Direct-To-Videogames

Man of Medan makes cliched horror feel fresh again.

- James Davenport

Man of Medan isn’t particularly scary. If it were a movie, it’d be the kind that releases direct-to-video, one of those schlocky DVDs lining the convenience store displays. The usual character archetypes are there: the nerd, the hunk, the blonde, the stranger, the horny creep that no one should put up with but do because at least one death should be cathartic. Queue up the ghost ship, pirates, and cheap jump scares galore.

As a film, it would be fun, but familiar and forgettable. But as co-op adventure game, Man of Medan is unparalleled. Think of it like a movie where you take control of one character at a time, oscillating between quicktime action scenes and dialogue sequences. Occasionally you’ll get time to look for story clues, tools, and soak in the setting.

Early into my online co-op playthrough, my coworker Joanna and I coerce our ship captain into letting us explore a sunken plane at the bottom of the ocean, but we don’t play two characters in the same scene. We play different scenes simultaneously.