- Tested via Xbox Game Pass PC
- Completed in about 8 hours
- RTX 3060 = DLSS option quality + 1080p to obtain almost constant 60 FPS in ultra without scratch tracing
Like many fans of thrills I met with Bloomer Team in 2016. At that time, I set my course on Layers of Fear, the first horrific experiment that saw us explore the haunted home of a cursed painter. Promising despite some flaws, the title was already evidence of a certain science of staging. A year later came out the excellent Observe, a cyberpunk nugget that every science fiction fan should look at. S Layers of Fear 2 then the subside Blair Witch, recently playable in VR. All have a common point of being subjective. This is therefore a major challenge that was awaiting the Poles with The Medium, psychological horror game developed not only for the first time to the third person but thought with this crazy originality to offer sequences of solo gameplay in split screen simultaneously covering two dimensions. Is the result up to the studio's ambitions?
« It all starts with a dead girl.»
The Medium takes place in 1999 in post-communist Poland, a rather new historical context in the video game and weaving here a heavy background to which the story will regularly echo. Be warned the topics discussed are harsh. Pedophilia, post-colonial grudge, Holocaust or mourning to name but a few... Suffice to say that it is recommended to tie his belt before embarking on the side of the heroine, who uses his capacity as a medium to help souls in difficulty to find peace in the Hereafter. An extrasensory vocation used with kindness that reminds us of the fantastic series of point and click of the Blackwell by Wadjet Eye Games, the comic less. Indeed in the case that we are interested today the intrigue quickly takes an intimate and dramatic turn.
So we start the adventure at Marianne's command, bereaved by the loss of a loved one. The young woman smokes from the window of the apartment of her late adoptive father, whose personal effects she sort. A sinister calm reigns in the house if this is the sound of raindrops that crush on the tiles. We then realize how well the soundtrack can manage its silence beaches to better break them with fleeting notes or even diffuse synthetic sheets that remind us of the fog of Silent Hill (see below, Outside NIWA for a concrete example). An influence all but fortuitous when we know that Arkadiusz Reikowski composed the soundtrack together with Akira Yamaoka. Does that Japanese name mean anything to you? It is the artist who imagined among other tracks the sublime Introduction theme of the Silent Hill. I recommend that you pass the reading of this Article by Gamekult, who traces his journey. Well, that's it. I just referred to the silent hills again. What do you want Konami's masterpiece flows in my veins and when you love you don't count.
Let's go back. Suddenly the ringing of the phone rings. At the end of the line a mysterious Thomas claims to be able to explain to the extralucent the origin of his gift and the meaning of the recurring nightmare that haunts his nights; a tragic vision where a physically ill-positioned lady gets hunted in the forest before being coldly shot down with a revolver at the edge of a lake. « It all starts with a dead girl.». He gave him an appointment to the now disused Niwa workers' vacation complex, as the Polish Minister of Defence apparently left him behind after the majority of his occupants had been massacred in troubled conditions. It is in these deserted buildings (really?) where nature has partially regained its rights that one feels the weight of the former USSR, whether by propaganda-style posters or via rusty vehicles and dusty furniture certified Soviet Union, such as frozen remains of another era.
At the frontiers of reality
Another trademark of the studio is the quality of its dubbing. We listen carefully to the footprints of the dead, understand that some tangible objects of our reality are still imbued with voice fragments of the past, fragments that only a medium can capture. These short extracts scattered there and there, coupled with the written documents, allow us to better grasp the deadly madness that struck the recreation center and the trauma of the Holocaust constantly hovers like a sword of Damocles. Special mention to performance by Troy Baker who masterfully embodies the voice of the demon The Maw. We're not going to reveal more about the scenario but be sure to be involved until the last seconds as he turns out poignant and quick to move as much as to make shiver, even if the game bothers more than it really scares. It is empathy that most often grabs us and we emerge from the relatively unfavorable experience. And that even striking him generic opening Couldn't have prepared us for it.
