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Finished this today and thought there was some great atmosphere and puzzles, but the mechanics just sort of throw everything at the wall depending on the situation. Anything involving action including stealth elements, climbing, even the shield are a complete hit or miss and should have just been eliminated in favor of a focus on puzzles between two dimensions. Even the really slow run mechanic makes the game feel twice as long as it should. All that combined with a story that is explained through a scattering of dropped notes and photos didn't really make it meaningful for me.
I'm stuck in a basement without a code. And next to a locker I can see something you're behind a wall, but can't reach. And stairs broken.
Hmm
Aha, I added instead of subtracted.
But I'll stop for the night as my wife is now interested in the progression.
Double checked post cards though.
I have 10/11, too far back to load. And it was one left out in the open of a camp site. I'm pretty methodical, so that's annoying.
Hmm
Aha, I added instead of subtracted.
But I'll stop for the night as my wife is now interested in the progression.
Double checked post cards though.
I have 10/11, too far back to load. And it was one left out in the open of a camp site. I'm pretty methodical, so that's annoying.
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I really adore this game. The more I play it the more I'm seeing that it's a really, really good horror / walking simulator game. And that's something I love. It's like Life Is Strange or What Remains of Edith Finch, with a horror twist to it.
I love the Resident Evil esque camera switches. Especially when I'm in the forest and there's a top-down shot of Marianne. The game looks so picturesque and crisp and beautiful.
I'm also so impressed with:
This game has been so impressive for me so far. Incredible sound design too. There was a sequence outdoors where I could hear the pitter patter of rain and the rumbling thunder. It was so unsettling and immersive.
I love the Resident Evil esque camera switches. Especially when I'm in the forest and there's a top-down shot of Marianne. The game looks so picturesque and crisp and beautiful.
I'm also so impressed with:
the sequences when you play as someone else (I'm being intentionally vague to help avoid spoiling the game for anyone else) and the escape sequence where the game randomly switches between the material and spiritual worlds. That was so awesome.
This game has been so impressive for me so far. Incredible sound design too. There was a sequence outdoors where I could hear the pitter patter of rain and the rumbling thunder. It was so unsettling and immersive.
Same exact thing happened to me. Has to be a graphical glitch. So many crazy graphical glitches for me on series x. I think this might be the buggiest game I've played in a long time. I dont really get some of the compliments it's getting for it's graphics. Game runs like crap and the graphics are mediocre at best. Some of the areas like the forest look nice, but everything is static. No footprints or splashes when walking through puddles. Character models also looks straight out of last gen.I would like to know if this is the game or my TV settings; looks like an HDR issue and there is only a gamma slider in the settings.
Late game area
Also a weird bug near the end
in the final "battle" where you have to lure the monster into the other room and then teleport into your main body and run to electrocute him, my character locked up a bunch of times on the switch back and I was frozen until he killed me
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I'm out. So far I've found nothing worthwhile to speak of in this game. Cool concept but so far it seems wasted. I need games to grab me early on, but after about 2 hours of playing I find myself really wanting to quit and not playing this ever again. A shame, it looked pretty cool.
Is there some spot where I can find out where all the jump scares are in this? Absolutely shrieked when the first one happened just before the
*obtaining the razor*
This is my first Bloober Team game and I'm enjoying it so much. The reason I'm enjoying it so much is because it's basically a semi-big-budget 3rd person walking simulator type of game. A narrative adventure game with crisp visuals, an interesting story, and game play that focuses more on the experience and narrative and light puzzles, rather than actual combat. I enjoy that because horror games really stress me out, and having a game like this that is still scary, but without combat, is a hugely enjoyable experience.
So having said that - would I like any of Bloober Team's previous games? Especially Layers of Fear and Observer? My guess is I wouldn't like Observer because I do NOT like games where you constantly have to hide and play through stealth segments. The Medium has a little of that but it's more about exploring an eerie, unsettling environment in isolation.
So having said that - would I like any of Bloober Team's previous games? Especially Layers of Fear and Observer? My guess is I wouldn't like Observer because I do NOT like games where you constantly have to hide and play through stealth segments. The Medium has a little of that but it's more about exploring an eerie, unsettling environment in isolation.
