The Medium

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,074
659
126
I initially thought this would be a horror game which I am not that into (have almost zero experience with that genre), but it is really not. It is creepy, some disturbing imagery (blood splatters, a dead body, monsters, etc. ) but there are really no scary moments (no jump scares at all). The story and acting are pretty good. It starts off SLOOOWWW, so you need to really stick with it for about 1-2 hours until you get deeper into the hotel. I am enjoying the story. It is set in Poland so there are a few interesting references to the previous communist state. This is just atmosphere though, has only tangential impact on the story.

One negative for me is that it is really just a walking simulator. There is no combat or any real action, some simple puzzles, couple of chase/sneak/hide sequences, but that is about it. The story has kept me involved though.

Game is somewhat short, about 8-10 hrs. Visuals are excellent, but the character animations/models are weak. Music is pretty good, nothing super memorable, but everything fits the atmosphere well. The dual reality gameplay is sort of a gimmick, it is an interesting idea, but sometimes it seems kind of pointless as all of the action is only in one of the views, but I guess they kept it split to keep the gameplay consistent.

I am playing through Gamepass, so the $ investment is not there from me which might color my opinion a bit. I don't think it is worth the $50 asking price. $30-$40 seems like a more logical pricepoint.

7/10 from me.
 
Last edited:

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,496
2,122
126
the review scores are really high for this title, but from the 1h36m speedrun i've seen, it's "what if Resident Evil had no combat" which is not the kind of game i like to spend time on. Or money.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,074
659
126
I imagine a speedrun of this game would be incredibly boring, but if you are speedrunning it you are missing the entire point of the game. There isn't a whole heck of a lot of challenge in this game, it is about atmosphere and story, it is a walking simulator. If you don't care about that, this game is not for you.