Review of The Medium - a game that is compared to Silent Hill

We tell you how The Medium turned out - a new horror from the Bloober Team studio, which presented such games as Layers of Fear, Observer and Blair Witch

No matter how controversial the previous releases of Bloober Team turned out to be (against the successful original Layers of Fear and Observer, the less popular Layers of Fear 2 and Blair Witch appeared), we can say with confidence that the studio does not give up and continues to bend its line. Moreover, closer to the release of The Medium, the extreme horror for the Poles, their director directly stated that we don’t know what we will do in the future, but almost certainly the games will be gloomy and mystical.

When we first heard about The Medium, the game immediately aroused interest: old-school perspective and design in the spirit of the good old Silent Hill and Resident Evil, combined with unexpected gameplay mechanics and strong storytelling as always. It is the latter that I would call the strength of the studio. Looking ahead, I’ll say this: after the unsuccessful releases of Layers of Fear 2 and Blair Witch, Bloober Team released The Medium on time - a game that, although not overturning our understanding of horror, offers an interesting story with minimal technical flaws and a slightly unfinished, but still fresh concept. .

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About graphics

The Poles quite consciously chose the old-school graphic style. And I must say, this is justified, since the events of the game unfold in the 80s of the previous century. The design immediately resembles such classic survival horror games as the first parts of Resident Evil and almost all games of the Silent Hill series. However, this is what it is limited to: right now I can’t name at least one game with confidence that would be at least 50% similar to The Medium. This is something completely new, albeit mixed with old yeast.

About the plot

The main character of the game is Marianne, a medium girl who was once sheltered by the owner of the funeral home, Jack. It all starts with the fact that Marianne arrives at the funeral of her adoptive father. But this does not prevent the developers from telling us a little about both the past life of Marianne herself (with Jack; this is important), and about Jack himself. Moreover, our heroine is a medium, and therefore she even manages to communicate with the dearest person in her life.

Then the phone rings, an unknown man, who introduced himself as Thomas, promises to provide answers to all questions about Marianne's past, the EUwhether she will come to the Niva party rest house. Inside the house, the events of most of the game will unfold, but we will also have time to wander through the forest (where there will be many references to the Blair Witch Project), visit the minds of several characters and see a number of other locations, the essence of which I simply do not want to reveal. I will not spoil the surprises, but the game really keeps you in suspense from the first to the last minute. And you will get the answers only at the very end!

Soundtrack

There is only one thing to say here: Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka worked on the soundtrack, so the soundtrack turned out to be charming and atmospheric. And a couple of musical compositions were recorded by the efforts of Troy Baker and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. There are not many of them, but they turn on at the most opportune moment!

Gameplay

The main highlight of the game is a split-screen, when on one screen we are shown Marianne in the real world, and on the other - her spirit in the dark world. Do you control both characters at the same time, with a few exceptions when the spirit can?? separate from the body. Unfortunately, this technique turned out to be as unusual and original as it was unfinished. Separation occurs only at certain intervals. Later, we see how Marianne travels between worlds, without split-screen. But still, the mechanics turned out to be fresh, which is why it was able to maintain my interest in the gameplay throughout the entire passage (I spent about 6-7 hours on the game, having collected almost all the collectibles).

The puzzles turned out to be not very difficult, and this is a minus. There was a linearity that could have been avoided if the developers had used slightly more open game locations and the ability to travel around different parts of the hotel in a free order.

Bloober Team has long established itself as a reliable developer of psychological and mystical horror with innovative ideas. The Medium is perhaps their best creation, well ahead of such solid projects as Observer and Layers of Fear. Now it will be much more difficult to surpass the set bar, but I believe that the Poles will be able to find strength and inspiration in themselves. The Medium is a dark and disturbing immersion in the atmospheric and in its own way beautiful game world, once again demonstrating how cruel and inhumanhow people can behave.