The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan

Setting and prologue

Man of Medan's plot centres around the urban legend of the SS Ourang Medan, a ghost ship allegedly found adrift in the 1940s. The game's prologue takes place in 1947 aboard the freighter after it departs from Manchuria. The ship's cargo includes Manchurian Gold, a hallucinogenic bioweapon developed during World War II. When the chemical containers leak, the crew is subjected to severe hallucinations; driven mad by apparitions, the sailors inadvertently kill each other or succumb to fear, leaving the vessel to drift in the South Pacific Ocean. Following the prologue, an omnipresent observer known as the Curator introduces himself to the player and outlines the story's premise.

Characters

The game's five protagonists are brothers Alex (Kareem Alleyne) and Brad (Chris Sandiford); Alex's girlfriend, Julia (Arielle Palik); Julia's brother, Conrad (Shawn Ashmore); and Fliss (Ayisha Issa), the captain of the Duke of Milan.^[6][10][15]

Man of Medan centres around three main interpersonal dynamics: Alex and Julia's established romantic relationship, Conrad's interactions with Fliss, and the fraternal bond between Alex and Brad.^[6][10][16] Alex is considering proposing to Julia during the diving trip, a decision that influences their interactions throughout the story.^[16] Meanwhile, Conrad frequently clashes with Fliss; depending on the narrative branches, their friction can either escalate or develop into a flirtation. The brothers' relationship is driven by their contrasting personalities; Alex is portrayed as outwardly confident but insecure, while Brad struggles with social awkwardness among the group.^[6][9]

Main plot

In the present day, the protagonists' diving expedition in the South Pacific Ocean is interrupted when their boat is ambushed by a group of pirates led by a man named Olson. Discovering coordinates for a rumoured treasure called Manchurian Gold, Olson takes the group hostage and forces Fliss to navigate to the location. The Duke of Milan subsequently collides with the drifting Ourang Medan. The pirates board the freighter and steal the Duke's distributor cap to prevent their captives from escaping.

The protagonists break free and attempt to retrieve the part, but the group is quickly separated in the ship's dark corridors. As they explore, both the protagonists and the pirates begin experiencing hallucinations of ghosts and undead sailors. The characters must evade both the panicking pirates and the perceived supernatural threats, with failed encounters optionally resulting in permanent deaths.

The surviving protagonists regroup and reach the ship's radio room, where they can choose to contact the military for extraction. Seeking to restore power to the radio, a splinter team descends into the generator room. Upon reactivating the power, they deduce that the ship's leaking Manchurian Gold gas is the source of the severe hallucinations; they realise that the perceived supernatural threats were actually the other survivors.

Armed with this knowledge, the protagonists confront a hallucinating Olson in the ship's cargo hold. Following a final struggle, Olson is killed—either crushed by a heavy cargo door or succumbing to a heart attack—and the protagonists attempt to secure the distributor cap. The remaining survivors reunite on the outer deck. The story's conclusion depends on the player's previous actions: if the distributor cap was saved, the group repairs the Duke of Milan and escapes. If the cap is destroyed, they are stranded. They are either left to drift at sea, or, if they successfully broadcast their coordinates, the military arrives; depending on what the survivors discovered, the soldiers will either rescue them or execute them to protect the bioweapon's secret.

Story and design

Supermassive designed Man of Medan to be a standalone story; although the anthology's games exist within a shared universe, the developers intended for the player to be able to experience the stories in any order they choose.^[2] To serve as the connective tissue across the series, the developers created the Curator, a character who has been compared to Rod Serling's role in The Twilight Zone and the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996).^[18] When conceptualising the interactive mechanics, the development team sought to constantly remind the player that every decision carries permanent consequences. They intentionally designed the choice interface to be prominent and obtrusive, functioning as a psychological cue that forces players to pause and weigh whether they should act on their emotional instincts or tactically calculate the best way to keep the characters alive.^[22]

