Had no idea of the artist inspiration. Looking through his works now I think Bloober did well in mimicing, but definitely could've gone much further with it in terms of color use and creature design.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
i've encountered the same issue just now. Restarted the game and still stuck
This happened to a few of us earlier. The fix is to reload the previous save (not the latest save).
It really doesn't take too long to get back to where you're at.
Just got bolt cutters and about to head into the day room. There was a locked door. Did I miss something, or will it be back tracked to?
Don't worry about searching side-corridors. I'm near the end and the game always funnels you down a single path.
Is pretty linear in that sense, and I'm fine with that. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss a key for extra content.
Wow. This game is awesome. I know Bloober has games that had divisive reviews, but this is their best one yet. Feels like, as a developer, they're really starting come to into their own and the experience they have is realized in this game. I really don't get the 70s MC at all, this feels like an 80s game at least.
Atmosphere, enemy design, environments and sound design are solid.
Atmosphere, enemy design, environments and sound design are solid.
Started it with my wife and played about it 3 hours. Really enjoy it. A solid 7-8 so far.
it's a bit inconsistent in how it looks. Sometimes it looks phenomenal and almost photo realistic. Other times it looks a bit last gen.
some aspects feel a bit undercooked too. Like the animations and the faces.
but other parts look truly next gen
overall, worth it. It's more adventure than action. But the atmosphere is great. Will finish
it's a bit inconsistent in how it looks. Sometimes it looks phenomenal and almost photo realistic. Other times it looks a bit last gen.
some aspects feel a bit undercooked too. Like the animations and the faces.
but other parts look truly next gen
overall, worth it. It's more adventure than action. But the atmosphere is great. Will finish
I don't like the inconsistency with the language on the buildings, signs etc. Some things are written in Polish, while others in English. It makes no sense. Looks like the devs couldn't decide on either so they mixed both, and the result is jarring, for me at least :P
It has an inventory where you need to combine items etc but I don't believe it has a limit on space.
Again, the game has no combat so no need to limit guns/bullets/herbs etc
Same here. Too much talking and cutscenes for my taste. Has nothing in common with Silent Hill.
Am I the only one that felt that the line delivery in some of the voice acting even felt very Silent Hill? lol
The second half of the game opens up alot more. Only the first half of the game takes place in the hotel
I never played their games before, but I agree this is great. Reminds me a lot of how Silent Hill felt like an adventure game, and this is the same without combat (which I really don't have a problem with). I love exploring everything.
When are devs going to learn that easily failable chase and stealth sequences completely break the tension for players? Not to mention these are so annoying they're making me want to stop playing entirely.
how am I supposed to do this first stealth area? I cant like see where this guy is looking or where it wants me to go.
how am I supposed to do this first stealth area? I cant like see where this guy is looking or where it wants me to go.
The soundtrack for this is pretty stellar. I've only now reached the hotel, but I'm loving the music in this. Having personally never played the old Silent Hill games, nor heard any of their music... Somehow, I still immediately get those same vibes from The Medium's ost. Great game so far, even if it is bringing my PC to its knees in certain areas, lol.
I finished this game yesterday. As my playthrough went on, I was planning to write some harsh words on it, but then the credits rolled and I was greeted with a message stating how the devs loved making this game and how close and personal the project was to them. That message tugged at my heartstrings and made me reconsider the tone I was going to use, especially considering how hard a job game development is, so I will try to be as fair with my own feelings as possible without being disrespectful to the development team.
First of all, I think the environmental artists deserve endless praise. The areas are consistently beautiful from beginning to end, and I was overjoyed to just walk around and pay attention to the level of detail and care that clearly went into every square meter of the game world.
The voice acting is also phenomenal. I just love it when characters sound like real people, and this game delivered that in spades. The direction was just... *chef's kiss*
The HDR implementation is some of the best I've seen in gaming.
Marianne is an interesting character and I love her design. Both versions of her felt instantly recognizable to me, and she has a very unique face. Whoever designed her deserves a lot of praise. Thomas also looks quite good, but Marianne steals the spotlight.
Thr art direction is great, but that's a given with Bloober Team (in my opinion, of course. I think their games always look great), so I won't elaborate on that.
They also nailed the fixed camera angles, for the most part. Some of them are a bit disorienting and meh, but the vast majority is great and feel like a love letter to survival horror games of yore.
