Until Dawn was an excellent (and terrifying) choice-based narrative game from developer Supermassive Games. It took players on a roller-coaster ride through campy/teen horror movie tropes and scenarios all masterly crafted in consequence-driven chapters. Their latest project is an anthology of stories, based around similar gameplay mechanics but now with the inclusion of multiplayer modes. We had some hands-on time with the first game in The Dark Pictures Anthology, specifically the Shared Story mode of Man of Medan.

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As with Until Dawn, choice is the primary mechanic of the game, and so you are going to be seeing that word a lot in this preview. Yes, there is some light exploration and plenty of QTE's, but it all comes down to choosing what to do when, and how your characters will react to world and events around them. Survival is the primary goal, and making the right choices is how the characters will survive.



Man of Medan is, as with other Supermassive Games titles, a horror game - and there are plenty scares to be had – 'jump scares' are perfectly timed and creepy events are even creepier if you are encountering something the other player is not, making you question what you may or may not have seen. The story is built around the usual horror elements of an isolated group of characters who are threatened by an unexplained threat. It is worth noting that we are still playing through the game and have not finished it yet, however, we have finished a good couple of chapters and so have experienced the core gameplay mechanics and narrative essentials.

Shared Story, what does that mean? The Shared Story mode of Man of Medan puts you and a friend in control of the various playable characters within the game, either together in a shared scene or making your own choices in different locations within the same timeframe of the narrative – meaning that you may be experiencing something you co-op partner may not see or interact with. You are also not hard locked to your characters, and so may be playing as a person you had no control over in previous chapters, thus building upon or changing personality traits and alliances with other characters the second player had made. Your decisions are also kept private, so you are trying to guess what your partner selected, but also make choices that will drive the story in a direction that keeps characters alive.



This is all brilliantly executed in that both players have a common goal, keep everybody alive, but our own individual methods and understanding of the characters we are playing as can substantially affect how scenarios play out. I may think that based on horror tropes making choice (a) will be the best decision, but my co-op partner may think that choice (b) is a more logical solution, so reacting to how events play out is nerve-racking. Then comes in the fact that you are making these choices based on what you as a player have seen or experienced for yourself in the game, so you may have information your partner does not, also affecting how your decisions are made.

Sure, yeah, you could just tell your co-op buddy what choices you are making and why, but I feel that this would detract from the experience. We decided very early on that because we were playing in the same room that we would play with headphones on and not screen peek. This meant we would be crafting our own adventures, but still working together for that common goal. Information we had was limited to what we had found, and sometimes hidden from each other in-game, with the hope of driving the story in the direction we felt best. High intensity scenes become that much more exciting as we must react, and keep reacting, to events as they unfold. This also means there is plenty of room for replayability, not just to try other choices, but try the entire game for another perspective.



If you are going to play Man of Medan, I would highly recommend trying out the Shared Story mode. It feels like a valid inclusion to the game, and not just another tacked-on multiplayer mode. The already fun gameplay of the title feels expanded upon with more strategic planning to how you craft your characters, and how choices are made. Again, if I can suggest doing so, play the co-op mode with the idea of keeping choices and story elements in secret, just to add that extra element of tension to the overall experience.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan launches August 30th, 2019, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC Digital. Pre-orders are available here, and you can check out our gameplay capture below: