Whether with Until Dawn or Man of Medan, Supermassive Games is committed to exploring myths to give a little more thickness to the script. After the legend of the Wendigo, the British studio is this time tackling the folklore surrounding the SS Ourang Medan, a ghost ship whose crew died in mysterious circumstances at the end of the 40s. it's no longer about sharing a remote cabin in the mountains of Blackwood with pals, but about venturing into a warship haunted by spirits. Without revealing anything of the plot, we must admit that the scenario did not fully convince us. While we were entitled to a few well-found twists in Until Dawn, Man of Medan is much flatter in this area. It's all the more unfortunate that given the fairly short lifespan (five hours max), we thought that the developers were going to redouble the false leads to better surprise us. Shit. Fortunately, changes of rhythm allow us to get out of this ambient torpor, even if at the end of the first run, we are left with a taste of too little. In any case, although Man of Medan does not do slasher, certain elements have been retained, starting with the cast which highlights a group of young Americans in search of thrills.
Our memory may be playing tricks on us, but it doesn't feel like character movement was that heavy in Until Dawn. In fact, it's like taking the inertia of Heavy Rain by opting for classic controls; slow as possible.
Once again, Supermassive Games hit the nail on the head with actors (for the most part unknown) perfectly matching the character of the characters. At the top of the bill, we find Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, Smallville, Quantum Break) in the skin of Conrad, a haughty individual and hothead who does not hesitate to display his wealth. His sister, Julia, is played by Arielle Palik; the perfect archetype of the girl who is looking for herself. As for Brad (Chris Sandiford), he is the brains of the group who devotes boundless admiration to his brother Alex (Kareem Tristan Alleyne). The latter is none other than Julia's boyfriend for whom he is ready for anything. Finally, there is Fliss (Ayisha Issa) whose lucidity about events contrasts with the carelessness of her “comrades”. Our memory may be playing tricks on us, but it doesn't feel like character movement was that heavy in Until Dawn. In fact, it's like taking the inertia of Heavy Rain by opting for classic controls; slow as possible. Under these conditions, the exploration phases become painful, especially with a brisk walk (holding the left trigger) which hardly accelerates the pace. However, observing/collecting all that glitters is almost vital since each find is likely to offer new opportunities in terms of choice.
We therefore come back to the consequences and the butterfly effect which Supermassive Games rarely departs from. To better muddy the waters and give the illusion that all decisions matter, the developers drown crucial dilemmas in an ocean of subplots. Every time we have to tilt the right stick in one direction or the other, we wonder if our leniency or our lack of empathy will pay or cost us dearly. Like Until Dawn, Man of Medan validates the actions it deems important via a “Trajectory” compass. An example ? By finding a knife in the ghost ship, Fliss will be able to deal with a threat. We'll stop there so as not to spoil the surprise for you, but know that after completing the game almost three times, we still have a good number of impacts to discover. These "Trajectories" alert the player to a consequence to come, just like the paintings behind which hide premonitions. Scattered everywhere, and not easy to spot at first glance, they replace the famous totems of Until Dawn and can avoid seeing one of the protagonists disappear definitively. And don't think that opportunities to mourn the dead are rare in Man of Medan, because by Supermassive Games' own admission, there are a total of 69 ways to die.
We have this strange feeling that at times, the game does not assume the moral choices it offers, reminds us that it is after all only a video game with a scripted story.
Despite everything, where a Detroit: Become Human shows consistency in the dialogues, the first episode of The Dark Pictures is less logical. On the Duke of Milan, we had fun provoking the kidnappers to see how far they were willing to go. Apart from one particular case – and unless we are mistaken – there is absolutely nothing to fear, whereas Olson and his men make it clear to us that they will not hesitate to stick a bullet in the head at the slightest misstep. We have this strange feeling that at times, the game does not assume the moral choices it offers, reminds us that it is after all only a video game with a scripted story. Without wanting to be chauvinistic or pro-whatever, this is where we better realize the colossal job done by Quantic Dream with this incalculable number of variables. Yes, there are several storyline branches in Man of Medan, decisions may cause us to miss certain scenes, but in the end, the developers hold our hands without us realizing it. That said, we can't help but embark on a second run in order to make other decisions, to trigger other deaths, to try other affinities, to unearth other secrets. The advantage compared to Until Dawn (which lasted about ten hours) is that the campaign being shorter, there is nothing painful in chaining two sessions.
WAIT A MINUTE
If you still have your eyes glued to the test, it wouldn't surprise you to say that Man of Medan didn't wow us with the masses. Graphically, the game is not as successful as its predecessor, which is quite surprising in the sense that we are at the end of the cycle. The fact that Supermassive Games had to take into account three supports (Xbox One, PC and PS4) against only one (PS4) for Until Dawn is undoubtedly for something, but still. We don't know if this is the case on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, but our version on standard PS4 multiplied the framerate drops, not to mention the not always very sharp textures and the rather sad lighting effects when you see what Capcom has produced with the remake of Resident Evil 2. However, we feel that the developers have made an effort to take care of the interiors, in particular those of the ship eaten away by time and rust. A few shots also look good, proof that the cinematographic tone remains a priority. As for the characters, their rendering is not crazy, whether it's facial expressions, the texture of their skin, or animations that are too rigid to mitigate the Uncanny Valley effect. Unequal in its realization, Man of Medan proves to be more solid in terms of sound design. We are not going to list all the sounds that we hear in the game, but the immersion is necessarily enhanced. Finally, you are not unaware that one of the prides of Man of Medan is the multiplayer mode which allows you to browse the adventure at five local (each player embodies a protagonist), or two online. Bandai Namco Entertainment did not provide us with a second code in time to try out cooperation, we advise you to take a look at our video made last July and in which we come back to these two points.