Edit: It's a fucking crime that I forgot to mention the soundtrack. Yamaoka is a god and one of my favorite composers, and Reikowski is great. The soundtrack is fantastic and contributes insanely to the atmosphere. Excellent work.
And these were my positive thoughts on the game. Not a lot, I know, but at least I'm praising elements that are present all through the game, which is probably a good thing. Now, to the negative stuff.
The gameplay is bad. That is the worst thing I'll say about The Medium, and probably the point I want to flesh out the most. Controls, animations and character movement seem stuck in the past, and the game feels so enamored with its own story that it constantly forces the player to walk to make sure characters will finish their lines, it's like the game is terrified the player will miss something. Not that it's necessary, though, because even interaction buttons will be deactivated until a character finishes what they have to say. A lot of areas also force you to walk for no reason, which makes no sense since even running feels quite slow in this game (except for the escape sections, but I'll talk about these later).
Exploration consists of going through a rather reduced number of rooms and examining a few items here and there. It's all pretty straightforward and it's impossible to stray from the intended path because there are no extra rooms anywhere and almost no incentive to explore either: it's either some collectible note or an object that you need to focus on at just the right angle so it will trigger a residual memory. The puzzles are all very simple and feel like they're there because that's what people expect from a horror game. I really hope you like seeing the same two animations of a razor cutting through stuff and a bolt cutter breaking chains, because you'll be seeing them a lot.
Not only is traversal quite slow and stiff, but about halfway through the game will introduce balancing through wooden planks, and will use that quite a bit until the end, making things even slower. It will also increase the number of chest-high platforms you need to climb, only to see the same slow climbing animation over and over again.
Then there's the combat. Or the complete absence of it, as The Medium is yet another horror game that completely ditches combat in favor of boring forced stealth sequences and scripted escape sequences. This inability to fight back never worked to me. Not in Outlast, not in Amnesia, not in Observer, and I can't make sense of why anyone would think a game would be scarier if you removed a variable that is obvious to any human being. Also, remember when I mentioned traversal being slow? Well, that's because I haven't even mentioned the hold breath mechanic yet. It's simple: If Marianne is breathes, it alerts the stalker creature of her presence, so you can press a button to make her hold her breath, which also makes her walk in the equivalent of baby steps.
There's also the dual reality stuff. Cool idea on paper, but I think it ended up hurting both the physical and the spiritual game worlds. Having both at the same time on screen makes them fight for the player's attention, and I ended up always either focusing on one over the other or constantly jumping bqck and forth so I wouldn't miss an interaction prompt. I'm sure I missed a lot of cool details because of that, and I think both worlds would shine a lot more if less time was spent in dual screens.
Lastly, it was absolutely frustrating to me that a game so committed to hurting its own gameplay in order to tell a story would lose all that commitment in the very last moment. Not that it suddenly starts to improve on the gameplay, no, but that it focuses on the story all the way through, only to back off at the last second and not commit to an ending. I won't even put that in spoiler tags because I think people should know what they're getting into. I like cliffhangers, I just don't think this one has earned it. In fact, this game's story was full of revelations that were not predictable but were not surprising either, which frustrated me a lot because I really enjoyed the story in other Bloober Team's games.
So, I think that's it. I probably won't be playing this game again because every second or it felt like a chore in slow motion, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for a sequel that improves on the stuff I mentioned above. I like Bloober Team a lot, and I hope they keep making horror games, getting bolder and bolder with each title. There is a lot of potential there.
First of all, I think the environmental artists deserve endless praise. The areas are consistently beautiful from beginning to end, and I was overjoyed to just walk around and pay attention to the level of detail and care that clearly went into every square meter of the game world.
The voice acting is also phenomenal. I just love it when characters sound like real people, and this game delivered that in spades. The direction was just... *chef's kiss*
The HDR implementation is some of the best I've seen in gaming.
Marianne is an interesting character and I love her design. Both versions of her felt instantly recognizable to me, and she has a very unique face. Whoever designed her deserves a lot of praise. Thomas also looks quite good, but Marianne steals the spotlight.
Thr art direction is great, but that's a given with Bloober Team (in my opinion, of course. I think their games always look great), so I won't elaborate on that.
They also nailed the fixed camera angles, for the most part. Some of them are a bit disorienting and meh, but the vast majority is great and feel like a love letter to survival horror games of yore.
