THE MEDIUM THE MAW SERIES
THE MEDIUM THE MAW WINDOWS

The game’s environments are lushly detailed and feature breathtaking lighting effects and artistic direction that really draws you into the world. And, as you can probably tell from the screens above, that’s still the case on the PS5.

THE MEDIUM THE MAW SERIES

The Medium was a gorgeous game when it launched on the Xbox Series X|S and PC. Instead, these situations are used as powerful vehicles to tell an emotional and poignant story about trauma, resilience, and sacrifice. However, this isn’t just for shock value and never comes across as distasteful. Trigger warning: topics like suicide, the sexual abuse of children, and even the Nazi atrocities of the holocaust play prominent roles in the game’s narrative. Speaking of laying it on thick, The Medium‘s story touches on some pretty uncomfortable subjects. That’s a testament to The Medium‘s superb direction and pacing that keeps the tension dialed high and the fear factor layered on thick. Every time the creature appeared, I found my heart lodged firmly in my throat. Cowering and holding your breath as the Predator-style silhouette of The Maw stomps past you, ready to crush your soul like a Capri Sun, is nothing short of exhilerating. But I think it added to the sense of dread and urgency. Some will probably bemoan the game’s lack of combat. Or, when the shit hits the fan-as it often does-you’ll just have to run like hell in tightly-scripted chase scenes. Instead, you’ll need to carefully sneak around the environment to avoid your pursuer, a towering, gargoyle-like creature known only as The Maw. While you can occasionally soak up some residual energy to perform a spirit blast that stuns enemies or creates a shield to let you pass through swarms of flesh-eating moths, there’s no real combat to speak of in The Medium. As you can imagine, this makes for some pretty intense races against the clock as you rush to complete your objectives in time. However, you can only do this for a limited time before you’re sucked back into Marianne’s body. Occasionally, you’ll even need to have an out-of-body experience that allows you to exist completely in the spirit world. But the way it’s executed here makes for some really cool set-piece moments that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.Īlmost every puzzle is built around slipping between the veils of realities and interacting with objects in both worlds. You’d think this would complicate things. As you investigate the environment, the screen will occasionally split in two, giving you a view of both Marianne in the real and spirit worlds. The thing that makes the game stand out from its contemporaries is Marianne’s powers. You’ll explore the Niwa Workers’ Resort and its nearby ruins, solve puzzles, and find notes that drip-feed you details about the game’s story. If you’ve ever played a survival horror game before, The Medium‘s mechanics will be instantly familiar. Wary but searching for answers, she sets off into the abandoned facility to find Thomas and uncover the secret behind her reoccurring nightmares. One day, while preparing her recently deceased foster father’s body for his funeral, she receives a mysterious phone call from a man named Thomas, who pleads with her to meet him at a crumbling Soviet-era resort located in the outskirts of Krakow. A psychic with a traumatic past and the power to step into the spirit world to communicate with the dead, she’s recently been haunted by visions of a young girl being executed in the forest. The Medium puts players in control of Marianne. Now, after months of waiting, PlayStation 5 owners finally have the chance to face their fears. With jaw-dropping production values, a tense atmosphere, and a unique gameplay mechanic that allows you to explore two worlds at once, it’s clear Bloober Team put an immense amount of effort into their newest offering.

THE MEDIUM THE MAW WINDOWS

And, since then, they’ve continued to bang out thriller after thriller with games like Layers of Fear 2, Observer: System Redux, and Blair Witch, along with its VR port.įirst released for Windows and the Xbox Series X|S in January, the studio’s latest title, The Medium, is easily their most ambitious to date. The studio’s gory rise to glory began in 2016 with the psyche-shredding Layers of Fear. In recent years, Polish developer Bloober Team has been a fixture in the horror gaming scene.

The medium the maw