It hints at a newfound faith that players can still be unsettled by the environment and storytelling alone, not least because it draws so heavily from old-school survival horror and a time when the emphasis was very much on letting the player's imagination conjure up the horrors waiting in the next room. The Medium signals a budding maturity in Bloober's storytelling and confidence in its abilities to be scary without jump scares. Sure, the chase sequences were tiresome, and yes, Marianne's endless commentary on everything she saw was grating, but it's to Bloober's credit that despite those flaws, I remained riveted and keen to take the story through to its (sadly unsatisfactory) conclusion. I don't need to shoot a gun, or read a memo, or do any of the hundreds of mechanics now found in countless games, because if a story properly grips me, that's usually sufficient to keep me invested.įor me, The Medium did achieve this. Me? I don't mind walking simulators, providing I'm walking through a world – even a supernatural one – that feels authentic. It's yet another Bloober walking simulator, but this time without the jumpscares that made Layers of Fear such a thrilling ride – and I suspect it's this lack of agency and jumpscares that have disappointed some. No pathways or dialogue options to agonise over. But in The Medium's case, there are few, if any, meaningful choices. Typically, the player controls everything the character does, and the story cannot progress without their direct input. "The Medium signals a budding maturity in Bloober's storytelling and confidence in its abilities to be scary without jump scares"Īnd that's the problem here, isn't it? Video games are a unique storytelling device that immerses the audience in ways movies and books can only hope to emulate. Furthermore, it feels like issues in one Bloober game are over-corrected in the next Layers of Fear 2 responded to criticism that its predecessor was little more than a haunted house simulation by stuffing it with a parade of irksome insta-deaths. Prior projects in the studio's rear mirror were all a tad glitchy and inelegant, bursting with tropes and spooky corner-of-the-eye shenanigans that, while initially effective, grew ever more tiresome. I've been a reluctant critic of Bloober for some time now. ![]() Me? I enjoyed it, but as a horror enthusiast who isn't typically a fan of Bloober's bombastic approach to horror, it's little wonder some fans of Layers of Fear and Blair Witch were left feeling… well, unsatisfied. Others were so impressed by the supernatural adventure, it garnered flawless marks. Some, including our own Leon (as you can read in our The Medium review), felt it was so middle-of-the-road you could get run-over playing it. ![]() Few games have polarised critics and players alike in quite the same way as The Medium has.
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