the tabletop role-playing game Hunter: The Reckoning, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. It is the third Hunter video game, following Hunter: The Reckoning (2002) and Wayward (2003).
Evil Dead is an American comedy horror franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of five feature films and a television series. The series originally revolves around the grimoire the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc upon a group of cabin inhabitants in a wooded area in Tennessee.
Until Dawn is a 2015 interactive drama horror game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players assume control of eight young adults who have to survive on Blackwood Mountain when their lives are threatened. The game features a butterfly effect system in which players must make choices that may change the story. All playable characters can survive or die, depending on the choices made. Players explore the environment from a third-person perspective and find clues that may help solve the mystery.
Supermassive Games Limited is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey. The studio is best known for developing horror games such as Until Dawn for Sony Interactive Entertainment, The Dark Pictures Anthology for Bandai Namco Entertainment, The Quarry for 2K Games, and The Casting of Frank Stone for Behaviour Interactive.
Little Nightmares is a puzzle-platform horror adventure game developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One, released in April 2017. A Nintendo Switch version was released in May 2018, followed by a Google Stadia version in June 2020 and mobile versions were released on 12 December 2023 and published by Playdigious. Set in a mysterious world, Little Nightmares follows the journey of Six, a hungry little girl who must escape the Maw, an iron vessel inhabited by monstrous, twisted beings. The game received positive reviews upon release with critics praising its atmosphere, gameplay, graphics, and sound while criticizing its checkpoint system and short length. A follow-up, Little Nightmares II, was released in February 2021, and a third entry in the series, Little Nightmares III, is in development by Supermassive Games.
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The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is a 2020 video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the second game of the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology. Little Hope serves as the sequel to the anthology's season premiere, Man of Medan. Will Poulter stars as the game's leading actor and plays the role of one of the protagonists, named Andrew. Set in the fictional eponymous town, located in Massachusetts, the game follows four college students chaperoned by their professor. After their bus crashes by the area, the group finds themselves trapped within Little Hope by an impenetrable fog. As they explore the deserted town, the characters are pursued by demons whose appearances are reminiscent of the ways in which the townspeople of Little Hope's colonial era died.
Ayisha Issa is a Canadian actress and martial arts practitioner born 18 March 1984 in Montreal, Quebec. She has played a number of roles in both English- and French-language television series and films, such as Dark Matter, Unité 9, and Brick Mansions. She is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu who won at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships twice, once in 2010 as a white belt, and again in 2014 as a blue belt; she currently holds the rank of brown belt and previously owned a dojo in Toronto. She also did voice acting for Ubisoft's Far Cry Primal and The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, which was developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, receiving a BAFTA Award for Performer in a Supporting Role nomination.
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