Man of Medan is the latest horror adventure from Supermassive Games, the developer behind PS4 exclusive Until Dawn. Until Dawn and Man of Medan are very similar games, as they’re both choose your own path adventures with a horror theme, but Man of Medan has an important difference because it contains multiplayer. Supermassive has several options for play with the first part of The Dark Pictures anthology, but what about Man of Medan couch co-op? Is that an option, and if so, how does it work? Is there online play too, and if so what’s available? Let’s have a look.
Is there Man of Medan couch co-op?
One of the biggest parts of The Dark Pictures anthology is the introduction of multiplayer to a genre that is, outside something like Left 4 Dead, predominantly a single-player focused type of game. It would certainly transform the experience, but what’s available? Most multiplayer games are entirely online these days, but does Man of Medan offer an offline couch co-op experience?
For anyone who’s not too fond of playing online, and prefer the social aspect of a group of friends gathered around a single TV, there is good news: Man of Medan does indeed have the option for couch co-op. It’s called Movie Night mode, and it allows up to five people the chance to experience the game as a party, which sounds a lot of fun… at least, until somebody dies.
How does the Man of Medan couch co-op option work?
The Movie Night couch co-op party mode is undoubtedly lots of fun, but how does it work? The first thing you’ll need is up to five friends. The more, the better, as there are five main characters who get pretty regular screen-time. Well, unless they die or run away or something (both are possible). Movie Night can be played with fewer people, and other characters will either be assigned to a specific player, or the group will just have to take turns taking control of the extras.
It should be noted that the couch co-op, perhaps surprisingly, does not have the option for split-screen multiplayer, which is the way most games handle multiplayer on one TV. Instead, the Man of Medan couch co-op mode only requires one pad, and a single player gets to control a single character at any one time. Once their time is up and the game changes focus to another character, the player passes the pad over to the appropriate person who was made in charge of that character.
Just to spice things up further, occasionally the game will show all players a summary of how each of their characters are doing, so you can support or make fun of people as necessary. It’s an interesting way of playing Man of Medan, and it’ll certainly be fun to see what choices your friends will make.
Is Movie Night mode available online?
The Man of Medan Movie Night mode is certainly a lot of fun, but it’s an experience that’s entirely built around having a group of people in the same room at the same time. Consequently, Supermassive has made it so Movie Night is strictly an offline couch co-op mode, and is not available online at all. It would certainly be possible to make it work online, with voice communication and streaming, but it wouldn’t feel quite as natural or as much as a party, so the developer has left Movie Night mode entirely offline. Fortunately for anyone without a group of friends on hand nearby, there are other options available for online players.
Is there Man of Medan online co-op?
While Movie Night mode is only available in offline couch co-op, fortunately there is an online option for multiplayer for players unable to crowd around a single TV. While it’s slightly different experience than the couch co-op mode, there at least is an option for online multiplayer. It’s also co-op, but only allows for a maximum of two players, and works a lot different to Movie Night mode. Let’s have look at this experience, which is called Shared Story mode.
How does the Man of Medan online co-op work?
Unlike Movie Night mode, the online co-op Shared Story mode is only playable by two players, and functions completely differently. While the couch co-op mode involves players taking turns to play their characters, with online co-op players play as two characters at the same time. These two characters alternate every few minutes, so players could swap to the same character their partner was just playing, or even take control of a character exploring a completely different location.
Players will be able to make unique dialogue choices, have conversations with the other characters (including the one being controlled by the other player), explore the game’s locations, examine everything, and push the story forward. If there’s a significant item, such as a weapon, only one player will get it, although “premonitions” (visual hints to upcoming events you can find as secrets around the game) can be viewed by both players. This mode adds a lot of tension to the story, as in single-player you know where all characters are located, but in online co-op you may have no idea what the other player is doing or where they are!
Are Man of Medan‘s multiplayer modes available on all platforms: PC, Xbox One, and PS4?
Both of the multiplayer modes, online co-op Shared Story and couch co-op Movie Night modes, are available on all platforms. You may not play your PC on the couch, but the option for five players to crowd around the computer is still available to you.
