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“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is... fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. ”
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

The horror anthologies. Those juicy short stories ended up playing a huge role in popular culture. What started back in 1837, when the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne published the first volume of his Twice-Told Tales, quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. And naturally, when the silent movies era was at its highest point, that's exactly what we've got. Eerie Tales. A 1919 movie by Richard Oswald that used to include five different spooky stories. And after that? There was no turning back. So, technically, we should all take a minute and say thanks to Mr. Hawthorne. Because it's thanks to him we've got things like Tales of Terror, The Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt (1989), Friday the 13th: The Series (which had nothing to do with the original movies) and even The X-Files. Things that are known and loved by millions of people around the Globe. Why am I telling you all that? Well, because that's exactly what Supermassive Games tried to achieve here.
Man of Medan is the first game in Supermassive Games' horror anthology in video game format. And you know what? The way the guys did it? It's kinda brilliant, really. I've already mentioned Tales from the Crypt. Well, Supermassive Games got their own host. And even though Pip Torrens' Curator is not as funny as John Kassir's Crypt Keeper, he'll just blow your mind with his style and charisma. Also, all that stuff about the library and pictures on the walls (hence the series' title)? Perfection. In other words, Supermassive Games created a perfect setting for a horror anthology. And if you love that kind of stuff as much as I do, you're in for a treat. But enough about the setting. I mean, when you talk about Tales from the Crypt, you don't just talk about the Keeper, right? So, I guess, it's the time for us to talk about the actual game. About the story of Man of Medan.
First of all, don't... expect it to be too different from two previous games of this kind that Supermassive Games created. I'm talking, of course, about Until Dawn and Hidden Agenda (both are the PlayStation 4 exclusives). Especially the first one. Like Until Dawn, Man of Medan has characters with personal traits that'll change according to your choices, it has “choose your own adventure” elements and even the UI will look almost identical here and there. So... does that mean that Man of Medan is pretty much an Until Dawn 2? Well, yes. And no. See, that's where the fun begins.
Because not only this game comes with two versions of single player mode that will allow you to see the story from slightly different perspectives, it also includes... multiplayer. Yes, for real this time. In case you forgot (or didn't even know, because PC mustard race and crap like that), when Until Dawn was announced, PlayStation Asia listed a multiplayer feature on their website. Which turned out to be a “mistake”. Which... looks kinda suspicious at this point, because that's... exactly what we've got in Man of Medan. A multiplayer. I bet you wonder how does that work, right? I mean, what we have here is a “choose your own adventure” thingy with multiplayer support. That can't be real, right? Well, guess what? It actually can.
I'll tell you more – there's not one but two multiplayer modes here. The first one will let you to connect to your friends online and let them all make their choices for one of the characters during the story, while another one is basically a hotseat mode that'll let you to play with your friends at home, while using the same console or computer. And that's what makes this game to stand out. I mean, even though technically, it's almost two times shorter than Until Dawn and, most likely, won't take longer than four hours for you to beat, the multiplayer potential here? It's phenomenal. You have some friends who love horrors as much as you do? It's time to order some pizza and call for a party.
But even if you're a die-hard loner, don't feel bad. Because even for you, there's quite a lot of good in this game. Sure, it'll be way shorter than your usual story-driven games, but... the game still has its moments. See, technically, Man of Medan is a pretty dull game. You walk forward and you make choices. The end. You turn left – you find the secret. You turn right – you find the secret. You walk forward – you do some QTE and then proceed through the story. Repeat until credits will start rolling. Sounds painfully boring, right? I mean, QTE... in 2019... sounds like a joke. Pretty bad one too. But guess what? It's not that simple. Far from it.
The thing about Man of Medan is that its developers tried to confuse you. To make you panic and do all sorts of mistakes. The actual story here? It's pretty simple. Pretty cute. But still, very simple. You can see the same exact thing in, like, every second horror b-movie. Also, pretty much all the choices here are obvious. You think about them a bit – and you can easily make the right decision. But the thing is – Supermassive Games won't let you do that. They won't let you think straight. Like in real life, you won't have time to think about your choices. You'll need to act and act fast. BOOM! There's some scary stuff happening and some fast QTE are appearing on the screen! What would you do? Most likely, you'll do exactly what you do in other games – you do QTE. But guess what? QTE here are also a choice. Sometimes those are the only way to save the character, while sometimes... sometimes those will lead you into a deadly trap. How should you know which choice is right and which one isn't? Well, you need to take a deep breath and think. Like I said, though, it won't be possible.
And that's the brilliance of this game. It does such a perfect job with all of those plot twists and jump scares that when you do yet another mistake, you're like “Da-a-ang, I'm an idiot! Why? Why did I even do that! It was so obviously wrong!”. And with no way to save your game at all (you're free to quit and continue at any point, but the game won't let you load the previous save and make another choice)? It feels absolutely awesome. I mean, lack of save feature doesn't sound like a good thing, but it feels absolutely fantastic. Just because it makes you even more nervous, which will inevitably lead you to even more mistakes. Which, again, doesn't sound good, but feels absolutely great. Perfect playthrough? It's kinda boring here. Don't aim for it during your first run. Seriously, don't you even dare to use the guide here! The atmosphere of the unknown, the panic, the mistakes... that's exactly what makes this game so entertaining. When somebody dies here? It's exciting.
So... yeah. I can't say that Man of Medan is a perfect game. Far from it. But for all of us horror fans out there? It's, like, an amazing present. The idea of having a horror party with your friends where you can actually play a horror movie? Screaming “Why are you so stupid?! not at some random Camp Crystal Lake counselor who just died on screen due to some poor judgment, but at your own friend? It's one heck of the experience. If you're about to play alone, I recommend to wait for a discount, since obviously, the game is a bit too short for a single-player-only experience, but even for loners, there's still a lot of good here. Like... a lot. Dixi.