You would definitely like Observer. The forced stealth sections are no different than The Medium, they are short and sparse compared to the, well, observing part of the game.
I highly recommend it as the best Bloober game.
Well, I'm like 45 minutes in and I'm liking this. But, I'm also stressed out of my mind because I'm a weakling and can never play these types of games.
My first reaction when I arrived at the front of the Hotel was "LOL BYE". BUT I'M HANGING IN THERE.
My first reaction when I arrived at the front of the Hotel was "LOL BYE". BUT I'M HANGING IN THERE.
Me too,
I'm getting further into the game, and while the stealth sections are a bit weak, the Horror, atmosphere, story, the powers, the visual dazzle, the art direction (the game just looks absolutely beautiful in splitscreen, and I especially love the art direction of the spirit world), those picturesque camera angles, and especially that incredible sound design, are really hitting home for me.
I keep waiting for the game to get "worse" or drop on quality, but it doesn't. It actually keeps getting better, more visually impressive, the story gets more gripping, darker, and more disturbing in a good way.
It feels so good to play a horror throwback like this. While overall the game has many great and unique elements, I'm surprised it reminds me of Eternal Darkness in many ways too (the way the story can show the same setting in multiple timelines or states of Decay, the camera angles, the brooding horror, the focus on past traumas and events, the controls), and I'm enjoying the relaxed pace.
I've mostly been playing after midnight on Series X with the lights off after the family has gone to bed. Perfect setting for this.
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Good. I like the rest of the game a lot. I also have a fear of seeing things that are not me in mirrors so...... I was startled by another part too. Overall loving the game so far though.
The first patch was released on the 29th. It didn't fix the graphical glitches in my experience.
I just finished this and I loved it.
The story, the acting, the design and the gameplay were all right in my tastes. I loved the old Resident Evil-esque fixed camera angles; the feeling of dread and the deliberate slow pacing.
I imagine it's all stuff that will annoy many people but I love it all.
Also, was it just me or with the ending...
The story, the acting, the design and the gameplay were all right in my tastes. I loved the old Resident Evil-esque fixed camera angles; the feeling of dread and the deliberate slow pacing.
I imagine it's all stuff that will annoy many people but I love it all.
Also, was it just me or with the ending...
That post-credit scene with the watch was a clear setup for a sequel. And it was Thomas.
Just started and want to keep playing, but the rainbow sparkles sometimes appearing kind of take me out of it. Playing on Series X. Guess it's a graphical glitch. Hope they patch it soon.
Just started tonight and I'm not sure if I'm enjoying it or not. I'm really digging the atmosphere and that definitely benefits from having Akira Yamaoka involved on the soundtrack, but boy this game is rough. While I can appreciate the stylistic choice of using fixed camera, movement feels clunky and I feel like I keep getting disoriented while exploring even when the game isn't splitting the games two worlds. Also the I just got past the first chase sequence which was a mess of bad controls and the following stealth bit wasn't much better. Is the stealth a big part of the game? Because if there's a lot of sneaking around big monsters with little defense with this camera angle is not fun for me.
Just finished it and really enjoyed it. Only downsides were the performance issues and even then only in certain areas (and not what you'd expect, like dual worlds, fine, an empty swimming pool? 10fps!)
Played on PC with a decent system (2080Ti, i9 9900k, SSD) played with DLSS at quality/high with everything maxed and the performance was fine for the most part, not 60, clearly, but playing from a distance on my TV and being used to consoles it felt fine especally as this isn't a game where a solid 60+fps is needed (like a competitive game).
I would be very interested in playing a sequel and gotta thank Game Pass because I likely wouldn't have played this without that.
Played on PC with a decent system (2080Ti, i9 9900k, SSD) played with DLSS at quality/high with everything maxed and the performance was fine for the most part, not 60, clearly, but playing from a distance on my TV and being used to consoles it felt fine especally as this isn't a game where a solid 60+fps is needed (like a competitive game).
