This game gets a lot of unfair criticism, and I think it comes from two places: horror purists and people who really liked Until Dawn. In fact, my gut reaction after my first play through was to come here and criticize the game's jump scares and compare it unfavorably to Until Dawn; instead, I booted it up to play it again. This is as sure a sign as any of a solid, fun game.

When they say "choice matters" in this game, they really mean it. In fact the phrase invites comparisons to other games which does it no justice. Every single choice you make, whether life or death or casual conversation with characters changes the story. You read that right.

Choosing to have a character say or do something funny for example will change the character's personality and they will act more humorous in later cut scenes. This is an unbelievably cool feature of the game which blew me away when I discovered it.

Characters also have relationship meters toward each other. How much they like each other changes how a character may react to their death, and even simple things like how they interact with each other in non controllable moments.

The detail in these features to my knowledge were absent from Until Dawn, minus a few key moments. This feature also saves the likability of the characters which seem fairly bland and stereotypical on the first play through. This essentially allows you to change a character's personality entirely to your liking, which changes how they interact with the story and each other.

The butterfly effect system has also been carried over from Until Dawn under the name "Bearings" which is worth mentioning. These bearings are important choices the characters make in the game which change the story dramatically, and not all of them are directly controlled by the player which adds an additional layer of complexity. They seem to have more influence than the butterfly effect did in Until Dawn, with certain bearings determining if certain scenes or 10+ minute long segments happen at all in the game (and even which characters are involved). This is an improvement on the butterfly effect which mostly determined who lives and dies.

The attention to detail and complexity of choices affecting how the game unfolds is mind boggling. It really feels as if you are observing and partially controlling real lives of real people stuck in a real bad situation. The story is the perfect length too: 4-5 hours per play through, which is just long enough to appreciate the branching choices and have a satisfying story without being too long that repeat plays are a drag. It is just long enough to enjoy with a friend for a "movie night".

One last cool feature is that the game has multiplayer support. I have not tried it myself, but its worth commenting on and it can be played with people at home or online. Each player controls different characters and each makes decisions which affect each other and the story as a whole, which is amazing in my opinion. There is also an alternative version of the story you can play where you play as different characters at different moments of the game which allows you another angle of interacting with the story and its characters.

It is important to note that this amount of detail may not be fully apparent in a single play through. In fact, depending on the route the player takes through the game it may come off as underwhelming to initial, naive playthroughs.

In my opinion, the games greatest flaw is not its (sometimes) uninteresting characters or its technical shortcomings. Its achilles heel is how the game hamstrings its plot and suspense by utilizing arguably the worst horror trope imaginable. I will not spoil it, but near the end of the game the mystery is dispelled by a single document you can find which clearly outlines what is going on. This almost completely deflates the horror aspect of the story, especially with repeat play throughs.

As a result, it is hard to describe this game as "horror" after the first play through. It becomes more of a mystery/suspense survival drama. It discourages any further investigative work on the part of the player, unlike in Until Dawn where it is actually fairly difficult to uncover the whole plot on a single play through. Fortunately, the drama of the story and its characters, as well as the shifting nature of each playthrough is more than enough to carry the game forward and keep it enjoyable.

Yes, there are a lot of jump scares. There was a lot of them in Until Dawn too though, and some of them were very dumb. One in particular comes out of nowhere, is completely tone deaf to the context of the scene in that game, and the characters do not even react to it. This is absolutely not the case here. I am not a fan of jump scares, but Man of Medan utilizes them well. There were no jump scares where I thought "that was kinda stupid", in fact they put me on edge and tensed me up even on repeat play throughs. None of them felt cheap, and in fact fit with the narrative of the game. They keep the tension fresh each play through, which is good especially since the game robs itself as I detailed above.

