Man Of Medan gets new free chapter in surprise update for The Dark Pictures Anthology
Plus: QTE warnings! Walk faster! Die more!
It’s usually nice to see older games get updates, particularly when we’re not expecting it. Think of it as a good jump scare. Supermassive Games have given their first two The Dark Pictures Anthology some extra care and attention today, dropping in new difficulty settings and accessibility options, tweaked UI, and even faster walking for characters. There’s also an extended chapter for Man Of Medan. I didn’t think update trailers were a thing but there’s one for this, which you can watch below.
Man Of Medan’s extra chapter is called Flooded. Sounds sufficiently watery for that Dark Pictures instalment. Supermassive say the chapter “introduces new gameplay and new deaths to the climactic ending of the game”. Both Man Of Medan and its follow up Little Hope have also been given new difficulty settings and QTE warnings, an improved UI, refreshed event triggers, and extra accessibility options including the option to change subtitle sizes. Crucially, you can now walk faster in both games.
Hang on, though, because a tweet from the Dark Pictures account said there was an issue with the update, and that both games had been rolled back to their previous versions. A hotfix from Supermassive addressing the issue is inbound.
The next game in The Dark Pictures Anthology is The Devil In Me. That takes place in a spooky murder mansion, but it isn’t supernatural like the other entries in the series so far. Alice Bee interviewed The Devil In Me’s game director Tom Heaton last month, who told her that it’s the most gruesome Dark Pictures game yet.
While The Devil In Me closes the first season, five more Dark Pictures instalments were revealed through trademark filings in February. They’re called Directive 8020, The Craven Man, Intercession, Winterfold, and Presents O Death. That last one seems like an odd one out. The first season only had four games, so maybe expect something slightly different for whatever O Death ends up being.
Sin enjoyed her time aboard Supermassive’s ghost ship for her Man Of Medan review back in 2019, but wished there was an option to skip scenes. “Replay value is very much the game's strength, which is why it could do with a fast forward option, like visual novels typically have,” she said. “Without such a thing, the big obstacle to experimental replays is the trudging through dark and largely uninteresting corridors, re-reading memos and 'secret' items because some of them affect the plot.” I guess the increased walking speed helps?
The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me is just overshooting Halloween to release on November 18th. You can grab it then on Steam for £35/$40/€40.