Matters of the Heart

All that glisters is not gold, often have you heard that told...

This article is about The Dark Pictures Anthology's first installment, Man of Medan .

Matters of the Heart
Installment	Man of Medan
Act	3
Chapter	5
Overall	24
Theatrical Cut
Playable Character(s)	Alex
Time(s)	4:44 A.M.
Location(s)	Radio Room
Collectibles	1 (Secrets: 1)
Curator's Cut
Playable Character(s)	Julia/Fliss/Conrad
Time(s)	4:44 A.M.
Location(s)	Radio Room
Collectibles	3 (Secrets: 3)
Chapter Guide
Previous	Junior
Next	The End

Matters of the Heart is the fifth chapter of Act 3 in Man of Medan and the twenty-fourth overall.

The player controls Alex (Theatrical Cut) and Julia/Fliss/Conrad (Curator's Cut) as the duo searches for the distributor cap. This chapter can be replaced by Olson and Flooded.

Radio Room, 4:44 A.M.

The protagonists sit in the radio room, waiting for the others. Alex looks through the hole, then returns to the group and tells them to wait by the radio while he goes down to explore the lower level. Jumping down, Alex looks around the corridor when he hears a rumble and hides in the shadows. At this point, Olson walks into the room and the Keep Calm segment begins.

• If Alex passes the segment, Olson will walk away without noticing him.
• If Alex fails the segment, Olson will spot him but still run away after swinging the sledgehammer wildly.

As Olson hits the sledgehammer in the distance, Alex calls for another protagonist to come down to him since Olson has the distributor cap.

• If Fliss/Julia are in the radio room, they will be the secondary protagonist. Otherwise, it will be Conrad.

Following the pirate's footsteps, the duo stumbles upon a knocked-out door. Suddenly, they hear gunshots, but pay no attention, focusing on the return of the distributor cap.

Continuing down the corridor, the duo finds Olson at the end, who, upon seeing them, panics more and runs away. Trying to catch up with Olson, Alex jumps over the beams through the hole (he'll have to perform QTEs, though failing them doesn't matter), but as he reaches the other side, the last beam falls down, separating the protagonists. Meanwhile, Olson runs into the kitchen and dies of a heart attack in the elevator shaft.

• Theatrical Cut
• Curator's Cut

Alex is attacked by rats.

Alex continues walking down the hallway alone and enters the kitchen, where he can find a corpse and a secret. Walking further, Alex finds Olson's corpse, which is eaten by a swarm of rats. One of the rats walks away, revealing a view of the distributor cap and Alex picks it up in disgust. After picking up the cap, the rats begin to jump on Alex and he will have to perform QTEs to throw them off.

• If Alex fails any of the QTEs, he will drop the cap, which will fall into the shaft and be crushed by the falling elevator.

After the elevator falls, Alex looks down the shaft as rats crawl out of it and head toward him. Alex steps back in a panic and bumps into a table, from which he picks up a knife, before running for the exit. However, when Alex opens the door, he encounters a hallucinogenic threat.

• If Alex opened the casket in Caskets, he will encounter the Human Experiment.
• If Alex didn't open the casket, he will encounter a bloody Olson.

Alex gets a chance to attack or talk to the hallucination if he didn't. Alex comes out of the kitchen to confront the hallucination and while it is yelling at Alex/telling him to put the knife down, he sees his t-shirt soaked up in blood and a rat comes out of it. Alex can attack the rat, the hallucination, or do nothing.

• If Alex attacks one of the hallucinations, he will stab them several times and either he or the hallucination will die.
• If Alex doesn't attack anyone, the hallucination grabs him and throws him against the table.

After the beam falls, the protagonist goes to a side door and enters a balcony, through which they enter the captain's office. In the office they can find:

• Diplomatic Immunity Contract.
• ID Badges and Documentation.
• Toxins Research.
• Blocked door.

Trying to go through the door, the protagonist will find it closed and will have to perform a QTE. This will result in the protagonist pushing the debris to the elevator when opening the door, causing it to fall into the shaft.

• In Shared Story, the Curator's Cut player must wait for the Theatrical Cut player to get the distributor cap. Otherwise, it will fall with the elevator and be crushed.
• In Curator's Cut, the player must wait about a minute after the exploration segment begins before opening the door, or the uncontrolled Alex will have not yet retrieved the cap.

As the elevator crashes, the protagonist runs to the source of the noise and runs into Alex. They are relieved to see him, but Alex, hallucinating, attacks them with a knife. The protagonist must perform a QTE to avoid the attack and they can try to talk to Alex if they did. Alex starts to hallucinate more and the protagonist can try to calm him down again, but Alex slashes their arm.

• If the protagonist in a panic tries to convince Alex that it is them, they will be stabbed to death.
• If the protagonist calmly tells Alex to calm down, they will grab his hands, but he will resist and break out of their grip, crashing against the table.

• If one of the protagonists is killed, the other protagonist will stare at their body in shock.
• If both protagonists survive, Alex will calm down and realize in shock that the protagonist was in front of him the whole time.

Either way, if the distributor cap is still intact, the protagonist(s) will take it and leave the room.

Collectibles

Secrets

• Top Secret Intelligence Note - Can be found in the laundry, next to the corpse. (Theatrical Cut)
• Diplomatic Immunity Contract - Can be found in captain's office, on a desk. (Curator's Cut)
• ID Badges and Documentation - Can be found in captain's office, in safe. (Curator's Cut)
• Toxins Research - Can be found in captain's office, on metal desk. (Curator's Cut)

Deaths

Inevitable

Olson

• Olson will always die of heart attack.

Determinant

Alex

• If Alex chose to stab the rat, he will stab himself and die. (Theatrical Cut)

Fliss

• If Alex decides to attack the hallucination, he will stab Fliss to death. (Theatrical Cut)
• If Fliss was unable to calm Alex down, she will be stabbed to death. (Curator's Cut)

Julia

• If Alex decides to attack the hallucination, he will stab Julia to death. (Theatrical Cut)
• If Julia was unable to calm Alex down, she will be stabbed to death. (Curator's Cut)

Conrad

• If Alex decides to attack the hallucination, he will stab Conrad to death. (Theatrical Cut)
• If Conrad was unable to calm Alex down, he will be stabbed to death. (Curator's Cut)

Trivia

• Brad is the only protagonist that can neither be playable nor die in this chapter.
• This is the fourth chapter for Alex, Julia, and Conrad and the sixth for Fliss in which they can die.
• This chapter will only occur if Alex is alive and stayed in the radio room with at least one other protagonist. Otherwise, the chapters Olson and Flooded will occur instead.