Bloober Team’s The Medium has some new gameplay footage this month, ahead of its full release. As the psychological horror title preps for open spread, it’s time to take a deeper look at the story and the setting.
The game follows Marianne, a girl caught between two worlds, literally. The game plops her into a story about loss and suffering as she tries to overcome some nefarious force that’s hunting her. By hopping between worlds, her psychic powers become ever more present, and more important to he survival. The game makes liberal use of these powers in both puzzle-solving and combat encounters. Can you survive?
Marianne is hunted by a menacing foe called the Maw, which stands in for various ominous beings and forces in her life. The entire plot of the game seems to borrow heavily from the ideas of grief and trauma, and how we process them as humans. And we can definitely see that in the art work and level design, and especially in some of the influences for those areas.
The game is drawing heavily upon various influences, most notably the dystopian surrealist artwork of Zdzisław Beksiński. Beksiński is known for some rather horrifying imagery influenced by a combination of Holocaust experiences, and his experience with architecture. The brutality and strangeness of his more famous pieces is well-known, and can only be described as horrifying by many. The Polish painter, photographer and sculptor has inspired many works over the years, and this new game may be one of the better ones yet in the industry.
That’s not all though, as the game draws on the sound design of the legendary composer Akira Yamaoka for some very distinct influences from Silent Hill, one of the best horror game franchises ever made. It will be very interesting to see how the game tailors the story around multiple planes of existence, human suffering, and the story of one traumatized girl.
The game is due to make a spooky debut on January 28, 2021, for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
You can view the full 14-minute gameplay snippet down below.