I would be very interested in playing a sequel and gotta thank Game Pass because I likely wouldn't have played this without that.
You've nailed my feelings exactly, and you're up to the point I stopped last night. Wondering if this is worth continuing with.
I was so looking forward to this. But I started playing and just got so bored then by time I hit that stealth part I was done.
It was just so slow and ploddy and the fixed camera angles weren't helping. The story was trying to be interesting but it just wasn't.
Bollocks. I'm pretty disappointed now.
It was just so slow and ploddy and the fixed camera angles weren't helping. The story was trying to be interesting but it just wasn't.
Bollocks. I'm pretty disappointed now.
In the final encounter
with the Maw, are you simply supposed to go out of body, run through that door that's blocked in the material world, get grabbed, escape and use the small window of time while it returns from the other room to pull the lever and end it? That's how it went down for me, it was over in maybe 10 seconds and felt super anticlimactic, like I'd somehow missed something. Using a return from being out of body to escape its grip was clever so I guess I kind of see what they were going for, kind of wish they'd found a way to have the player figure out to do that though, rather than give a big prompt in what's already a very constrained scenario.
So... there's like a quarter to a third of this game that was completely hidden pre-release? And it's bad? I actually liked this game quite a bit, but by far my least favorite parts were those where the perspective shifts to Thomas. It's as if Bloober had two completely opposed concepts for this game and ended up smashing them together; one being the game as presented before release, a Silent Hill-like with a female protagonist and a focus on more low key psychological horror, and the other being a thriller where you play as a hardened dude who curses every other line he speaks, is embroiled in shadowy government conspiracies and has a snarky spirit twin with badass powers. Like, part of this team wanted to make Silent Hill, the rest wanted to make Murdered: Soul Suspect, and we kind of got both? It's especially weird since the "other" side of the game is only introduced half way through or a bit more.
Thomas' (or his spirit twin's, I guess?) sections are completely linear and totally devoid of mechanical interest. They do allow Bloober to flex extra hard visually, and the results are damn impressive (the real time shift in conditions while approaching that domed gazebo in the first section made me gasp, visual moments that leave me in awe like that are pretty rare these days), but they're a slog to play and last way too long. They're true "walking simulator" segments, and thank goodness the game has more than them to offer. The description somebody in this thread gave of "Arkham Asylum's Scarecrow segments, but way too long" was perfect. They even seem to confuse the game's basic plot conceit - for most of the game the spirit world just seems to exist on its own, though it's influenced by the material world and vice versa, but Thomas' spirit twin can apparently access alternate(?) spirit worlds that are purely reflections of a person's psyche? I might just be confused about this, but I think the idea of an alternate world that's directly parallel to the "real" one is a lot more interesting than another iteration on the old 'let's get inside your head to uncover your trauma with really direct metaphor' idea. I just don't get what they were going for with these, they feel so out of place. The game would be better off without them.
And yeah, that whole sexual assault subplot was completely unnecessary, not even serving any purpose plotwise because the character it primarily involves turns out to be so critical in totally different ways and is heavily traumatized anyway. And the resolution is ultimately just straight up revenge, "you did something terrible to my daughter so I'm gonna kill/spiritually torture you." Bloober has really mixed writing instincts, there are real kernels of potential here but they're muddled by quite a bit of junk. This game definitely wasn't a complete misfire, but the Thomas segments in particular drag it down and feel completely separate from the core of the game and my impression of what the game would be in general.
Thomas' (or his spirit twin's, I guess?) sections are completely linear and totally devoid of mechanical interest. They do allow Bloober to flex extra hard visually, and the results are damn impressive (the real time shift in conditions while approaching that domed gazebo in the first section made me gasp, visual moments that leave me in awe like that are pretty rare these days), but they're a slog to play and last way too long. They're true "walking simulator" segments, and thank goodness the game has more than them to offer. The description somebody in this thread gave of "Arkham Asylum's Scarecrow segments, but way too long" was perfect. They even seem to confuse the game's basic plot conceit - for most of the game the spirit world just seems to exist on its own, though it's influenced by the material world and vice versa, but Thomas' spirit twin can apparently access alternate(?) spirit worlds that are purely reflections of a person's psyche? I might just be confused about this, but I think the idea of an alternate world that's directly parallel to the "real" one is a lot more interesting than another iteration on the old 'let's get inside your head to uncover your trauma with really direct metaphor' idea. I just don't get what they were going for with these, they feel so out of place. The game would be better off without them.
