The Medium - Preview of the new work by Bloober Team

The Medium is certainly one of the most interesting titles shown during theInside Xbox, held on May 7th. The new work created by Bloober Team, creators of Observer, Blair Witch and Layers of Fear, undoubtedly represents the more ambitious project never made by the Polish development team, promising to keep a central theme focused on perspective and perception - which will guide the creative and technological design of the title -, and further raising the bar of tension.

Divided between two worlds

In The Medium we will find ourselves in the shoes of Marianne, a medium haunted by frightening visions related to the murder of a child, who live and interact between two worlds: the the real one and the spiritual one. The visions of our protagonist will catapult gamers into an abandoned hotel in the Krakow of the 80s, during the communist regime, the site of a terrible tragedy and which hides within it a mystery that only a medium can solve. With access to both worlds, players will have a broader perspective and will find that there is not always a "simple" truth, but that things are more complicated than we think. During the conference the same Piotr Babieno, CEO of Bloober Team, said:

Each of our games has a central theme that drives its creative and technological design. In The Medium, we focus on perspective and perception. When you change your point of view, you find that things are more complicated and nuanced than you initially thought. The Medium is our most ambitious game ever and we can't wait to show you how we are translating this "vision" into a psychological horror.

Innovation, but with a look to the past

Unfortunately, in addition to the particularly suggestive settings and a enveloping soundtrack and inspired realized by master Akira Yamaoka (legendary composer known for working on the Silent Hill franchise for years) and da Arkadiusz Reikowski by Bloober Team, The Medium reveal trailer showed little in the way of gameplay. Krakow will not be the only setting, as in the trailer you can clearly see the Grand Square, St. Mary's Basilica and an abandoned hotel. Most likely the investigative component will be the fulcrum of the new psychological horror made by the Polish development team. Will the interaction with people, objects and messages hidden in the environments, as well as allowing us to perceive their emotions and acquire more information about Marianne's plot and lore, will appropriately “stimulate” the visions of our protagonist?

At the moment the only certain thing is that, in addition to exploiting one third person view, compared to the previous works created by Bloober Team, The Medium will be strongly inspired and will try to follow in the footsteps of the iconic Silent Hill saga, in which Akira Yamaoka himself worked, according to the statements of the same Jacek Zieba, Game Producer of the title.

The inclusion of legendary Akira Yamaoka - best known for her work in the Silent Hill franchise - is a dream come true. We have been inspired by many of the previous games he has worked on and are thrilled to be able to deliver an entirely new project with The Medium.

Exclusive "temporal" or "total"?

Unlike many titles presented during the Inside Xbox, The Medium it will not be a cross-gen title but only next-gen, landing exclusively on Xbox Series X and PC, therefore it will take full advantage of the main features of the new console of the Redmond giant, such as: resolution in 4K, support to ray-tracing and, thanks to the implementation of the SSD, an unprecedented cinematic experience, with total no loading screens, allowing the development team to do justice to "their own vision" of psychological horror.

At the moment, no official release date has been revealed, but only the launch window scheduled for the end of 2020. Also, we don't know if The Medium it will be a simple one Xbox Series X and PC timed exclusive, or if the new Bloober Team title will later also arrive on other platforms such as PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia. Certainly the expectations are very high and we can't wait to find out more details on the new psychological horror made by the Polish software house.