Publisher: Bloober Team SA
Developer: Bloober Team
Release: Jan 28, 2021
Reviewed on: Xbox X/S
Fear is not a strange word in video games; But for years, no famous studio had set out to create a horror work with classic elements; But the Polish Bloober Team, whose works were previously in the horror genre, has taken a big risk.
The studio’s latest release, called The Medium, is a Silent Hill- friendly horror game released as an exclusive game for the PC and Xbox platforms, and is Microsoft’s first ninth-generation exclusive experience.
Inspired by Silent Hill, the presence of Dual Reality mechanics, the presence of Akira Yamaoka, the creator of the Silent Hill series music and Troy Baker, as voice actor, brought a lot of attention to this game, and now the important question is that how successful Microsoft’s first exclusive will be?
The story of The Medium takes place in the late 90’s; Where Marianne decides to say goodbye for the last time to her recently dead father. In the introduction of the game, you will notice that Marianne is a medium. Mediums are people who have the power to connect the world of the living and the dead. Shortly after you meet Marian, she receives a mysterious call from an unknown person named Thomas. Thomas asks Marian for help and at the end of the conversation asks Marian to come to a place called Niwa Hotel. Thinking that the call was a telephone harassment, Marian tries to interrupt the conversation, when Thomas suddenly points to a strange subject; Expressing that he knows Marian is a medium, Thomas tells her that if she is looking for answers to his biggest questions in life, she should go to Thomas. Marianne becomes curious with this flip and steps on a mysterious and scary path, and from this moment, the main story of Medium begins.
The storytelling of the title Medium uses the technique of a series of questions to advance the story, to engage the audience more in the story of the main character. During the game, we are faced with important questions that play a role in our minds with a certain rhythm. The questions around who is the girl that get murdered in Marianne’s nightmares? What happened at Niwa Hotel? And who is Thomas and what does he have to do with Marianne’s past?
The way that game answers these questions is a well-done job; Some answers are given in the form of environmental storytelling by looking at pictures, finding texts, recorded sounds, or whispers of objects that can be understood by Marian’s supernatural powers. Another part of the answers will be given to us during the gameplay and by solving the puzzles. In fact, designing game puzzles is part of the storytelling process. Eventually, the definitive answers to the questions will be revealed to us in the game peak points and in the form of cutscenes. Storytelling in Medium is not limited to the above; The game tries to design its levels in the service of storytelling. For example, we can mention Niwa Hotel. The steps in this section are designed so that you have to constantly move around in the dilapidated halls and rooms of the hotel, and this shift is a good opportunity to unwittingly witness the heartbreaking views of the mysterious past of this hotel on its doors and walls; The tour in this section depicts the story of the horrific massacre that took place in this hotel, without telling you any dialogue or text.
These emotions, thanks to the depiction of the world of the dead, inspired by the works of the Polish painter (Beksinski), will double the induction of this darkness and fear in the body of the game’s story.
One of the most important tools for storytelling and instilling fear in Medium is the use of your subconscious mind. This title tries many times to sow the seeds of fear in your mind with its hints of scary and famous titles. Do not be surprised if you feel like you are walking in Syberia during the game experience, the Silent Hill atmosphere dominates the game or some of the levels are reminiscent of titles like Resident Evil and Blair Witch.
Medium gameplay, unlike storytelling, has a sinusoidal process. Sometimes it works very well and sometimes it does badly. Given that Marianne is a medium, she has the ability to communicate with the world of the dead. Thanks to the technology used in the game, you have the ability to play in both worlds simultaneously or separately; The existence of this feature makes the game image split in two in simultaneous experiences and share a new experience through the game. Another positive part of the gameplay is the design of game puzzles, which has a good variety. The puzzles are so varied that you will have to deal with at least 3 different puzzles in the game. Many of these puzzles can be solved as a joint collaboration between Marian in the living world and Marian spirit in the world of the dead. This collaboration happens in three ways. In the first model, you have to separate from Marianne’s main body and solve puzzles in the world of the dead with Marianne’s soul; In this case, Marian is uncontrollable in the real world, and the most important element in solving the puzzles is the speed of your action, because Marian’s soul can roam outside Marian’s body for a limited time, and if it is too much outside Marian’s body. It goes away.