And yeah, that whole sexual assault subplot was completely unnecessary, not even serving any purpose plotwise because the character it primarily involves turns out to be so critical in totally different ways and is heavily traumatized anyway. And the resolution is ultimately just straight up revenge, "you did something terrible to my daughter so I'm gonna kill/spiritually torture you." Bloober has really mixed writing instincts, there are real kernels of potential here but they're muddled by quite a bit of junk. This game definitely wasn't a complete misfire, but the Thomas segments in particular drag it down and feel completely separate from the core of the game and my impression of what the game would be in general.
I used to be a fan of bloober, but after Observer I wasn't too keen on them anymore. This video shows what the studio is all about:
if anybody is interested. All good, but then they started the patent bullshit..
As for The Medium itself: it really isn't that good. The whole marketing it as "a new Silent Hill" was really annoying. It's a walking simulator with the bloober usual hide and seek mechanic.
if anybody is interested. All good, but then they started the patent bullshit..
As for The Medium itself: it really isn't that good. The whole marketing it as "a new Silent Hill" was really annoying. It's a walking simulator with the bloober usual hide and seek mechanic.
Finished this today. Pretty bland overall. Some of the story beats were just... what? I'm not even sure how majority of this content has any impact on the game itself.
What music did Akira Yamaoka do? There were some songs near the end that sounded "Silent Hill" so I assume it was those. I unfortunately missed some collectibles because it doesnt save them if you reload a checkpoint, so I need to do a quick speedrun to cleanup.
What music did Akira Yamaoka do? There were some songs near the end that sounded "Silent Hill" so I assume it was those. I unfortunately missed some collectibles because it doesnt save them if you reload a checkpoint, so I need to do a quick speedrun to cleanup.
I played through this in three sessions last week/weekend. I really enjoyed it overall. I'm a fan of "walking sim" type games and sometimes just like to take in a decent story with minimal gameplay fuss. So I was good with no combat and very simple puzzles. Looks wise the game is a bit uneven as it looked very good (for an AA budget game) at times and rough at others. The split screen mechanic didn't really add much IMO. Just switching between worlds with the parts where you go back and forth between mirrors as better. They could have focused on that and upped the graphics probably.
But still, solid 8/10 for me. Super atmospheric and the story was compelling enough. I love Gamepass for these kind of games. As someone who rarely replays games, especially very linear story driven ones (I also rarely rewatch movies or re-read books), a short one like this is a tough sell. No way I'd feel it worth $50, but I'm glad to add variety to my gaming by playing more shorter games for cheap via Gamepass, PS+, Epic giveaways etc. And it seems like developers are finding profit in both selling games and putting some out on these services, so hopefully it's a good trend for them too.
But still, solid 8/10 for me. Super atmospheric and the story was compelling enough. I love Gamepass for these kind of games. As someone who rarely replays games, especially very linear story driven ones (I also rarely rewatch movies or re-read books), a short one like this is a tough sell. No way I'd feel it worth $50, but I'm glad to add variety to my gaming by playing more shorter games for cheap via Gamepass, PS+, Epic giveaways etc. And it seems like developers are finding profit in both selling games and putting some out on these services, so hopefully it's a good trend for them too.
I just finished the game.
I am not even to write an extended comment on its gameplay (I thought mechanics and puzzles were simple but cool) because story is clearly its strong suit.
Woah men.
It is hands down one of the best I have ever lived in a videogame.
The way it unfolds and specially the last 10-15 minutes are simply sublime.
I can´t recommend playing this one enough and I am honestly surprises it hasn´t reviewed even better.
Congratulations Bloober Team!! I´ll keep an eye on what you do next.
