The Medium

The game is nice, it's a mix between a point and click game and a walking simulator, it sure has too many restrictions and the puzzles are too easy to stand out in the genre, but it definitely deserves credit for its inspired graphics and sound desing. The biggest problem I have with this game are performances. It is poorly optimized and simply unplayable with ray tracing enabled. This game was supposed to be a showcase for next-gen visual features, but at this point it fails to meet its expectations.

The studio that developed this game decided to patent the idea of simultaneous alternate realities in video games. They weren’t the first ones to think about this, but they decided to reserve it exclusively to their studio. How much of an * do you have to be? So, to review the game, it’s ehh I get more entertainment from the 0.5v of games on Itch than with whatever this was.

I really enjoyed the game! The environments are gorgeous, music and atmosphere are spot on, and it has lots of the fun stress and "will I survive" doubts that horror games tantalize with. The story is super interesting and I love the characters. The twists were really cool. The world-split mechanics are very cool and an innovation on some of the old approaches. What seems like a game mechanic at first is actually anchored into the main protagonist, and the lore speaks to it as you get deeper in. All hail the mighty bolt cutters! This has been the funnest and most "oh wow" explicit-triggering horror adventure I've played in years. Thank you Bloober! I'm holding back one star because it ended a bit too soon. 22 hours on my first playthrough felt a little short. Could have used another 5 hours of content, and/or the ability to make more choices to unlock different endings. (Unless that's in there and I've missed it? I'll be looking! Got 86% GOG achievements on first play-through.) ---some spoiler risk below--- This is a great entry for previous fans of horror games like Silent Hill. There are many nods to it: -Mirror world transitions (SH:Origins) -Rust world -Stationary and moving wheelchairs -Confused characters that the protagonist triggers and helps render whole (Sadness has end of sentence inflections like Angela in SH2 actually. Not sure if that's intentional, but if so, nice touch!) -Piano puzzle (SH1) -Grandfather clock puzzle (SH1) -Martyred nurse (SH1) -Swimming pool (SH1) -Metatron-like symbols -Running sequences (SH:Downpour, SH:SM) -Children's crayon drawings -It all begins with a dead girl, or *******-******* girl (like Alessa) There are also plenty of fun Easter Eggs to discover from Blair witch, to Monty Python, and Napoleon Dynamite. I'll be looking for more!

The game looks great, sounds great, feels great. But it isn't fun to play. I'm tired of walking on cornices and ledges pretending to be either scared or thrilled. Where's the sense of agency? Where's the feeling of discovery? Or wonder? I've got the same complains with regard to the plot. There's many plot twists, many monsters, many revelations... but I feel a spectator, one that's not particularly amused. And it's a shame cause the story could have been great if the dialogue wasn't so cliché and the main character wasn't so gray, so invisible. And why does she have to EXPLAIN everything, as if the audience were unadept at understanding "language"? The whole thing is marketed as a horror game but it looks like a dark cliché fantasy with superheroes and monsters, who happen to be traumatized people battling their own monsters. Really entertaining... but only in theory. Bloober, you've got the visual and audio designers! Now you need to work on better gameplay and storytelling. I understand the need to upgrade the whole technical package to sell the game to bigger and wider audiences, but it shouldn't come to the detriment of the intelligence and complexity of your game.

One of the first 'next gen' Unreal engine based games and it has its own charm and includes an interesting game mechanic, astral projection type power to help navigate you through the haunted building. Not sure how the PC port holds up & would not buy it for full price either.