Edit: It's a fucking crime that I forgot to mention the soundtrack. Yamaoka is a god and one of my favorite composers, and Reikowski is great. The soundtrack is fantastic and contributes insanely to the atmosphere. Excellent work.
And these were my positive thoughts on the game. Not a lot, I know, but at least I'm praising elements that are present all through the game, which is probably a good thing. Now, to the negative stuff.
The gameplay is bad. That is the worst thing I'll say about The Medium, and probably the point I want to flesh out the most. Controls, animations and character movement seem stuck in the past, and the game feels so enamored with its own story that it constantly forces the player to walk to make sure characters will finish their lines, it's like the game is terrified the player will miss something. Not that it's necessary, though, because even interaction buttons will be deactivated until a character finishes what they have to say. A lot of areas also force you to walk for no reason, which makes no sense since even running feels quite slow in this game (except for the escape sections, but I'll talk about these later).
Exploration consists of going through a rather reduced number of rooms and examining a few items here and there. It's all pretty straightforward and it's impossible to stray from the intended path because there are no extra rooms anywhere and almost no incentive to explore either: it's either some collectible note or an object that you need to focus on at just the right angle so it will trigger a residual memory. The puzzles are all very simple and feel like they're there because that's what people expect from a horror game. I really hope you like seeing the same two animations of a razor cutting through stuff and a bolt cutter breaking chains, because you'll be seeing them a lot.
Not only is traversal quite slow and stiff, but about halfway through the game will introduce balancing through wooden planks, and will use that quite a bit until the end, making things even slower. It will also increase the number of chest-high platforms you need to climb, only to see the same slow climbing animation over and over again.
Then there's the combat. Or the complete absence of it, as The Medium is yet another horror game that completely ditches combat in favor of boring forced stealth sequences and scripted escape sequences. This inability to fight back never worked to me. Not in Outlast, not in Amnesia, not in Observer, and I can't make sense of why anyone would think a game would be scarier if you removed a variable that is obvious to any human being. Also, remember when I mentioned traversal being slow? Well, that's because I haven't even mentioned the hold breath mechanic yet. It's simple: If Marianne is breathes, it alerts the stalker creature of her presence, so you can press a button to make her hold her breath, which also makes her walk in the equivalent of baby steps.
There's also the dual reality stuff. Cool idea on paper, but I think it ended up hurting both the physical and the spiritual game worlds. Having both at the same time on screen makes them fight for the player's attention, and I ended up always either focusing on one over the other or constantly jumping bqck and forth so I wouldn't miss an interaction prompt. I'm sure I missed a lot of cool details because of that, and I think both worlds would shine a lot more if less time was spent in dual screens.
Lastly, it was absolutely frustrating to me that a game so committed to hurting its own gameplay in order to tell a story would lose all that commitment in the very last moment. Not that it suddenly starts to improve on the gameplay, no, but that it focuses on the story all the way through, only to back off at the last second and not commit to an ending. I won't even put that in spoiler tags because I think people should know what they're getting into. I like cliffhangers, I just don't think this one has earned it. In fact, this game's story was full of revelations that were not predictable but were not surprising either, which frustrated me a lot because I really enjoyed the story in other Bloober Team's games.
So, I think that's it. I probably won't be playing this game again because every second or it felt like a chore in slow motion, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for a sequel that improves on the stuff I mentioned above. I like Bloober Team a lot, and I hope they keep making horror games, getting bolder and bolder with each title. There is a lot of potential there.
Last edited:
It isn't.
But the fixed camera angles/horror adventure vibes are interesting if you're, for example, someone who's played a lot of RE back in the day.
But, no, if you're looking for A NEW SURVIVAL HORRO RESIDENT EVIL then The Medium isn't the game for you. No shotguns, no flamethrowers, no massive zombie snakes or T-virus bosses. It's more psychological horror (like Until Dawn, my other comparison).
Think you get caught the first time, it lets you press RT to shake him off, I also don't think it respawnsuntil the next part if you make it run back into the safe room. The stealth parts are generally very straight forward, it's just about watching the pattern and going behind him, so far the rules have been pretty fair, it hasn't seen me through objects or anything. There was potential for the monster to turn unexpectedly to fake you out, but it hasn't happened in my 3-4 hours, just going when it felt right has worked perfectly so far.
