On their YouTube channel, Polish developer Bloober Team released a 14-minute gameplay trailer for their upcoming game, The Medium. After sitting back and soaking in all of the information that the gameplay trailer has to offer, we can’t help but be hyped for the game’s upcoming release on January 28.
14-Minute Gameplay Trailer for The Medium Has Us Hyped For The Game’s Release
The brand new 14-minute video from Bloober Team offers an extended look at The Medium. As many viewers have commented, the game’s imagery gives off some major Silent Hill vibes.
It also helps that The Medium’s original soundtrack was co-composed by Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka along with Arkadiusz Reikowski who’s composed music for other Bloober Team titles such as Layers of Fear and Blair Witch.
The Silent Hill vibes in The Medium are strong indeed, although the game is wholly original and makes use of some rather unique design ideas. One of the design ideas that’s guaranteed to capture your attention in The Medium is its dual reality system which lets you play in the real world and the spirit world simultaneously.
The trailer showcases some of this dual reality gameplay in action, with the game’s main character Marianne encountering the spirit of a child in a haunted hotel.
In the real world displayed at the top of the screen, you don’t see the child, it’s as if Marianne is there alone. However, in the spirit world at the bottom of the screen, the spirit child can be seen clearly and interacted with.
It’s unsettling, but supremely clever. Another cool moment is shown as Marianne rides an elevator before a prompt pops up saying to press and hold “B” to have an “Out of Body Experience” where the real world at the top of the screen is paused, thus allowing you to move freely in the spirit world at the bottom of the screen.
You can also move between worlds without them being rendered on top of one another via the use of mirrors.
In the past, Bloober Team has noted that there are no direct forms of combat in The Medium, and this can be seen in the gameplay trailer where Marianne crouches, moves slowly, hides, and holds her breath to avoid being detected by entities that are just barely visible.
It doesn’t look like you can confront these entities, all you can do is hide from them and run from them. Seeing this play out reminded us a little of Death Stranding.
Other things of note in the gameplay trailer include the inclusion of a fixed camera, the balanced variety of puzzles that players will have to solve in order to progress, and subtle nods to the game’s location of Poland (the same country that Bloober Team is based out of).
Polish references in the gameplay trailer include the word “Niwa” in the hotel’s name “The Niwa Holiday Resort” with “Niwa” being a real village located in southwest Poland. There’s also a sign at the hotel’s counter with the Polish word “Klucze” and the English translation right below, letting you know the word means “Keys” in English.
Adding a little extra clarity to the game, the description for the 14-minute gameplay trailer reads:
“Take an extended look at the gameplay of The Medium, a one of its kind horror game where you can play in the real world and the spirit world at the same time. Travel to an abandoned and haunted hotel resort to discover a mystery only a medium can solve.
Coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC on January 28th, 2021.
Discover a dark mystery only a medium can solve. Explore the real world and the spirit world at the same time. Use your psychic abilities to solve puzzles spanning both worlds, uncover deeply disturbing secrets, and survive encounters with The Maw – a monster born from an unspeakable tragedy.”
Originally, The Medium was supposed to release on December 10, but the release date ended up getting pushed back for a variety of reasons. Now, The Medium is on track to release on January 28.
After watching the 14-minute extended gameplay trailer, it’s hard to remain patient and wait for the game’s release to roll around. We’re just so eager to jump in and start playing it right now.
If you haven’t watched the new trailer yet, we highly recommend checking it out, and be sure to check back later this month as we’ll have lots more coverage of The Medium to share with you.
Related: New Behind the Scenes Video for The Medium Shows Off The OST’s Dual Partnership
