Man of Medan: Act II – The Freighter
Conrad
If Conrad didn’t escape on the fishermen’s speedboat, you’ll control him during this part of the chapter. If he was able to escape, you’ll control Fliss.
You’ll spot a shining clue on the walkway. However, if you interact with it, Danny will knock it out of your grasp. If you ignore it, Brad will be able to check it out if he remained hidden aboard the Duke of Milan.
Olson and co. will herd you inside a room. Examine the letter, newspapers, and all sorts of clues. Speak to Alex and you can mention soldiers talking about spooky things happening and ghosts on the ship.
Investigate a small cabinet at the corner and you’ll find a ventilation shaft. Speak to Alex and you’ll concoct a plan to break open the grating.
Major Decision: There’s a guard (Junior) standing outside the room. You can either push the large table to barricade yourselves or make a distraction.
If Conrad has escaped earlier and you’re controlling Fliss, she’ll attempt to hide with Alex and Julia. There will be a QTE sequence. Failure will lead to Junior capturing her. If Conrad is with you and you’re controlling him, Fliss will get captured by Junior the moment you try to hide.
Once the gang has made their escape, check the side rooms for some clues and maybe a creepy moment or two.
Premonition: Follow the walkway until you reach one of the crew quarters. There’s a painting here which you can check depicting Alex’s harrowing moment with a strange humanoid creature.
Eventually, you’ll find Olson on the floor below the walkway. He’ll leave the distributor cap behind. Choose to be more careful so the group can remain hidden. Olson will leave, and then in comes Danny, becoming more paranoid than ever. Junior will also appear with Fliss (if she was captured earlier).
Main Deck
Alex
You’ll find a document/clue on one of the desks. Next, follow the winding corridor, which will take you to the mess hall.
Major Decision: In the corner by the sink, Alex will spot a rusty old knife. You can choose to keep it or discard it. It will be given to Conrad automatically if he’s part of your entourage if you try to discard it.
Alex will spot some bloody and discarded remains. He can tell Julia about the gross stuff or not.
Premonition: Inside the kitchen, you’ll find a notebook and also a Premonition at the far wall. It depicts Brad possibly getting stabbed.
There’s a short scene where Julia panics and tells Alex that there’s “something” in the room with them. Neither of Alex’s replies will calm Julia down.
You’ll find the makeshift chapel in the next room. This is from the cinematic during the prologue where you see caskets of US soldiers.
Three of the caskets can be examined, and they’ll provide you with secrets.
Alex can also open the casket at the bottom left-hand corner, which provides yet another secret.
While next to the altar, you can pull the curtain to reveal a surprise. Julia ends up scolding Alex.
Next up, you’ll find the medical bay. There are some creepy things in here. Examine all of them to add to your secrets count.
Workshops
Fliss
Fliss will be at the lower decks if she ended up getting captured. Danny will nudge her along at gunpoint, so just follow the path, interacting with any objects or secrets you might find.
Premonition: There’s a painting here, but you won’t be able to check it out since Danny will push you away. However, once the cutscene’s over, you can backtrack and take a look at it.
After you’ve taken a look at the painting, head back down the narrow corridor and bash open the gate to get to the next area. There’s also a spooky scene here.
You’ll find the workshop with several crates, vehicles, and – of course – corpses. This was the area from the prologue where you last controlled Joe.
The right-hand side corner is where you’ll need to go, but checking out the left side first will let Fliss grab a knife.
Before you go through the door on the right side, check out the corpses of soldiers nearby (even if you don’t see the button prompt). You can check a dog tag, which adds another secret to your tally.
Quartermaster’s Office: Brad’s bravery
Brad
This part is only available if Brad remained hidden the entire time and was not revealed to the pirate fishermen. He’s psyching himself out as he gets ready to explore the ship.
You’ll start at the beginning area of “Freighter,” and you can finally check the document at the walkway (the one which would’ve been knocked out of your hands by Danny if you looked at it earlier).
