The First Xbox Series X/S exclusive has been released, at least the first one I remember seeing on the showcase. The Medium peaked a lot of people's interest during Xbox's showcase as that game that looked like a survival horror game in which you jump between two worlds to get through a horrific setting of some sort. Though looking back little was shown of anything substantial gameplay wise.
And now having played the game I know why.
It's a walking sim.
Yup. Bloober Team has made another walking sim. The Medium stars a girl names Madeline, who has the power to split herself into the world of the living and the dead at the same time. Here she can talk to dead people, and comfort their restless spirits to cross over into the afterlife peacefully. I guess she technically isn't in the world of the dead but rather a sort of hellish limbo where spirts will stick if not led to the true afterlife they deserve. Thus hauntings and shit happen when these people aren't helped. And Madeline has the power to do so.
Anyway in The Medium you will walk around and listen to inner monologues, pick up notes and listen to ghost memories imprinted upon objects left behind.
The main gimmick showcased in all the media footage was where you saw the main character and a white haired version of her walking through the same area simultaniously except one version's world was all fucked up and hell-like. Periodically in the game you'll play through these sections, where you control both versions of Madeline at mostly the same time. They control in unison for the most part so every movement you make is done to both characters at the same time. Which means they are essentially exploring the exact same map with cosmetic differences. To the games credit the hell world has a very sick looking art design it's very cool . Usually these are the puzzle segments in which the real world Madeline is blocked by some bullshit, and you have to find a thing with ghosty Madeline to unlock it.
There are no enemies, no health bar, and no threats in the game thusfar. All the puzzles are minor, and well.....I mean the game is a walking sim. That's really all there is too it.
And honestly it's not very good. I mean the world is cool with nice art design, the spirits you talk to are all interesting. But there are a lot of issues with the game that pull me out of the experience.
During those split screen moments, the game will kill it's resolution to maintain a stable framerate and I mean KILL it. The single character moments are in 1080p with ease, but the moment the game splitscreens itself the resolution drops to like 480p or worse. Shit looks like a fucking playstation 1 game. It's really jarring. Top that off with the character animation being really kinda shitty. Madeline moves like a robot during conversations, her lips dont move enough to match the dialog which is probably why all the spirits where masks so that they didn't have to do any more facial animations.
I feel like Bloober Team is a development studio with great ideas and concepts, but they do not have the technical ability to bring their visions to life. The Medium has a cool enough idea and fantastic art design that is fundamentally ruined by nothing more than a walking sim.
Oh and they wanna charge $50 for this fucking thing. Which is taking a huge amount of piss.
Get it on game pass if you already have it, because I do think that if you could get it for free or as part of your monthly sub package then it's a cool enough idea to check out. But do not pay more than $10 for this thing and only then if you are into Walking Sims.
And now having played the game I know why.
It's a walking sim.
Yup. Bloober Team has made another walking sim. The Medium stars a girl names Madeline, who has the power to split herself into the world of the living and the dead at the same time. Here she can talk to dead people, and comfort their restless spirits to cross over into the afterlife peacefully. I guess she technically isn't in the world of the dead but rather a sort of hellish limbo where spirts will stick if not led to the true afterlife they deserve. Thus hauntings and shit happen when these people aren't helped. And Madeline has the power to do so.
Anyway in The Medium you will walk around and listen to inner monologues, pick up notes and listen to ghost memories imprinted upon objects left behind.
The main gimmick showcased in all the media footage was where you saw the main character and a white haired version of her walking through the same area simultaniously except one version's world was all fucked up and hell-like. Periodically in the game you'll play through these sections, where you control both versions of Madeline at mostly the same time. They control in unison for the most part so every movement you make is done to both characters at the same time. Which means they are essentially exploring the exact same map with cosmetic differences. To the games credit the hell world has a very sick looking art design it's very cool . Usually these are the puzzle segments in which the real world Madeline is blocked by some bullshit, and you have to find a thing with ghosty Madeline to unlock it.
There are no enemies, no health bar, and no threats in the game thusfar. All the puzzles are minor, and well.....I mean the game is a walking sim. That's really all there is too it.
And honestly it's not very good. I mean the world is cool with nice art design, the spirits you talk to are all interesting. But there are a lot of issues with the game that pull me out of the experience.
During those split screen moments, the game will kill it's resolution to maintain a stable framerate and I mean KILL it. The single character moments are in 1080p with ease, but the moment the game splitscreens itself the resolution drops to like 480p or worse. Shit looks like a fucking playstation 1 game. It's really jarring. Top that off with the character animation being really kinda shitty. Madeline moves like a robot during conversations, her lips dont move enough to match the dialog which is probably why all the spirits where masks so that they didn't have to do any more facial animations.
I feel like Bloober Team is a development studio with great ideas and concepts, but they do not have the technical ability to bring their visions to life. The Medium has a cool enough idea and fantastic art design that is fundamentally ruined by nothing more than a walking sim.
Oh and they wanna charge $50 for this fucking thing. Which is taking a huge amount of piss.
Get it on game pass if you already have it, because I do think that if you could get it for free or as part of your monthly sub package then it's a cool enough idea to check out. But do not pay more than $10 for this thing and only then if you are into Walking Sims.