The developers also significantly expanded the branching narrative scope to emphasise replayability; while Until Dawn featured 38 potential character deaths, the developers programmed Man of Medan with 69 unique death scenes.^[21] They managed this increased volume, the development team held judgement-free "death meetings" to brainstorm scenarios that were violent and unexpected. Game director Tom Heaton explained that simply killing characters was easy, but the challenge was designing deaths that suited a character's specific personality or weaknesses, often employing dark humour or dramatic irony. Despite the game's emphasis on horror, the developers established strict content boundaries; they avoided coercive elements and overly explicit gore by frequently pulling the camera away at the last moment.^[23] To accommodate this increased complexity and encourage the player to explore alternate outcomes, the studio intentionally condensed the overall length of a single playthrough to approximately five hours. The studio structured the pacing to mirror a television episode rather than a feature-length film, ensuring the game could be comfortably completed in a single sitting.^[2] Furthermore, observing the unexpected popularity of Until Dawn among online streamers playing with friends, Supermassive felt that adding multiplayer modes was a natural evolution for the studio.^[13]

The primary inspiration for the game's premise was the urban legend of the SS Ourang Medan, a Dutch freighter allegedly found adrift in the Indian Ocean during the late 1940s.^[24][25] According to the myth, the ship's entire crew was discovered dead with horrified expressions and no visible injuries, shortly before the vessel mysteriously exploded and sank.^[24][26] For the game's narrative, the developers reimagined the ship as an American military vessel in the Pacific Ocean transporting a hallucinogenic bioweapon from Manchuria to San Francisco following World War II.^[24] To establish the game's atmosphere and psychological tension, the team drew additional inspiration from films such as The Shining (1980), Ghost Ship (2002), Triangle (2009), and Insidious (2010).^[13][27]

Casting

Supermassive designed their casting and motion capture process to fully feature the nuances of the actors' physical performances.^[28] For Man of Medan, they cast Shawn Ashmore to portray Conrad, marketing him as the game's lead actor.^[29][30] British actor Pip Torrens was cast to provide the voice and motion capture for the Curator.^[29][31]. Game director Tom Heaton explained that the studio designed their motion capture process to give the actors the physical freedom to move around the set and organically develop their characters.^[28] The studio collaborated with the facial animation specialists Cubic Motion to accurately translate the actors' performances into the game engine.^[32] The motion capture process required physical performances from the actors, particularly for the game's death scenarios. Ashmore recalled having to "scream and run", frequently throwing himself on the ground to capture the necessary movements. He singled out two favourite death scenes for his character: one that specifically reflected Conrad's weaknesses and "proclivities", and another that was so unexpected he initially assumed the developers were joking when they pitched it.^[23] In an interview with the developers, Ashmore recounted his experiences while acting for Man of Medan, explaining that he enjoyed starring in a horror project and appreciated how the game's branching narrative allows players to sculpt their own stories.^[33]: 3:18 He specifically highlighted the dynamic nature of his role, as player choices directly determine whether Conrad becomes a heroic figure or acts out of self-preservation.^[33]: 1:02

Music and sound design

A frequent collaborator with Supermassive, Jason Graves returned to compose the musical score for Man of Medan.^[34] When establishing the game's musical style, audio director Barney Pratt revealed that the sound team focused on the characters' youth and the swaying waves of the sea.^[35] To reflect this motion, Graves conceptualised the score using a triple metre rhythm. He intended this design to subtly lull the player, creating a contrast with the game's horror elements. Because the narrative strands the characters on a boat, Graves focused the music on emphasising a deep sense of isolation and suspense. To accommodate the game's multiplayer modes and the granular choices of single-player, Graves designed the score to be more dynamic and interactive than his previous work on Until Dawn.^[36] He did not play the game while composing; instead, audio director Barney Pratt sent him captured gameplay footage, which Graves looped in the background to ensure the score had enough dynamic parts to adapt to the player's choices.^[37]

To ensure the Ourang Medan sounded authentic, Pratt and the audio team gained access to a real military vessel from the World War II era. They recorded the sounds of heavy door latches and ambient room tones to use for the game's foley. While on the ship, the team recorded audio impulses in various locations, such as the engine room. They used this data to replicate the exact acoustic reverb of a 1940s ship within the game engine.^[38]