I am not even to write an extended comment on its gameplay (I thought mechanics and puzzles were simple but cool) because story is clearly its strong suit.
Woah men.
It is hands down one of the best I have ever lived in a videogame.
The way it unfolds and specially the last 10-15 minutes are simply sublime.
I can´t recommend playing this one enough and I am honestly surprises it hasn´t reviewed even better.
Congratulations Bloober Team!! I´ll keep an eye on what you do next.
EmmaSkies: "The Medium & Its Incredibly Insulting Story of Trauma" (Spoiler and Trigger Warning)
Why is this thread so focused on the "sympathizing with a pedophile" part? That's not what the Twitter thread is about, and the most common issue that's being discussed seems to be the awful way the writers tackled mental illness.
www.resetera.com
So that makes no fucking sense. The issues brought up were legitimate and it's not those "random people on Twitter"'s fault that games media isn't talking about these issues with the game. The thread should be re-opened.
Terrible look to redirect a concerted thread about poor representation of sensitive issues into a broader, deader OT because of some arbitrary rule about Tweet threads.
The other thread also had a YouTube video for what it was worth, and we seem fine with YouTube video threads. Nevermind it was a focused discussion about specific issues and not a conversation conductive to a broad OT thread.
Appreciate the thread all the same, I haven't played the game but it was informative and there were links to some good discussion around issues of mental health representation in games...
Why was that thread redirected here? It just buries the trigger warning for any unaware who might be interested, because they aren't going into a random OT out of nowhere. I'm glad I saw the other thread at least before playing, that subject matter is not what I would've expected.
The thread was full of drive-by virtue signaling. Seems pointless if people can't be bothered to watch the hour and a half youtube video it's based on.
What a ridiculous reason to close the previous thread, it had legitimate reason for discussion based off the tweets, video and the game itself."As this thread is based on random tweets, which is against our guidelines, we are redirecting discussion to the OT."EmmaSkies: "The Medium & Its Incredibly Insulting Story of Trauma" (Spoiler and Trigger Warning)
Why is this thread so focused on the "sympathizing with a pedophile" part? That's not what the Twitter thread is about, and the most common issue that's being discussed seems to be the awful way the writers tackled mental illness.
So that makes no fucking sense. The issues brought up were legitimate and it's not those "random people on Twitter"'s fault that games media isn't talking about these issues with the game. The thread should be re-opened.
wtf era mods?
Many threads on this forum get started from a "random" tweet. There needs to be some consistency here regarding tweets as news.
I'm glad that thread was made because I was going to play this eventually, but now I'm absolutely not. It's not like I wanted to read about spoilers in a game I was about to play, but when a thread like that pops up I'm glad to inform myself of its nature. That thread should've stayed open, because other people are not going to know about it otherwise. Maybe someone should make a separate thread about the subject matter without it being just a tweet.
Hi, I'm here from a thread that was closed before I could post in it. This may seem weird to those not following that thread but here is my response, hopefully it's not considered from too random a source to be valid for discussion:
Holy crap. If all this is true:
Space lasers may seem funny, but Jews and/or their sympathizers are triggered into pedophilia? You have got to be kidding me, this is going to feed q level shit if it isn't already.
The mental health messages communicated here are the complete opposite of sensitive, understanding, or realistic. Source: I live with the effects of long-term ptsd from sexual molestation and acute near-death trauma, it has decimated my family. And their Assassin's Creed style disclaimer doesn't suffice for approaching the subjects the way they do here.
Also, please resist generalizing this as an ethnically Polish thing, despite setting etc. There are enough mental-capacity stereotypes against Polish people as it is.
Expecting this to get lost in this thread, carry on.
Holy crap. If all this is true:
Space lasers may seem funny, but Jews and/or their sympathizers are triggered into pedophilia? You have got to be kidding me, this is going to feed q level shit if it isn't already.
The mental health messages communicated here are the complete opposite of sensitive, understanding, or realistic. Source: I live with the effects of long-term ptsd from sexual molestation and acute near-death trauma, it has decimated my family. And their Assassin's Creed style disclaimer doesn't suffice for approaching the subjects the way they do here.
