The Medium | Xbox Series X Review
If you are a fan of the environment exploration games from the folks at Quantic Dream such as Heavy Rain or Detroit: Become Human, the latest, most ambitious game yet from the polish developers at Bloober Team are filling that void with The Medium. This short 5-8 hour game definitely doesn’t short the experience. From the graphics, to the sound design and even the overall story, The Medium excels on many counts in this officially developed for Xbox Series X/S and PC title. Sorry Xbox One fans, due to the gameplay concepts and environments, this game is truly a next-gen level experience.
A Tale of Two Dimensions
The crux of this dual reality, mind shifting shenanigan centers around our main character Marianne, and her trying to cope with the loss of her father and why she has some abilities to be able to communicate with the dead. Think Ghost Whisperer or Sixth Sense but not so cute and cuddly. The game begins as Marianne receives a phone call to check out the NIWA (Pronounced KNEE-va) resort to get answers as to why she is the way she is. But the NIWA resort has a mystery all of its own; now shut down and overgrown with crumbling buildings and many of our favorite hug-the-wall antics.
Your mission is to explore the resort and its main building to begin putting the pieces together of what happened and how you are connected using a two-plane existence. Your real self and your spiritual self exist in areas side by side, and actions you take in the real world have direct impact in the spirit world and vice versa. Sometimes you can even leave your body to be fully spiritual to complete certain puzzles, but move quickly before you turn to dust forever.
Control Confusion
As Marianne maneuvers on her quest through the resort you get more questions than answers, much like you get more control options as you move along as well. Navigating two different environments can be confusing at times, as you could get stuck somewhere in the real world while clearly being able to move forward in the spirit world. Or areas that you need to reach must be navigated in one as you use portals to switch over to the other.
Much of the early game has the character walking at a snail’s pace, and only after a certain amount of time do you get the option to run by using the Left Trigger. Personally, I would have run be the default, with walk on L3 and crouch on the left trigger, as the hand maneuvering was challenging, even cramp-inducing in stressful situations such as running away from big bads. The out of body experience is invoked by pressing and holding B which, for me, accidentally occurred a few times at first and not when it was conducive.
Out of Body Experience
All of that being said, if you experience The Medium with a good set of headphones in a dark room, the environment is so immersive that you forgive some of the control weirdness as you dig deeper into the resort and all of the mysteries that it holds. Fair warning, those mysteries are not what you expect and this game is not for kids. It also comes with a trigger warning for those that have been abused as a child sexually or otherwise. But if you like a good detective game with a healthy amount of collectibles in an immersive sound and visual environment, you will love that you get it TWICE as much in this dual environment exclusive for next-gen Gamepass.
This review is based on an Xbox Series X copy of The Medium played via Microsoft’s Game Pass. It is also available on Steam.
The Medium
$49.99
Pros
- Sound Environment
- Interesting Gameplay Mechanic
- Tight Story
Cons
- Clunky Controls
- Linear Gameplay
- No Progression or Chapter Markers
