![]() ![]() Less impressive, unfortunately, is the proposed two realities gimmick that Bloober Team showcased before the game launched. This sense of tension is aided by an absolutely wonderful score by Akira Yamaoka, the legendary Silent Hill composer, and Arkadiusz Reikowski, frequent Bloober Team collaborator responsible for Blair Witch, Observer and Layers of Fear. ![]() The Medium offers more of a tense, foreboding horror experience than an “unexpected danger jumps at your face” horror, which is fine for a big scaredy-cat like me. At any time, it feels like the very walls of the world could reach out and grab you, but thankfully, the jump scares are kept to an absolute minimum. Think plenty of weird skin doors and other horrific nonsense. Plenty of derelict rooms to really sell that creepy aesthetic, but the real stand out is the spirit world, which recreates the material world in a demonic way. The setting itself is also fantastic, with the abandoned Niwa Hotel making for great horror foil. The rest of the voice acting is strong too, but Troy’s performance will likely leave the biggest impression. There’s a delight in their sadism, as if they don’t know anything other than suffering. Troy, as you’d expect from a voice actor of his pedigree, does an excellent job of portraying such an otherworldly, malevolent being combining together a sinister menace with almost a childlike innocence. One good aspect of the game’s story is the voice acting, held up by Troy Baker’s depiction of The Maw, a monstrous entity that’s hellbent on your destruction. Meanwhile, the other character appears to harness the more evil aspects of their personality, weaponising them to use for their own benefit. The first character in question makes an effort to suppress their evil urges, even if it ultimately proves to be fruitless. Upon further reflection, it’s also possible that the game is making a statement about how we can choose to let our traumas or our negativity define us. One character can trace their horrific characteristics back to a series of traumatic events, but the other character (while still having their own horrors during their formative years) seems more pre-determined to be a massive dickhead. The Mediumĭuring my playthrough, it appeared like The Medium was making a statement about how those who do horrible things are created via nature or nurture. I’ll leave the majority of the key details out, but these two characters offer representations about how you deal with your own inner demons. Like most horror/psychological thrillers, The Medium leaves some aspects of its plot open to interpretation, specifically regarding the characterisation of two of its major characters. Without getting too much into spoilers, the plot delves into some heavy elements related to Polish history, the Nazi occupation before and during the Second World War and the influence of the Soviets on the population and culture. The story itself is a huge focus for The Medium, arguably over the gameplay itself, and it’s a decent enough supernatural horror/thriller. This power leads her to being summoned to the Niwa (pronounced Niva) Hotel through a mysterious phone call, but when she arrives, she comes into contact with some mysterious and less-than-friendly supernatural denizens. Marianne is able to explore both the worlds of the living and the dead, and can help shepherd the souls of the lost to a better place. The Medium sees you playing as Marianne in 90s Poland. ![]() ![]() The resulting product is a game that’s big on exploration and puzzle-solving, yet held back by some flaws. The Medium offers a more unique take, presenting the material world and the spirit world as two simultaneous planes of reality. Plenty of games have portrayed the concept that the world we perceive isn’t the whole truth and all that, but those games have often been two distinct worlds that are unrecognisable from the other. A horror game that deals with the real world and the spirit world isn’t exactly the most novel idea in the universe. ![]()
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