#EGX2018 Hands-On: The Dark Pictures – Man of Medan Preview

Being a fan of Until Dawn and the PSVR spin-off, Rush of Blood, I was eager to give Man of Medan a try, the first of a series of episodes under The Dark Pictures developed by Supermassive Games.  So I made sure that this would be one of my primary visits at EGX last week.  Man of Medan follows the story of four young Americans going in search of a WWII shipwreck, but as with these kinds of horror tales seem to go, all hell will soon break loose.

During the demo I played as female character in search of a lost friend aboard a seemingly abandoned WWII shipwreck, she was accompanied by a man who I presume was aboard this ship before the youths arrived.  The demo felt very much like Until Dawn, not only with its stunning visuals, but also how I interacted with its linear setting and the multiple choice dialogue options when speaking to other characters in the game.  Also like Until Dawn, your actions and choices will shape the outcome of the game.

Other than what we saw at face value, there wasn’t much given away in the demo, which was probably a good thing as none of us wants anything spoiled.  But as I searched for the lost friend, I soon realised that other powers are at play of the supernatural kind.  It was your typical affair as you might expect from a Supermassive title, friends acting suspiciously weird, untrustworthy NPC’s, ghostly encounters, a tense atmosphere and of course jump-scares.

The first episode of The Dark Pictures Anthology, Man of Medan should ignite an interesting series of chapters, especially as each episode will bring a new story and characters.  If you’re a fan of Until Dawn or just the horror genre in general, this is a game that you should very much be on the lookout for in the near future.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan will release next year for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.