Bandai Namco had one unannounced title for Gamescom this year. Little did I know, that this title was going to be one of the titles that would take me off guard.
Supermassive Games (Until Dawn, Bravo Team, Killzone HD, The Inpatient, Hidden Agenda) with Bandai Namco as publisher announced a new series of standalone horror games named The Dark Pictures Anthology. I know what you’re thinking, and no, this won’t be an episodic title. This series is all about standalone titles, with a completely different story each time. During the keynote, they explained that each game will always be true to the horror genre, not the gore, but the true horror feeling. And it doesn’t help that each game will be based on real urban legends.
Supermassive Games aims to release two games each year in this series, I really hope they can manage this, because I got to test a small portion of their first game – Man of Medan.
You can watch nine minutes of the same playthrough I went through from the gameplay video IGN published below. (I could record my own gameplay, if I only had the correct equipment with me.)
Each game will last approx around four to five hours, and if that is true I really need to think twice before I want to review the full game. (scary…) If you played either Until Dawn or Hidden Agenda you will get the hang of it right away. The gameplay and story are presented with small portions of segments where the player can move around and look for clues, while the main gameplay is quick time events and limited time of decision making. That last part is crucial, as each decision do have an impact on the story, in Man of Medan they use a “moral compass” that stores your answers from good to bad. You will often get in situations where you need to decide if you want to save yourself or save your friend.
You think, “I will save myself, because my character can’t die.” Well, that’s a bummer mate. Because every, single, character in the game can die. You can end up with everyone dying!
Supermassive Games really gave me a horrifying experience in just ten minutes at Gamescom this year. I think I managed to scare some of the guys sitting next to me (many people from the media were sitting next to each with their own PlayStation to test Namco’s titles.) a few times. But that last part, I screamed and got many weird eyes looking at me.
I’m a huge chicken when it comes to horror games, but I can’t let them go either. Man of Medan impressed me in many levels, graphics, voice acting, setting, story and of course, it is scary.
The only issue I had, was at some segments, the camera was a bit clunky.
9 minutes of gameplay from IGN.
The Dark Pictures Anthology – Man of Medan will release on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC during 2019.
