Break on through to the other side.
When the Xbox Series X had its first showing of upcoming titles that we could look forward to via its next-gen console, The Medium, a game developed by the team behind Layers of Fear, was part of that debut. This first look introduced us to a supernatural horror game where you would navigate the real world and that of the spiritual one at the same time; a feat only made possible due to the hyper-fast SSD drive built into the console. While the game makes good on its use of its dual realms; some lackluster execution, frequent bugs, and consistent visual issues did a lot to fuel my frustration amongst my enjoyment of what is more or less, a mostly enjoyable experience.
While there are a few different narratives being swung around here, the Medium largely focuses its story on its protagonist, Marianne. While she is called out to the Niwa resort, an abandoned Soviet Union-era vacation resort in the Polish wilderness, by a mysterious man named Thomas, it is under the pretense of explaining to Marianne how she received these powers, and to get to the bottom about a nightmare that Marianne has been having of late, a dream this Thomas is somehow fully aware of. As Marianne enters the resort, she soon discovers the mystery behind why the resort is abandoned, and that Thomas, the sole reason for her being there, has gone missing. It’s here where Marianne will discover just who Thomas is, the connections he shares to various characters you’ll encounter, including a monster that stalks the resort by the name of the Maw. Now, this creature is not the only monster you’ll face, as the game dives into aspects of abuse and pedophilia, crafting equally terrifying monsters of some of the human characters, even if it fumbles a lot of how it handles these themes.
For what the game does narratively, the story is just enticing enough to remain interesting but is also vastly predictable at the same time. As was the case with Bloober Team’s previous efforts, a great deal of the story is told through notes, journals, and a lot of environmental storytelling, causing somewhat of a tonal imbalance of the emotional weight with the other ways in which Bloober Team is trying to tell its story. Unlike their previous games, there are fully directed and character acted cutscenes as well, which are often interesting and are certainly better vehicles for getting the narrative across here. A large part of why these scenes work is we get to see Marianne interact with both realms at the same time, and the people that inhabit them. While the voice acting isn’t anything to write home about, it certainly makes for a more entertaining time because of it.
What sets The Medium apart from Bloober Team’s previous work is that the game is structured and presented in a way that emulates the fixed-camera gameplay of the older Silent Hill games, a franchise many have been long hoping to see get revived. While the game doesn't quite hit the highs of Silent Hill 2, or 3, it still places itself quite nicely among the rest in the series. Now, this does come with some of the same problems those games have when played by a more modern audience; awkward controls and some disorientation when moving from room to room, so it might take some getting used to if you haven’t invested as much time into that era of gaming as others.
When we first meet Marianne, she’s still dealing with the loss of her adoptive father, Jack. She finds his favorite tie clip as well as a tie to attach it to, and places them both upon his corpse, pushing the slab back into the morgue’s chamber for the upcoming funeral. It’s also here where we get a taste of her powers, which allows Marianne to have somewhat of a proper goodbye to her guardian. As she dips into both realms, moving around as one, but in two different places, she is able to release his spirit, allowing him to move on. This system of allowing a spirit to pass on is something we see occur several times during the game, an act that requires a few items to track down, as well as learning their name, or at least the name they identify with. Several of these stories are touching and well-written, but lack the presentation of what we had with Jack, but that is likely due to the impersonal nature of who these people are to Marianne.
While she is somewhat used to this aspect of her powers, she’ll learn more about them, herself, and how Thomas is fully aware of them. The nightmare of a young girl being shot down at a pier starts to take shape, and while the game does leave us with a few mysteries still hanging in the air, it certainly shuts the door on several questions you’ll have at the start of the game. While certain revelations are set up throughout the journey, it’s a shame that the most predictable of them are clear as day and are honestly, not well executed. Had several of them been red herrings or significant misdirects, then it’s rightfully so that I’d have a different and likely better appreciation for what the writers could have done here.
Throughout the game, you’ll have a few powers or abilities that you’ll come to rely on. Co-existing in both realms at once is a pretty cool trick, rendering two game worlds at once, each of them altered in a way where you’ll have to navigate them differently, such as inhabiting Marianne’s spiritual form on its own, having its lifeforce deplete as you attempt to find a way to remove obstacles in the way of Marianne in the real world. This has you often seeking out energy at various stations around the game and bringing it back to a source to charge it, such as powering up an elevator door so that Marianne can then walk through it. This mechanic is used sparingly, so you’ll never really get too tired of it. As you proceed through the spiritual realm, you’ll have to contest with a few placements of moths that can kill Marianne, unless you pass through them with an energy shield, powered by those same stations, as seen below. Later on, you’ll use a similar shield ability to block incoming melee strikes from other monsters, causing them to disintegrate if you time it correctly. It’s a shame this isn’t really paid off in some sort of boss encounter as the mechanic is there, but is used to lesser effect than what I had hoped for.
