2020 seems to be an absolute unending stream of anguish and disappointment. To make matters even worse, one disaster after the next has been combined with a global pandemic that put a halt to essentially the entire entertainment industry. Which, quite frankly, has left a lot to be desired in terms of distractions.
Some things have snuck through the cracks of life in quarantine thanks to streaming services and producers finding safe ways around social distancing. But, for the most part, it feels like people are grasping at straws when it comes to finding a show or movie to use to get away from the state of the world for a few hours. Thankfully, though, I realized a great alternative that still feels like sitting back on the couch after a long day to watch something: decision-based video games.
They’ve always basically played as movies where you just control the majority of the choices or dialogue, with maybe a bit more video-game interactivity. From the likes of Heavy Rain to Telltale’s The Walking Dead series to Detroit: Become Human, there are so many intricate stories out there to fall in love with. Now more than ever, they’re a great substitute for the rather slow drip of new shows and movies coming out and work extremely well at immersing those playing them into the games. If you’re looking for an escape, they’re truly a great path to go down.
Even better, many games have been finding new ways to create further interactivity by including ways for more than just one person to be at the helm of a story. One of the latest and greatest examples comes from Supermassive Games, the masterminds behind the survival-horror hit Until Dawn, who are hard at work on their new series: The Dark Pictures. Looking to be the next great step in decision-based gaming, it’s an anthology series in which each game revolves around a new twisted horror story, only linked together by a man known as The Curator.
The first in what is to be a planned eight-game series was Man of Medan, which was released back at the end of August. Similar in tone and style to Until Dawn, the game followed five friends on a diving trip who happened upon a drifting ghost ship out in the South Pacific. And in case you think choice games usually don’t have that much actual weight to them, the best part about Man of Medan is that any and all characters can die or live depending on the choices made by the player.
The story can be played solo, through two-player online co-op, or through Movie Night Mode: a version of the game where up to five people can play together with one controller, switching off as they control their respective characters on screen. It makes not only for a great one-person experience, but also one you can enjoy with friends and family you may be quarantined with or even as a fun little date night idea.
Man of Medan isn’t going to be the best story you’ve ever seen or anything, but it has a lot of that good, old fashioned horror feel to it that’s coupled with some solid writing and voice acting. Not to mention, with what was done story-wise with Until Dawn and even Hidden Agenda, there’s a ton of potential for this series of games to pick up speed as they continue on and release in the coming years.
Which, thankfully, Supermassive Games seems to still be on track even in the midst of COVID-19. They’re aiming to release one game about every six months, and the next installment in the anthology series, Little Hope, releases on October 30th.
Even if you’re not much of a gamer, this series and any other of the vast amount of decision-based games out there are definitely something to at least give a shot; especially in these trying and desperate times while our much-needed binge-lists are running dry.
Jackson Horvat is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Jackson by tweeting him at @horvatjackson.