The only classic on The Medium is fixed camera angles, the rest is like the new wave of horror games (run, hide, a lot of internal dialogue, average difficulty)
Call it nostalgia but fixed camera angles have that charm or magic that i no longer see when the camera is behind your back imo.
Don't get me wrong, i love the 'over the shoulder' view just as much as fixed but the latter offers something that is rare nowadays...it's not better or worse, just different.
Kept thinking of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare while playing this, i wouldn't mind if bloober team made a new game with this style tbh.
Also Marianne being a little dorkish was a surprise, the bolt cutter joke made me chuckle..she has some jesse faden(control) vibes when she acts like that.
Don't get me wrong, i love the 'over the shoulder' view just as much as fixed but the latter offers something that is rare nowadays...it's not better or worse, just different.
Kept thinking of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare while playing this, i wouldn't mind if bloober team made a new game with this style tbh.
Also Marianne being a little dorkish was a surprise, the bolt cutter joke made me chuckle..she has some jesse faden(control) vibes when she acts like that.
I honestly don't get some of these complaints. I got through all the chase sequences and stealth sequence first try, no issues. Just focus on the clues in the environment during chase sequences, and take your time, hold your breath a lot, and watch for route patterns during the stealth sequences. It doesn't matter where the creature is looking; he can't see you any more than you can see him. It's all about staying quiet (holding your breath) and keeping out of his way.
People get pretty heated about stealth sections in non-stealth games. I get confused because in these non-stealth games the sections are extremely authored. They are basically puzzles.
Just finished the whole game in a single sitting, overall it was pretty good. I had not seen much on the game before playing it so i was surprised to learn it was essentially a horror themed adventure game, it felt more like a puzzle light version of monkey island mechanically speaking then like Silent Hill. It took a while for it to dawn on me that there was not going to be any real form of combat. The atmosphere was good and the voice acting was also good, the music did what it needed to do. The graphics were okay, nothing spectacular (especially considering the locked camera angles), the split screen felt rather under-utilized and like they could have removed the few puzzles that required it and just gone for purely shifting between both. Whenever they did the split during the cutscenes there was never any reason to look at the screen showing the material world as there would never be anything worth looking at so it seemed pointless to not just show full screen spirit world. I only criticize the split screen as that seemed to be something which impacted the performance of the game and it really didn't feel that core to how the game played and it easily could have been removed without really impacting the game.
The ending was a little weird, it was like the developers wanted the players to choose their own ending, but without having to make multiple endings to show the player, kind of just leaving it to your imagination.
The ending was a little weird, it was like the developers wanted the players to choose their own ending, but without having to make multiple endings to show the player, kind of just leaving it to your imagination.
I do believe it's going to take a very special dev to balance the potential of a perceived non-achievable failure and excitement of a big chase without disrupting the flow of the drama. I'd say that in this game the stealth sections are actually fair as the AI for the moth does not allow it to actually search for you. It sort of just walks around in a circle and smashes some objects so you can carry on with your path. Any death I did achieve was relative to camera issues.
That doesn't mean that people don't have something to complain about. I did die a few times in both sequences and it did take me out of the tension quite a bit. All I'll say is that this is a greater issue with game development than just this AA title. I'd say they did a better job than some bigger studios with it. Uncharted and Fallen Order are two games I can think of where the rug is pulled entirely out from under you because they want you to do something quickly, but the platforming and direction can be imprecise to the point where your big moment is squandered because you die 10 times trying to land the right platform or fight with the camera along with a low margin for error.
That doesn't mean that people don't have something to complain about. I did die a few times in both sequences and it did take me out of the tension quite a bit. All I'll say is that this is a greater issue with game development than just this AA title. I'd say they did a better job than some bigger studios with it. Uncharted and Fallen Order are two games I can think of where the rug is pulled entirely out from under you because they want you to do something quickly, but the platforming and direction can be imprecise to the point where your big moment is squandered because you die 10 times trying to land the right platform or fight with the camera along with a low margin for error.
Have played for a few hours so far and I really dig what's going on here. Had some good scares, the music sometimes adds to that as well. Visuals.....for a small ass team during COVID in a probably small budget....I'm satisfied with that.
I will say I wish during the first chase that they kept the camera angle with you running towards the screen that angle added so much tension because he always looked like he was gonna get you.
I will say I wish during the first chase that they kept the camera angle with you running towards the screen that angle added so much tension because he always looked like he was gonna get you.