In the grand scheme of things, $30 is a jaw dropping steal for a game of this quality. I have played through it almost three times already and the way the events unfolded has been very different each time - the replay factor is huge. Do not be dissuaded by the haters - this is one of the most unique games out there, and it stands just fine on its own merits, even if with just a few tweaks the plot and horror could have been much better. 9/10

This game gets a lot of unfair criticism, and I think it comes from two places: horror purists and people who really liked Until Dawn. In fact, my gut reaction after my first play through was to come here and criticize the game's jump scares and compare it unfavorably to Until Dawn; instead, I booted it up to play it again. This is as sure a sign as any of a solid, fun game. When they say "choice matters" in this game, they really mean it. In fact the phrase invites comparisons to other games which does it no justice. Every single choice you make, whether life or death or casual conversation with characters changes the story. You read that right. Choosing to have a character say or do something funny for example will change the character's personality and they will act more humorous in later cut scenes. This is an unbelievably cool feature of the game which blew me away when I discovered it. Characters also have relationship meters toward each other. How much they like each other changes how a character may react to their death, and even simple things like how they interact with each other in non controllable moments. The detail in these features to my knowledge were absent from Until Dawn, minus a few key moments. This feature also saves the likability of the characters which seem fairly bland and stereotypical on the first play through. This essentially allows you to change a character's personality entirely to your liking, which changes how they interact with the story and each other. The butterfly effect system has also been carried over from Until Dawn under the name "Bearings" which is worth mentioning. These bearings are important choices the characters make in the game which change the story dramatically, and not all of them are directly controlled by the player which adds an additional layer of complexity. They seem to have more influence than the butterfly effect did in Until Dawn, with certain bearings determining if certain scenes or 10+ minute long segments happen at all in the game (and even which characters are involved). This is an improvement on the butterfly effect which mostly determined who lives and dies. The attention to detail and complexity of choices affecting how the game unfolds is mind boggling. It really feels as if you are observing and partially controlling real lives of real people stuck in a real bad situation. The story is the perfect length too: 4-5 hours per play through, which is just long enough to appreciate the branching choices and have a satisfying story without being too long that repeat plays are a drag. It is just long enough to enjoy with a friend for a "movie night". One last cool feature is that the game has multiplayer support. I have not tried it myself, but its worth commenting on and it can be played with people at home or online. Each player controls different characters and each makes decisions which affect each other and the story as a whole, which is amazing in my opinion. There is also an alternative version of the story you can play where you play as different characters at different moments of the game which allows you another angle of interacting with the story and its characters. It is important to note that this amount of detail may not be fully apparent in a single play through. In fact, depending on the route the player takes through the game it may come off as underwhelming to initial, naive playthroughs. In my opinion, the games greatest flaw is not its (sometimes) uninteresting characters or its technical shortcomings. Its achilles heel is how the game hamstrings its plot and suspense by utilizing arguably the worst horror trope imaginable. I will not spoil it, but near the end of the game the mystery is dispelled by a single document you can find which clearly outlines what is going on. This almost completely deflates the horror aspect of the story, especially with repeat play throughs. As a result, it is hard to describe this game as "horror" after the first play through. It becomes more of a mystery/suspense survival drama. It discourages any further investigative work on the part of the player, unlike in Until Dawn where it is actually fairly difficult to uncover the whole plot on a single play through. Fortunately, the drama of the story and its characters, as well as the shifting nature of each playthrough is more than enough to carry the game forward and keep it enjoyable. Yes, there are a lot of jump scares. There was a lot of them in Until Dawn too though, and some of them were very dumb. One in particular comes out of nowhere, is completely tone deaf to the context of the scene in that game, and the characters do not even react to it. This is absolutely not the case here. I am not a fan of jump scares, but Man of Medan utilizes them well. There were no jump scares where I thought "that was kinda stupid", in fact they put me on edge and tensed me up even on repeat play throughs. None of them felt cheap, and in fact fit with the narrative of the game. They keep the tension fresh each play through, which is good especially since the game robs itself as I detailed above. In the grand scheme of things, $30 is a jaw dropping steal for a game of this quality. I have played through it almost three times already and the way the events unfolded has been very different each time - the replay factor is huge. Do not be dissuaded by the haters - this is one of the most unique games out there, and it stands just fine on its own merits, even if with just a few tweaks the plot and horror could have been much better. 9/10