Release

Man of Medan was officially announced on 21 August 2018.^[19] The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 30 August 2019.^[39] Players who pre-ordered the game received early access to the "Curator's Cut" mode,^[5][6] which was made available to all players for free in November 2019.^[40] A post-credits teaser trailer at the end of the game revealed the next instalment in the anthology, Little Hope, which was released on 30 October 2020.^[41][42] Supermassive released PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game on 27 September 2022, alongside a patch for all versions that included new content, quality-of-life features, and accessibility options.^[43] A Nintendo Switch version was released on 4 May 2023.^[44] In the United Kingdom, Man of Medan debuted as the third best-selling game on the all-formats physical charts during its launch week.^[45]

Critical response

Man of Medan received "generally favourable" reception for Windows^[46] and "mixed or average" reception for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic,^[47][48] while 45% of critics recommended the game according to OpenCritic.^[49] Reviewers generally appreciated the claustrophobic atmosphere and environmental design of the Ourang Medan.^[9][11][54] However, the narrative divided critics. Several writers argued that the central plot twist, the explanation for the supernatural elements, became obvious too early, which diminished the overarching tension.^[6][52][56] James O'Connor of GameSpot elaborated that once the illusion breaks, it transforms the second half of the story into a less engaging experience.^[6] Furthermore, several reviewers felt the pacing of the final act was rushed, arguing that certain narrative branches conclude abruptly without a satisfying climax or a definitive final encounter.^[16][52][56] The cast also yielded mixed reactions; while some critics enjoyed the B-movie campiness of the ensemble,^[16][50] others characterised the protagonists as grating or underdeveloped compared to the cast of Supermassive's previous title, Until Dawn.^[5][10]

Critics highlighted the multiplayer modes as the game's strongest asset.^[11][16][51] Reviewers commended the Shared Story mode for its approach to cooperative horror, as it intentionally splits players up and feeds them different information to manipulate their perspectives.^[9][16] James Davenport of PC Gamer emphasised how the mode successfully uses a lack of communication, creating genuine suspense when players are separated and forced to make blind decisions that impact their partner.^[16] In addition to the online features, the local Movie Night mode received praise for successfully translating the social, pass-the-controller experience of Until Dawn into an official mechanic.^[5][11][51] Reviewers also responded positively to the volume of branching paths and potential character deaths, agreeing that the condensed playtime effectively encouraged the player to complete multiple playthroughs.^[52][54][57]

Despite the positive response to its cooperative design, Man of Medan faced widespread criticism for its technical performance. Reviewers frequently cited severe frame rate drops, texture pop-in, and stuttering audio, which occasionally interfered with the player's ability to complete QTEs.^[5][10][55] The rhythm-based heartbeat minigame also polarised critics; while some found it successfully induced genuine panic,^[10][54] others criticised it as overly unforgiving or less intuitive than the motion-based mechanics of Supermassive's previous games.^[6][51] Furthermore, the character movement and camera design frustrated several critics. The implementation of fixed camera angles and sluggish navigation drew unfavourable comparisons to older survival horror titles, with writers arguing that the stiff movement made traversing the ship's narrow corridors unnecessarily cumbersome.^[6][11][53] While critics generally praised the facial animations and character models,^[3][5][50] some felt the occasionally stiff expressions fell into the uncanny valley.^[3][52]

Accolades

Man of Medan received several industry awards and nominations following its release. At the 2019 The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards, the game won Best Action and Adventure Game and Best Social Game, alongside nominations for Best Audio Design and the Creativity Award.^[58] That same year, it was nominated for Best Multiplayer Game at the Golden Joystick Awards.^[59] In 2020, the game won Narrative Innovation of the Year at the MCV/Develop Awards,^[60] where it also received a nomination for Visual Innovation of the Year.^[61] Additionally, Ayisha Issa's performance as Fliss earned her a nomination for Performer in a Supporting Role at the 16th British Academy Games Awards.^[62]