The walkway leading to the right is a dead end. However, you’ll find Julia’s bracelet, which you can return to her later on (if you’re still alive, that is).
Head to the left at the fork, open the door, and take the stairs.
The door further ahead of you will have a secret/note that you can pick up.
The door that’s closer will have some macabre scenes for you to examine. Make your way to the locker room for some scary happenings.
Major Decision: Something is slamming inside the lockers. Open the locker twice to grab the gas mask. This equipment is extremely important to have, as you’ll find out soon enough.
Head to the bathroom to your left. After the scene, you’ll hear someone approaching.
Keep Calm: Do this right so the intruder leaves you alone. If you fail, you won’t be able to access the next room and the secrets/clues therein.
If you succeed in the previous mini-game, check the Quartermaster’s Office for more notes and posters. Press the correct button for the QTE to enter the room safely.
There’s a box that you can push to access a small opening. However, don’t interact with it until you’ve checked out everything in the area and the nearby Quartermaster’s Office.
Premonition: Inside the small room to your right is another painting. This one shows a helicopter landing on the ship’s open deck.
Once you’re done wandering about (or if Brad failed the earlier mini-game), you’ll spot a large diving room (or so it seems). There’s a closed-off gate, a hanging skeleton, another skeleton with a note, and a spanner (wrench) that you can pick up.
Drop down and watch the cutscene that unfolds.
The Ritual
Fliss
This is a fairly short but startling sequence. Follow the narrow corridor to the next room. You’ll have a few buttons to press during the QTE.
If you have the knife from earlier, then it can help you out as well.
Once you’re done, you’ll see one of the trippiest moments in Man of Medan. Examine all the objects you can interact with but make sure to do this quickly. There’s a hidden timer during this part of the game.
Check the tome, which gives you a hint of what you might be dealing with overall.
Premonition: Inside the back room is a painting that depicts someone being drowned and Julia screaming.
Use the lever to make the curtains part, revealing a giant, ornate casket. You can open it if you want.
Open the door to reveal the high seas and learn that Fliss was just hallucinating. Getting some fresh air will help clear her mind.
Once you’ve regained your senses, examine everything in the large room. The crate, live wire, skeleton, manual — all of these will add to your secrets tally in Man of Medan.
Eventually, a cinematic will play (and you might even spot a familiar face in the distance). The hidden timer in this entire area is what triggers this scene so make sure to examine all the objects in the area quickly.
The following moments will only happen if Brad did not pick up the gas mask from earlier (skip these parts if you were able to grab it from the locker):
Major Decision (Alternate 1): Fliss will see Brad, who’s clearly hallucinating. You’ll have to succeed in this QTE sequence. Failure to do so will lead to Fliss’ death via a spanner smash to the head. We don’t want that to happen. Once you succeed, crazy Brad will run off.
Major Decision (Alternate 2): You’ll have this particularly memorable scene if you took too long during the “ballroom hallucination” part and Fliss wasn’t able to open the door to clear her head a bit.
Fliss’ vision will flicker, and she’ll see the grand hall again instead of what the room actually looks like. She’s still hallucinating.
A hooded figure (from an earlier Premonition) will appear before you. This little fight scene will let you attack the hooded figure with the knife. If you stab it, a short cinematic later on will reveal that you accidentally killed Brad.
Trapped
Fliss
This is where your journey takes you if Brad was able to grab the gas mask from the locker room earlier. The cinematic will fire, but Brad, wearing the gas mask, will recognize Fliss immediately. No more wacky fight scenes. Oh, and guess who’s watching you from afar.
Make your way down the corridor and, after a short scene, you’ll be in a room with a prompt that tells you to climb up. Before you do that, check the nearby corpse for another secret.
Climb up and examine all the objects. There’s nowhere else to go. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the two end up spotting a ladder down below.
