The Medium is the newest release from Bloober Team, an unsettling, Silent Hill meets Resident Evil horror game. You take control of Marianne, a woman with a special gift that lets her control and see parts of the spirit world. This often results in the gameplay being split across the screen between the two worlds which is a very unique style of play, but not so easy on the eyes.
I was beyond looking forward to this as it was going to be one of my first next generation exclusive games and was hoping it would look incredible. It didn’t disappoint with the environment and level design but some other aspects of the game let it down.
The first few hours I played of this game was intense, there were jump scares and plenty of horrific moments. However, after this short amount of time there wasn’t that adrenaline inducing gameplay I was wanting more of. It becomes more about solving puzzles and figuring out what’s happening in the story. Which is not a bad thing, I just feel like it could have had more variety as the game went on, as it started to feel repetitive.
There are some elements of the game that contain stealth, these are scary at first but again, become tiresome after you’ve done it multiple times.
The story on the other hand, was well written, kept you questioning and I was itching to discover new collectibles as I got closer to figuring things out.
The sound designers and voice actors did an incredible job at bringing the characters to life. The music and sound effects throughout the game was easily one of my favourite parts.
Overall, this game is definitely worth playing, especially if you have access to Xbox Game Pass. If you enjoy games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Hellblade Senuas Sacrifice I feel like this game would be a good one for you.
The game does feature a trigger warning at the start as there are some disturbing themes, so please play at your own risk.
The Medium is out now on Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and PC.