The Medium: Had to Suck in for this Review

I plan on keeping this relatively short because a lot of what I plan on saying is better said in my video review embedded below. The Medium is Bloober Team’s first real foray into the AAA gaming landscape following the well received Blair Witch game. You play as a spirt sensitive medium named Marianne who is coaxed by voices telling her to seek the truth behind what happened at the Niwa hotel, and ultimately unravel her real past.

Gameplay wise you spend much of The Medium jogging around buildings in/out and sometimes in between the real and spirit worlds. You head from room to room down long hotel hallways (and other various non spoiler locations) piecing together puzzles as well as unfolding the story of some of the resident at the Niwa hotel. There are some light stealth sections in The Medium, but the majority is based around exploration and story telling.

The Medium looks really great for Bloober’s first shot at a AAA scale game. Locations are all well detailed both in the real and spirit worlds. Characters are all varied and designed uniquely with plenty of detail. The visual design of The Medium works seamlessly with the incredible audio design to create a foreboding, isolation atmosphere that sets such a wonderfully morose mood while exploring.

I loved my time with Marianne and the Niwa Hotel. I enjoyed every second of oppressive atmospheric tension bearing down on me through brilliant environmental and audio design. However, The Medium is not without its faults. I did run into several technical issues that pulled me right out of that well built up immersion, playing on PC. The Medium struggles to maintain consistent FPS throughout and it is most apparent in the dual reality moments with the split screen between the real and spirit worlds. With uncapped frames my modest and soon to be outdated 1070 was chugging to keep above 40-45 FPS. I also ran into a handful of areas that completely crashed my game, requiring me to verify the integrity of my Steam files and redownload the game. With all that being said, The Medium is 100% a game and story that SHOULD BE experienced. My suggestion as stated in the video is to give it a go if you have GamePass (it is free on GamePass) and to maybe wait for a few updates/patches for the game to be more stable on PC.

P.s I have been hearing rumors that Bloober Team may be taking up the mantle for an upcoming Silent Hill game. If you’re reading this, blink twice if true.