The Medium Takes Players on Spooky 14-Minute Gameplay Demo

The Medium Takes Players on Spooky 14-Minute Gameplay Demo

Written by on | OpenCritic

The Medium was revealed last spring during an Xbox showcase, and now less than a year since, its release date is just around the (dark, foreboding) corner. With the game coming to Xbox Series X as the first new-gen exclusive for Xbox alongside its PC launch, today's new 14-minute video looks at the game from a number of angles.

Primarily, it's used to show off more of how the game's Dual Reality gameplay works and why it needs the power of the Series X and comparable PCs to run properly. Rendering worlds twice in split-screen and having players move through them both simultaneously, solving puzzles and evading enemies in one to progress through the other, things will get dicey.

Also on display are the game's investigative mechanics, psychic abilities such as Spirit Blast and Spirit Shield, and how players, as protagonist Marianne, will evade enemies, even as they themselves can sometimes be unseen. Along with the original music which has been created in part by longtime Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, it's hard not to get some old school horror vibes from The Medium

The game's main antagonist, The Maw, is voiced by Troy Baker. It has the unique ability to travel between both realities. In the spirit world, The Maw is visible but only there. In Marianne's world, The Maw is invisible, but also blind, and thus uses its sight to track Marianne. 

Alongside some other curious characters and a whole lot more gameplay, this is the deepest dive we've seen yet of the horror game coming from the studio that has spent its existence making horror games like Layers of Fear, Observer, and Blair Witch

The Medium arrives on January 28 for Xbox Series X and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

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