Also, please resist generalizing this as an ethnically Polish thing, despite setting etc. There are enough mental-capacity stereotypes against Polish people as it is.
Expecting this to get lost in this thread, carry on.
I even based the topic title on the video, not the tweets (which I included for context and a short summary). I couldn't embed more than four pieces of media though, and in hindsight I should have prioritised embedding the video and pasted the summary as a quote instead. Nothing that a quick edit couldn't have fixed.
Here's the Era guidelines for creating Tweet threads:
"If you are citing any sources (including articles or videos) while creating a thread, please scrutinize them to make sure that they are reliable ones. Try not to create threads based on random tweets, conspiracy theories, tabloids, or other questionable sources."
So it looks like the guideline is there to prevent the posting of unreliable information or information that was not vetted well enough. This, meanwhile, was a thread based on a Twitter opinion and seems to fall outside of the purview of this guideline. The guideline is to prevent questionable sources, not to silence insight or prevent alternate takes on a game.
"If you are citing any sources (including articles or videos) while creating a thread, please scrutinize them to make sure that they are reliable ones. Try not to create threads based on random tweets, conspiracy theories, tabloids, or other questionable sources."
So it looks like the guideline is there to prevent the posting of unreliable information or information that was not vetted well enough. This, meanwhile, was a thread based on a Twitter opinion and seems to fall outside of the purview of this guideline. The guideline is to prevent questionable sources, not to silence insight or prevent alternate takes on a game.
A mod needs to respond. Whoever closed the thread fucked up. The reason they gave doesn't make any sense.
User Banned (1 Week): Inflammatory Accusation
The video evidence of a story segment that seem to want insert pedophilia in a sympathetic light on the cycle of abuse and you had to come off as an apologist of pedophilia.
I watched the video. That thread was absolutely warranted.
Really bad look on Era mods to redirect that discussion here. There was a video showing that entire section in the OP. Why did they focus on tweets?
They're being much harder on random tweet threads because people are abusing it. Tweets that are actual news are different from random tweets from some random internet person throwing their opinion/interpretation on a subject matter. That's just giving that person a platform to blast their view wherever you link it, and that's exactly what that thread was.
> I came across this tweet by so and so
> *linked tweet for context*
> more in the rest of the tweets
> *more linked tweets*
> also a video
> *link to video*
> how messed up is that!?
That's a low effort post, that would get flagged any day by the mods.
It's hilarious that the last post before the discussion on the closed thread was moved here is this one.
If you are going to accuse people of being apologists for pedophilia you better show some rock solid receipts, in the meantime I reported you. Pedophilia is not a toy for forum drama.
I felt like it was a legitimate thread to have since there are plenty of reasonable conversations one can have about The Medium's storytelling, and how far it goes (or doesn't go) in its subject matter, but my God that thread really was showing the worst sides of some of the poster mentalities that exist on this forum. Like, someone was comparing discussing the 'whys' in the story as being akin to apologizing for Cyberpunk 2077's transphobia, for chrissakes. Kind of a shitty way to respond to people who are adding context to the discussion.
The game doesn't suggest that a Jewish sympathizer would become a pedophile. To me at least, it seemed to say that predators may justify their actions as a form of love. It's a defense mechanism. The character you play as in that scene (Thomas) has absolutely no sympathy for Richard (the pedophile) and effectively lobotomizes him.
He was about to beat Richard to death but decided to do something harsher.
I played the game, it didn't portray him as sympathetic. I'm still in the middle of watching the EmmaSkies video but a lot of the things she's saying is more about it being a tone-deaf portrayal of the trauma and that maybe the writers don't have the license to put something like that in a gaming story. Yeah there's always legitimacy to an argument like that.
I'm at like the 57 minute mark, where does she explain the part about Richard being made to look sympathetic. I don't agree but maybe she makes a good argument that I didn't think of.
In defense of the game, people who finished it said it's not sympathetic at all towards the pedophile. I'm halfway through so I'll see what my conclusion on this subject is at the end.
