#The medium ps5 review trial

The Ps5 version of The Medium boasts some interesting use of the DualSense controller, using haptic feedback to communicate things within the spirit world, and adaptive triggers that give a bit of resistance for certain actions. A few side paths hold additional collectibles or items that lend some additional backstory, but for the most part, players should be able to go straight through this horror adventure with few detours, which generally keeps that pacing feeling good. Even one failure against The Maw’s obnoxiously frustrating power is enough to take the cinematic horror tension and replace it with the cumbersome need to get past a generally unforgiving gameplay segment.Īside from these moments, the journey through The Medium was generally intriguing, if fairly linear overall. These forced encounters with poor stealth mechanics feel completely at odds with the rest of the cinematic narrative centered game, suddenly making the player painfully aware that they are playing a game.

#The medium ps5 review trial

This means that there’s a lot of trial and error to escaping and outmaneuvering The Maw, with multiple frustrating deaths, lengthy reloads (for a PS5 game), and attempting the sequence all over again. Initially terrifying, The Maw quickly becomes a frustrating obstacle, scary for all the wrong reasons. The Maw can travel to the real world too, not to mention it’s invisible in that space, and Marianne is powerless there. If she has energy, she can survive being grabbed by The Maw once, but often you need that energy elsewhere for a puzzle. A persistent threat that will pop up at inopportune moments and chase the player down, you don’t have a lot of recourse to combat The Maw. Marianne has the ability to absorb energy in the spirit world, which she can then use for a few different powers, like generating a shield around herself or sending out a blast. The Maw is The Medium’s version of Mister X/Tyrant, Nemesis, Lady Dimetrescu, or Pyramid Head.

The Medium PS5 Review – Fear to Frustration While I loved exploring the dilapidated Niwa Resort and the game’s variety of environments in both the real world and the spirit world, coming across discarded remnants of its residents’ past traumas and horrors, I wasn’t exactly thrilled anytime I’d be put into encounters with The Medium’s looming threat: the mysterious creature known as The Maw. But it inevitably runs into what is effectively the same issue with almost every horror game: how do you balance tension and gameplay? And it’s here that The Medium starts to stumble.

There are a couple of small jump scares here and there, but for the most part, The Medium just wants to creep you out with the sense that the spirit world is right there, waiting, just on the other side. Horror elements in The Medium are mostly relegated to unnerving tension. You’ll need to keep an eye on both for objects to interact with, passages to traverse, and other clues that can help you move forward and navigate the world and its mysteries. The screen will split to show two views of the same location. This allows for some very interesting cutscenes-watching spirits interact with objects in the spirit world and how that affects them in the real world-and makes for some intriguing and engaging puzzles. The biggest unique thing that The Medium does is to not just shift between worlds, but allow Marianne to exist in both simultaneously. At times it can tread through the topic of psychological traumas with all the grace of a bull in tap shoes (one sequence borders on expressing a sympathy/justification for an abuser based on their own trauma before thankfully steering clear), but it’s generally an interesting and enjoyable, if largely rote, horror narrative. Each subsequent beat generally won’t surprise the player if they’re familiar with how horror developers often draw parallels between psychological trauma and otherworldly horror.

The only area the story really falters in is simply rolling through too many generally predictable horror game tropes. There are some other fun surprises in how the story is laid out too, and this clever interweaving kept me engaged throughout. Story is told through persistent narration, as well as comments Marianne makes about the world and situation around her. In fact, it’s enough to be considered a spiritual successor to the Silent Hill franchise, in just about everything but the name. And once the game introduces the shifts into the spirit world, it really starts to remind one of Silent Hill, a clear influence for Bloober Team on this project.

Cinematic camera angles, deliberate actions as you search the environment for story tidbits and ways to move forward. The narrative takes some interesting twists in how it relays past stories.Īt its outset, The Medium reminded me a lot of a game like Heavy Rain or Until Dawn.