If you just started playing The Medium, you may find yourself wanting to make sure you don’t miss anything either in relation to achievements, or to help you better keep track of the game’s story.
After the opening cutscenes, the first area you’ll be able to explore is Jack’s apartment. While there isn’t too much here for you to pick up and inspect and the main objective is to grab Jack’s tie clip, there are a few hidden things worth taking a look at before you progress on to the Niwa Hotel.
To help make sure you don’t miss anything, we’ve put together a walkthrough of Jack’s apartment from the opening area all the way to the downstairs funeral home area.
The Medium | Jack’s Apartment Walkthrough Guide
The game begins with you exploring Jack’s home in search of his special tie clip. There are several rooms for you to explore and a few different items that you’re able to inspect while you’re here.
Be sure to explore all of these rooms before heading downstairs through the door that’s across from the kitchen area near several hanging coats.
In the first room, walk forward towards the table and when you see the tiny circle pop up, letting you know you can interact with an item, press X (on Xbox) to inspect that item.
On the table, you’ll see a calendar showing October and November 1999.
Several notes have been marked on the calendar, and you can press X to get a closer look and Y to “Read” the notes.
After you’re done looking at Jack’s calendar, open the door and head to your left down the hall.
Where to Find Jack’s Missing Tie Clip
The first door on your left is Jack’s office. On the left side of the office, press X to begin inspecting the area.
You can inspect Jack’s medals displayed on the wall, and X to open the tie clip holder, although when you open the holder you’ll see that it’s empty.
Press LB on Xbox to use your spirit sense and illuminate the location of the missing tie clip. The game will help walk you through this portion.
Once you start using your spirit sense, you’ll see it’s behind the desktop clock, which you can push to the side in order to pick up the tie clip.
After grabbing the tie clip, don’t forget to inspect other items in Jack’s office. On his desk, you can inspect a photo of Jack.
On the right wall, you can inspect religious portraits with Marianne noting that Jack was a religious man.
When you’re finished in Jack’s office, head back out into the hall and take a left to a closed set of doors.
Press X to open these doors, then enter Marianne’s room.
You’ll find several interesting items in this room.
Spanning the room starting on your left, you can inspect a wall with a number of butterfly pictures on the wall.
Marianne remarks that she’s always had a thing for them, though she’s not quite sure why.
On the desk to the right of the grandfather clock, there’s a picture you can inspect for additional backstory about Marianne’s childhood.
Keep heading to your right to a dresser area and inspect, then look down to find a school note that you can inspect, and press Y to read.
To the right, there’s another small note that you can pick up which is an ICU admission card.
If you press Y to read it, you’ll learn that Marianne was hospitalized at the age of three with burns.
This is a plot point that will come up again later on in the story, but it’s worth taking note of as a key part of Marianne’s backstory.
Leaving Marianne’s room, head down the hall, then take a right into the kitchen area.
On the table to your right, you can inspect the table to see a newspaper called Good Morning Cracow dated November 5, 1999.
The main story on the front of the newspaper is in regards to the “Symbolic funeral of the Sierza Mine” with miners commenting they won’t let their jobs be buried, that the casket they’re carrying is for the Vistula Coal Company.
It’s an interesting newspaper to take a closer look at and read by pressing “Y” and having the text pop up on the screen.
Note that the URL at the top right corner doesn’t lead anywhere, though “.pl” indicates it’d be a Polish website if it did exist.
Bonus little Easter Egg that “Good Morning Krakow” is the name of apartment buildings that exist in the same area as the game’s apartment building.
As noted in Bloober Team’s “9 Uncanny Facts” video about The Medium, the apartment building is real, was also shown in Observer: System Redux, and can be found near Matejko Square.
At the upper left corner the price of the newspaper reads “1,90 zł” or 1.90 Polish złoty.
How to Feed Cat, Unlock Secret Achievement
A secret achievement can be unlocked while you’re in the kitchen. If you look against the wall, you’ll see an empty cat bowl that you can expect.
On the kitchen counter, you’ll be able to pick up a can of cat food with the text “Kocie Łakocie” on it.
After picking up the cat food, head over to the bowl, inspect it, then select the cat food from your inventory to fill it.
In doing so, you’ll unlock an achievement for feeding the cat.
How to Develop a Photo
Towards the end and back of the kitchen is a red room used for photo development.
Looking at the photo development area, you’ll see instructions on how to develop a photo.
Starting from your right, pick up the blank photo paper.
Next, inspect the lit area beneath the illuminator and illuminate the photo for five seconds.
The illuminator will make a clicking sound, count five clicks, then pick the photo back up.
Look at the first tray of liquid to the left of the illuminator. Select the photo and dip it in the tray and count for three seconds.
Pick the photo up and repeat the process again in the next tray to your left, dipping and counting for three seconds before picking the photo up.
Do this again in the third and final tray, and when you pick the photo up, you should have a complete portrait of Jack.
Marianne says it’s the last photo she took of him. With this photo puzzle done, you’re ready to head downstairs.
To do this, exit the kitchen and in the hallway near several hanging coats, press X to exit and begin walking downstairs.
In the courtyard with the bicycle, there’s a sign on the wall to the left of the blue vehicle that you can interact with.
The sign reads, “The Last Goodbye Funeral Home.”
Head past the sign into the next area to find the Funeral Home door.
The door you need to enter the Funeral Home on your right. Before you enter though, head down a little ways and on your left, you can interact with the wall with some graffiti on it.
After that, head back to the door, press X to interact with it, then select the Funeral Home Key from your inventory to unlock the door.
In the next hallway, the door you need to enter is to your right, but is locked. To find the key, head left and into the funeral home office.
Where to Find Prep Room Key
Head around the desk towards the cabinet with urns on display to reach the part of the desk where you can press X to inspect.
There are three things on the desk to look at. First, a note about a funeral, next a photo of Jack and Marianne, and finally the keys to the Prep Room.
Before you leave the funeral office, head back around the desk and to the cross to inspect it and the wall with the tree behind it.
Over at the Prep Room door, repeat the step you did with the Funeral Home Key, selecting the Prep Room Key from your inventory and using it to unlock the door.
Head downstairs and into the Prep Room. At the back wall you’ll be able to pull Jack’s body out.
Looking at him, you’ll see his tie is missing. To your immediate left on a chair, you’ll see Jack’s striped tie.
When you pick it up, you’ll need to combine it and the tie clip in your inventory before putting it on Jack.
After that, the atmosphere will get a little creepy as you make your way back up the stairs.
You’ll need to enter the funeral office again, even though a spirit has just entered and slammed the door.
Looking over by a set of chairs on your right, you’ll see an urn has been smashed on the floor.
Inspect the broken urn and you’ll cut to a scene where Marianne is talking to Jack’s spirit.
Jack seems confused and flustered. Marianne reassures him that everything is alright and encourages him to get some rest.
It’s an extremely emotional scene as she says goodbye to her father.
A few moments later, Marianne receives a phone call from a man named Thomas asking for her help and for her to go to the Niwa Resort.
With the call scene complete, the opening credits of The Medium will roll.
After the credits, the next section of the game will task you with finding a way into the Niwa Hotel, which we cover in our next walkthrough linked below.
Related: The Medium | How to Reach the Niwa Hotel, How to Enter Niwa Hotel