The second type of cooperation is done at the same time. In this case, the game screen is divided into two parts and your simultaneous performance in two worlds will help you solve the puzzle in front of you; Clock or piano puzzle are good examples of this model of puzzles.
The third model of these puzzles is done by the mirror in the game, and in the middle of the game, you will get acquainted with its mechanism. Mirrors in the game allow you to move between two worlds. Perhaps the best example of these puzzles is the puzzle of the doll house that you will encounter at the end of the game.
In general, the Dual Reality feature does not differentiate the appearance of the medium from other horror works, but in practice it is clearly successful.
But as we said, medium gameplay has its own weaknesses. One of the drawbacks in the gameplay section is related to Tank Control. That was a navigation system which was common in the 1990s under titles such as Alone in the Dark Resident Evil and Silent Hill; Titles in which all or some of the sections used a fixed camera. Although with a fixed camera and a slim control, your sense of nostalgia is strengthened, but an important part of the drawbacks of this style of games can still be seen in the control. Another problem with the gameplay is the chasing part of the game, which is very superficial. Given that you have no chance to fight the villain of the story, The Maw, you either have to run away quickly or secretly leave him behind. The design of the escapes is very mundane and unchallenged, and you will rarely have trouble escaping. This problem of not being challenged in the hiding part is also felt so that the main villain of the story in many cases fails to scare you.
In terms of graphics, the story is a little different, and the two-part display (Split Screen) that you see in the game is different from your previous experiences. In Split Screen titles, one world is loaded twice, but in this game, two different worlds are loaded separately. Objects in the environment, shadows, colors and even lighting in the two worlds when loading are completely different. Because of this difference, SSDs play a vital role, making it impossible to experience the title with eighth-generation platforms. With the exception of one of the game chase sequences, which is one of the best graphic events in the game, in most cases; Especially when we have two worlds in the picture, we see a drop in frame and even a decrease in resolution in the game. In the face animation section, not only it is not suitable for the ninth generation, but even lower than the eighth-generation standards. In addition to these cases, the animation of walking in the game is also very enjoyable. The last major drawback of the graphics section is the slow loading of objects. This may have been somewhat forgivable in previous generations, but as a ninth-generation experience with an SSD, it is an unforgivable sin. Contrary to what has been said, we see better performance when the camera is placed farther away and our view is wider of the environment. Medium has many technical drawbacks, but one of the visual highlights of the game is the depiction of the world of the dead. Bloober Team, by adapting the works of Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński in the most artistic way possible, depicts a dark and scary world. A good example to describe this art takes place in a sequence of the game in which Thomas is immersed in the parallel world of one of the game’s characters; Given that the focus of the game in this sequence is on anger and the effects of anger on humans, the witness is a melancholy environment that is usually depicted in bright red.
The best performance of the game is in music and sound design. The collaboration between Yamaoka (creator of the Silent Hill series music) and Reikowski, who co-starred in the Blair Witch project and Layers of Fear 2, is going well. The Medium soundtrack subconsciously evokes the memories of the Silent Hill series, and the game’s soundtrack is the main pillar of horror in the Medium title. For example, when you are at the Niwa Hotel and you are sightseeing in the hotel, the alternation of the game soundtrack promises you that something is happening nearby and disturbs the tranquility of the environment with the sound of the hotel phone very cleverly and in a timely manner. All of this happens without the presence of a scary character, and only through music and sound design. The voice acting of the game’s characters, especially Troy Baker, is good, despite the filters that have been worked on his voice, and his voice will annoy you many times during the game. In general, not only is there no flaw in the music and sound section, but it is entirely a workshop on creating music in a horror game, made possible thanks to the presence of Akira Yamaoka.
In conclusion, Medium is not a perfect ninth-generation experience, but thanks to its good storytelling and quality sound and masterpiece music, it is highly recommended for those who miss Silent Hill. The title that has tried to fill the vacancy of this lovely collection in a different way.
The Medium Review
The Medium may not be a flawless 9th generation experience, but it’s a great alternative for those who miss the Silent Hill series, thanks to its great story and wonderful music.