Supermasive Games is back with their newest title, although some people – and fans – might be disappointed that it is not a proper sequel to Until Dawn.
The studio's newest title is called Man of Medan, and is the first game in an interactive drama horror series called The Dark Pictures Anthology. Similar to Until Dawn, the game plays out like a cinematic adventure game, where the only gameplay elements are QTE (quick-time events) and a radial choice system. The game builds on this system to move the story forward, in which not all of the characters may end up surviving due to player choice. Man of Medan follows the story of a group of friends who travel to the South Pacific Ocean for a simple vacation, only to find themselves waylaid by a mysterious storm and some unforeseen consequences. They then find themselves trapped in a cursed ghost ship, filled with horrors never before seen.
Game Informer managed to pull together the first gameplay video for Man of Medan, and it highlights certain sections of the game. Check it out, along with my first impressions below.
It looks like Man of Medan will be somewhat similar to Until Dawn in terms of gameplay, with some new caveats. Man of Medan follows a somewhat smaller cast of friends, including some very nifty motion capture work by Shawn Ashmore from Quantum Break. Player decision can now also affect other aspects of gameplay, in addition to the outcome of your choices. Relationships with other characters can be strengthened with some choices, and strained with others. Traits are also updated, which means that you will get to mold the characters’ personalities throughout the game.
The gameplay footage starts with the group of friends on a yacht, which, going by the dialogue, takes place after the crew went diving into the ocean to discover some World War-era planes sunken deep below. The footage then highlights some very neat interactions between the friends, and jumps ahead several chapters to reveal that they have been boarded by what appears to be pirates. Another chapter skip reveals that the yacht, after a major storm, suddenly encounters a massive ship, and the footage ends.
Man of Medan looks good, and sounds great as well, although to the trained eye it's noticable that the game is quite rough and unpolished right now. There are jagged textures here and there, and the facial animations are quite off. Not ugly or anything, but crossing into uncanny valley with how the textures look. In any case, this is still early gameplay footage, so expect these issues to be ironed out once Man of Medan finally releases.
Unlike Until Dawn, which was a PlayStation 4 exclusive, Man of Medan is set to be released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC sometime in 2019.