The deflection of attacks is about as combat-focused as The Medium gets, as while you’ll have to contend with the Maw, a towering monster voiced by Troy Baker, these scripted scenes are more about hiding and observing his patterns than confrontation; something that will see you dead very quickly if he catches up to you. You’ll encounter him several times throughout the game via predetermined areas, but there is one such encounter where you’ll perform an action that you don’t know what it is essentially for, only for it to end the “boss fight” in a very anti-climatic way that just left a bad taste in my mouth at its execution. The Maw is an interesting character that does get fleshed out in the final moments, but its placement as a scripted event undermined its impact and made him a monster I was never once terrified of. This was also the same problem that people had with the remake of Resident Evil 3 as having Nemesis as a scripted monster, took away the paranoid nature of what the character once placed upon you.
Another ability that is largely bland is Marianne’s insight skill. She can sense additional things in the environment, but it is largely used to alert you to an item in a drawer you couldn’t open before, or a power switch behind a framed photo. It’s an interesting idea, but one that simply is not used to any great effect. There are also spiritual conversations you’ll hear by aligning certain flakes of energy in the air, moving the analog sticks around as you sync them. These are well done, often interesting, and the game could have benefitted from more of the story being told in this manner, instead of having to rely on reading much of it through numerous notes and documents.
The game does feature some puzzle-solving, but honestly, there isn’t anything terribly complex here, and most puzzles, if you can even call them that, can often be solved by looking around the same room for either a clue you’ll need or an item you’ll require. One puzzle has you using the hands on a clock to solve a few events in the room but lacks the depth for it to really stand out. Another has you tracking down a piece to manipulate a globe, turning it around to grant you access to additional rooms, but this puzzle is merely a one and done event that could have been so much more. One puzzle, and again, I use that term loosely, is when you have to track down a torn piece of paper with a series of numbers on it. Back up five steps, turn to the right, and it’s simply there on the floor. Survival horror games, especially the game it’s taking inspiration from; Silent Hill, was known for its clever use of items or having to navigate several rooms or locations to solve such puzzles, but here, it’s almost as if the developer just couldn’t be bothered.
As mentioned, Silent Hill was a major source of inspiration, hell, they even recruited Silent Hill composer, Akira Yamaoka to work on the score for the music you’ll hear during your time in the spiritual realm. While it’s not littered with jump scares or a catalog of dangerous creatures, the atmosphere and tone are where it pulls from that inspiration the most. The game is played through fixed camera angles that give you certain anchored positions to allow the moody environments to become more impactful and memorable. If you push the analog stick to move forward, the next angle will remain forward until you let go of the stick. As I mentioned before, if you’re used to this style of movement from this era of gaming, it controls great, but if you’re not, then it’s hard to say how you’ll take to moving around here. Thankfully, the game is available through Game Pass, so it’s easy enough to see if the controls work for you without making any sort of investment on it at full price.
The hotel is where you’ll spend most of your time, a location that is modeled after the real-life Hotel Cracovia located in Kraków, Poland. There are several other environments for sure, but you’ll spend a great deal of time here tracking down clues, solving puzzles, and uncovering the secrets about the hotel, Thomas, yourself, and numerous other characters you’ll encounter, including Sadness, a girl who meets Marianne near the start of her journey. She’s been at the hotel for some time now and aids you in tracking down certain people and locations, albeit withholding a great deal of information due to many of her memories, including her real name, being forgotten. The Medium doesn’t really feature a large cast, and it’s unfortunate because those we are introduced to are actually quite great, including several we only get to know through memories or other supernatural means.
— Analog Stick Gaming (@AnalogStkGaming) February 3, 2021
The Medium certainly has its flaws, and yes, they are very apparent, but the foundation of what Bloober Team has here is incredibly hopeful. The team has made it clear that Silent Hill was a huge inspiration, and it shows, but much of why Silent Hill is so beloved is simply not here among what else has been adapted. The puzzles are incredibly lacking in scope, even if there are a few that are mostly enjoyable. The power set that Marianne has is pretty damn fun to use, mostly, but we are not really given a lot to do with it in ways that feel substantial. The gameplay hook of using two realms to explore the same space is wildly inventive and works well here, and the story that is on display is largely satisfying, even if I didn’t really get on with the vague ending we’re given. Still, it’s the most ambitious title we’ve seen from the developer, and could be an amazing series of games if they can just do more with its impressive concept.
Developer - Bloober Team. Publisher - Bloober Team SA. Released - January 28th, 2021. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC. Rated - (M) Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - The Medium was downloaded via Game Pass Ultimate by the reviewer.