The title not only offers an original frame, it also immerses us in a universe with surreal artistic direction inspired by the paintings of the Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski. You will find many paintings to admire Here. The man wanted to transcribe the photographs of his dreams through the hairs of his brush. Guaranteed jaw stall in the proper sense As in the figurative. The environments during the urban exploration phases are not left behind and appear very detailed. One thinks for example of this passerby with an umbrella and whose anonymous silhouette is surreptitiously seen behind a glass while one searches sadly a funeral home. As for the staging it impresses, partly thanks to a free camera like the air that does not hesitate to fly away, turn around the characters, get closer to embrace a close-up and better capture the emotion at the root.
The graphics are generally amazing, except perhaps some expressions of tendentious faces on occasion. One often surprises oneself to remain still to soak up sight angles which, let us not be afraid to say, are among the best that it has been given to see since beautiful lurette. Alfred Hitchcock tells me in the earpiece that he is dazzled himself, that is to say I am not exaggerating! Moreover, the choice of having preferred a sober and discreet HUD reinforces the immersion and the photographic stamp of the frames. There is also absolute control of lighting and contrasts. Yes, the talents of Bloomer Team are, in my view, the most gifted contemporary developers in the field, and the great use of light sources is a great part of the gloomy symbolism of the overseas kingdom.
Banana na na na na banana split
Where The Medium We subjugate the most in his representation of the sequences of gameplay split screen. These make the difference to the fulgurances of design by playing with the different physical rules of the two spaces-time, separated but nevertheless connected. To perform certain actions on one side of the mirror will thus cause upheavals in the other. The mechanics are fairly little varied, however, with tips on how Marianne dissociates her body envelope from her mind. This paves the way for puzzles that are interested and rather inventive if we do not really triture the ciboulot. In any case one can only tilt against such an unusual concept. Redefine a traditional multiplayer practice like shared screen and make it solo: clearly you had to dare. We will just regret that these passages significantly reduce the number of images per second, a pity.
Finally, do not expect to shoot at your enemies, save your resources or any other manoeuvre that would tie us to the kind of survival horror. No we bathe here to the shoulders in psychological horror: you will never possess any weapon and there is no inventory. Your only opponent will be a demon synonymous with game over instant as soon as they catch you, giving rise to high-voltage hide-and-seek parts. These moments a bit too punitive are fortunately never dragging in length for as long as we show observation and patience and at worst checkpoints are generous.
Verdict
Taberlipopette what is the ambition of The Medium doing good! The latest-born Bloomer Team not only offers an intelligent story, an original gameplay and a BO to wake up the dead, but it also gives itself the luxury of a staging more inspired than many of the current AAAs. The studio reaches maturity with this project which will undoubtedly be a cornerstone for them so much the know-how accumulated in their previous productions is transcended here. Rumors have run since the Polish allies with Konami at the end of June 2021 and for the time being no one knows whether they are working for the renaissance of Silent Hill. In any case one thing is sure for your scribouillard: without Team Silent I could not now dream better medium than Bloomer Team to revive the silent hills so dear to my heart.
For
- A AA as beautiful as an AAA
- The psychological horror in its best light
- The artistic direction sometimes surrealist or urban
- High-fly staging
- A soundtrack to be damned
- Simultaneous two-dimensional gameplay
- Serious Issues Treated Correctly
- High quality coatings
Against
- Framerate that falls on a shared screen
- The rare infiltration phases sometimes frustrating
Surprisingly, a little mediated game. It makes you want to try anyway.
When I get a helmet again, I'll do Blair Witch and Layers of Fear again, but in VR it must make a difference!
I found it excellent when it was released on the Xbox Game Pass. A high-quality AA with a striking artistic direction and screenplay.
Finally a Critique juste sur The Medium , a game so massacred by the Press on the pretext that it was a game released Day-One on the Gamepass (it's so easy in the media to type on Microsoft no matter the reason.......)
It's easily in my Top 10 of the year 👍🎮👍
Bravo for this Critique (you deserve so much more views) 👍👍👍
Much too underestimated this game yes.
Thank you for the compliment Nosphor68.
Thank you Nosphor! It's true that The Medium really hit the eye 🙂