Gripes so far: no matter how much I try to adjust the gamma it just doesn't look quite right. The game is a little too dark at times. Also, the graphics can range from "solid" to no joke..."late 360/early X1 days". I mean, Merrianne's face, especially when she's talking...yeesh. Her furry jacket and hair look better than her actual head. Emotionless like a mannequin. The environments look stellar, though. But like I said earlier, a small budget team trying to breakthrough to the big leagues now that they're MS backed have done great.
I hope MS continues funding and hiring talent for the team because I think they can drop a big gem on Series X in a couple years. Hopefully they stick with horror, too.
I hope MS continues funding and hiring talent for the team because I think they can drop a big gem on Series X in a couple years. Hopefully they stick with horror, too.
Last edited:
And without real puzzles. Or exploration. I honestly don't get why people keep comparing this to Silent Hill or adventure games in general. All similarities are surface level and feels nothing like that in practice.
What? Bloober Team is independent, they are not "MS backed". It's just a timed-exclusive deal they have, that's it.
What doesn't feel real to you can feel to me. I don't have the same requirements as you to define these things. I'm enjoying my time with it.
I disliked the stealth sections quite a bit, and also don't think they were hard in any way. I do think they are too short to the point the concept is wasted, and that the monster really should be more visible than it is. I get why it isn't from a narrative point of view, but gameplay-wise it's not fun to keep squinting just to spot it, and its design is wasted that way too.
Without spoiling, in one of the sections you can and it's fully visible like the objects outline get highlighted when using insight. This could be a bug because other times I recall you only see a directional HUD indicator on your character which changes colour to display proximity to it.
Did the first chase and stealth section. They sucked. Like everything else about the game though so I hope they isnt too many of those sections.
All I could do was laugh when...
TBH a lot of the game simply isn't fun for me, not just the stealth. But not every game has to be a blast to play, so while my best bud has given up on the game, I'm still getting it done in bits and bats. Kinda like the Vogon grunt when asked if the hours are good (and at 10 to complete this game ain't bad) but as he replied "most of the actual minutes are pretty lousy".
While I'm here, someone tell me this: why is everyone is American? wtf kind of casting decision was that? Poland's bleak Euro dankness realised really well and yet I've got all these US accents, pronounciations and inflections, it destroys the whole vibe.
she fired up the generator and slowly trudged through the gate with it, then seeing it take off like it'd been hit by a truck and she shouted some corny line like "TAKE THAT YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!11". It was all a bit thatescalatedquickly.gif
That's the thing with stealth in this game. It's not hard, but it's in equal measure simply not fun. If you die, it's very likely because you didn't have the patience with the process, and for me that's entirely understandable 'cause the whole game (bar a couple of failable forced run away now sections) is really plodding paced and it can test the patience of the player. Even the LT "run" feels like a middle aged man out for his first lockdown jog since they made him do laps in school, the kind of running pace and action that's actually slower and more laboured than a brisk walk. All the more annoying when the chase sections have you going hell for leather when they can control exactly what you do, where you go, what you see - normal run is likely restricted for streaming issues (textures load up late a lot in new scenes and menus, so kinda like the hub was in Anthem).
TBH a lot of the game simply isn't fun for me, not just the stealth. But not every game has to be a blast to play, so while my best bud has given up on the game, I'm still getting it done in bits and bats. Kinda like the Vogon grunt when asked if the hours are good (and at 10 to complete this game ain't bad) but as he replied "most of the actual minutes are pretty lousy".
While I'm here, someone tell me this: why is everyone is American? wtf kind of casting decision was that? Poland's bleak Euro dankness realised really well and yet I've got all these US accents, pronounciations and inflections, it destroys the whole vibe.
Nice write up, and great description here. There's technical quirks and gameplay shortcomings but the narrative remains a highlight that doesn't quite manage to hit emotional highs, but is easy to get invested. I'm big on appreciating the journey over the destination, but I agree The Medium's closing felt gutless.
I will say that although the dual screens have you fighting for attention it does work in the artistic sense (games as art) because Marianne is burdened with being in two worlds at once, just as the player is. For that to be reflected in how a player plays the game may be tedious but art can be. I don't know if that was the intention of it tho.
Yup, that's really stupid. More so because they had mocap and voice recording sessions with character's "face" actors (Polish actors) and then recorded the english dub with new voice actors.