The Medium Reviews
I honestly want to see more Bloober Team horror games of this nature, because it seems this big ambitious project is the best direction to go. In short, The Medium is a great start to bigger and better things.
While I don’t generally sit down to horror, or horror like experiences, the Bloober Team with their atmospheric and psychological horror The Medium had me hooked from start to finish. With a very well paced story and solid mechanics that let you explore the run down resort that Marianne finds herself in, it was really hard to put down the controller as the secrets that often lay right around the corner just begged to be answered.
The Medium is right on the edge of being a great horror game, in many ways being the closest we’ve got to a true Silent Hill successor. Returning to the classic camera angles seen years ago has been a treat, whilst the dual reality pushed the genre forward in clever ways. Sadly, uninspired puzzles and stealth encounters bogged the game down quite a notch.
The Medium is another thoroughly enjoyable psychological horror romp from the experts at Bloober Team, even if it could have done with a little bit of tweaking here and there. Exploration could be a little cumbersome thanks to the fixed camera angles for example, whilst the stealth sections felt like they broke the pace of the game as opposed to adding to the excitement. Everything else though? It was of the same high quality you’d expect from Bloober Team. With its harrowing yet engaging narrative, fantastic visuals, and great sound design, The Medium really has all of the most important pieces in place to offer a memorable horror experience.
The Medium has a lot of good ideas that come together in a mixed bag of a game. I found the story to be involving and well written; the atmosphere and ambience unnerving. The environments are often hauntingly beautiful to look at, and the soundtrack is a genuine highlight. The good in this game is forced to carry you through the bad, which in some ways, is the gameplay itself, where a lack of challenging puzzles, a shallow yet innovative dual reality mechanic, and an over reliance on exposition pull you out of the detailed and interesting story Bloober are trying to tell. The Medium is then, perhaps, a victim of its own gimmick – a game of two halves, one full of detail and intrigue, the other somewhat lost in the gloom of the veil.
The Medium provides the best classic survival horror experience through modern gameplay systems that I have played in quite some time. It does this all without relying on action and gore but instead builds its excellence through atmosphere, environments, and narrative. There’s some refinement that could help the overall experience, but this is a gripping adventure whether you’re in reality or the spiritual plane.
My expectations were high coming in, and, in some part, those expectations were met. At times, I would go as far as to say that The Medium feels the best thing Bloober Team have ever done. But it clumsily attempts to handle subject matter which cannot just be brushed over and several mechanical missteps really jar and grate at the wrong time. If you own GamePass, this is worth dipping into to see what the talented team at Bloober can be capable of. But this one does not stick the landing well at all.
The Medium’s daring resolute in thrilling its audience does come off a little daunting, rather than terrifying.
The Medium suffers from wanting to look like a classic Survival Horror, but without daring to go beyond the superficial, the aesthetic. The puzzles are irrelevant, even annoying, the resource management is zero and the progression is completely linear. When The Medium really works is when it sheds that facade and becomes a walking simulator with a powerful setting and a narrative that manages to touch our hearts.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Bloober Team's most ambitious game convinces with a deep and intriguing story, a visually fascinating world and original gameplay mechanics merged with classical adventure tropes. It shows the polish developers' inexperience in real-time character animation and stealth mechanics, but it's overall a very good and worthy experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Medium is another proof that you should not stop at the first impression. I started a bit disappointed, but I ended up in awe of the very touching story and the innovative duality of the game. Although, it is only the first steps in a 3rd person world for Bloober Team, we can say that they succeeded implementing this new approach. I recommend you give it a shot as the more you will play it, the more you will want to uncover its mysteries.
Review in French | Read full review
The Medium is quite offensive to those who suffer depression or trauma. It uses people who suffer as a narrative crutch to tell its story. I expected better.
As a linear, narrative-driven horror game, The Medium is easy to recommend – and a no-brainer if you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription – thanks to the balance of unsettling exploration, involved puzzles, a handful of terrifying encounters, and frequent narrative beats.
After playing through certain games, I get all emotional and dazed because the experience, even with some issues along the way, has been so exceptionally strong. The Medium is one of those games. Its distinctive art and sound design, bare-bones gameplay, Marianne’s tender persona, and stripped-down story create a poignant tale.
While rough around the edges in a few areas, overall The Medium is an excellent adventure that’s not lacking in scares, and is thoughtful in how it approaches its subject matter. I felt the tension, the dread, the sadness, and the fear in those moments where they presented themselves, and I felt a connection to Marianne and her story that I don’t often feel in many games, regardless of genre. It’s a beautiful game to look at and the art direction is excellent throughout. The Medium has a lot of heart and it wants to tell you important things, if you’ll listen. I’m not generally one to say that I enjoyed my time with any horror game, but this is a case where that is absolutely true for me, and that alone is reason enough for me to say this is a world worth experiencing.
The Medium is a modern horror masterpiece that wants to take players to explore two nightmares at the same time. In doing so it brings a unique experience while building on the foundation established by the classics that came before it.
The Medium is a game that makes references to the horror classics, but adds several new mechanics, making it a unique experience. Despite the low replayability and some specific technical problems, the well-built environments, the chilling soundtrack and the instigating plot make this game one of the most interesting and original in the genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
While not entirely original, The Medium serves as a wonderful experience that marries the best of the classic fixed camera horror titles with brand-new gameplay mechanics and level design. The story is a little bit short and there are one too few explorable locales, but the experience itself remains fun. Bloober Team did a great job at creating yet another suspenseful video game. Everything, from the world [both of them] to the way the characters are designed to interact with it, and everything in between, show a lot of dedication. Voices may be a bit weak, and animation does leave a lot to be desired, but The Medium is a must-have for fans of the classic horror genre. It is a slow and methodical game with a decent pay off at the end. The Medium may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it most assuredly fills a niche no longer catered for by the likes of Capcom or Konami.
The Medium seemed like one of the more promising games coming to Xbox Series X. Visually, it makes pretty good use of the hardware, and the environments are stunning at times. Unfortunately, poor controls and seriously flawed gameplay design choices hold this back from being the instant classic that it could have been.