Major Decision: You can choose who ends up jumping down (either Fliss or Brad). I chose the former. If you force open the door, the room starts flooding.
Major Decision: It’s time to rescue your trapped friend. You’ll spot loose bolts by the grating’s hinges. You can decide between forcing open the grating or having your pal focus on breaking the hinge. I went with the latter, which allowed me to escape.
If you fail during this part, then Fliss (or Brad) will drown.
Drowning
Julia
This short sequence will remind you of the Premonition you saw just a while ago as Fliss. You can choose to tell Alex to stop drowning someone or encourage him to keep doing it. I chose the former.
Alex and Julia then run away, but the doppelganger will still be after them.
The Lady
Conrad
You’ll have another chase sequence in Man of Medan soon enough. Conrad is definitely seeing things, but it’s up to you how to help him survive. After the cinematic, you’ll spot a number of side rooms that you can check out for more secret clues.
Premonition: The door on the left side will have a painting. This Premonition shows the distributor cap getting destroyed. You don’t want that to happen.
Head straight through the area and you’ll find a door. Unfortunately, the handle breaks. Pick up the candlestick from the table. Pick it up again because, hey, spooky stuff. Use it to open the door.
Next up, you’ll see one of the most iconic moments from Man of Medan‘s trailers. Get your gamepad and keyboard ready, because there will be a lot of buttons to press for this entire QTE sequence.
Conrad will survive the earlier QTE sequences even if you fail. If you’re going for the achievement, though (multiple successful QTE button presses in a row), you might as well get things right the first time.
Major Decision: You’ll eventually be asked if you want to run or hide. I chose the former. If you do attempt to hide…
Keep Calm: The mini-game will fire and you’ll have to time your button presses correctly.
You’ll need to make sure to get this right. Failure to do so will lead to Conrad panicking and falling to his doom.
If you kept running, there will be additional QTE buttons to press while Conrad is crossing the gaps. This time, failure would mean death. After that, Conrad will start his climb and there will also be more buttons to press. Again, failure would lead to death.
Major Decision: It’s fight or flight. You can choose to confront this abomination or jump. If you jump, well, Conrad won’t have a smooth landing… unless you consider the afterlife a viable landing at all. That’s four possible “fatalities” for Conrad in a short span of time.
Remember, you also have the option to confront the monster once you reach the top. You’ll be presented with the option to fight the monster if you have the knife (from earlier when you were with Alex and Julia in the kitchen).
A targeting reticle will appear and the timer starts ticking. However, instead of attacking, simply let the timer run out.
Congrats! You just prevented Conrad from stabbing Fliss!
Revenge
Julia
It’s QTE time, and there are a number of buttons to press while you and Alex and being chased.
Major Decision: There will be a fork down the corridor. You can choose to run to the left through the door, or jump past the crates to your right.
The path to the right also has an additional choice to make whether you stand your ground and fight or to keep running.
No matter your decisions, make sure to press the correct buttons during the QTE sequences. There are even additional buttons to press once you’ve made it outside.
If you chose to have Alex drown the creature earlier, and if you failed the QTE sequences when you took the left side fork, the doppelganger will grab Julia and break her neck.
Note: If Alex took the knife from the kitchen instead of giving it to Conrad, he might end up losing it and it’ll be in the doppelganger’s possession. The creature will use the knife to kill Julia instead.
If you chose to have Alex drown the creature earlier, and if you failed the QTE sequences when you took the right side fork, the doppelganger will catch up to Alex and smash his head on the metal door, killing him instantly.
Note: If Alex took the knife from the kitchen instead of giving it to Conrad, he might end up losing it and it’ll be in the doppelganger’s possession. The creature will stab Alex in the neck instead.
Let’s say that you do succeed in all the QTE prompts, well, surprise! You’re reunited with the entire gang! Everyone’s now talking about how they almost killed each other because of hallucinogenic effects.
It’s time to conclude Man of Medan‘s story. Head over here for Man of Medan‘s final act.
