Recenze The Medium » Vortex
For almost 10 years, the Polish studio Bloober Team had to wait for the realization of its vision in the form of the psychological horror film The Medium. It is the high expectations on the part of the authors and players that can now upset the newcomers, as the first contradictory responses show. I was also very curious how this experiment would turn out. Polish developers have a successful scary game Layers of Fear and Observer. In recent years, however, in my opinion, they have not been able to emerge from their own shadow. Layers of Fear 2 and Blair Witch were just slightly above average horror movies. The team decided to take a risk and remix their current recipe. Instead of a first person perspective, the studio bet on a more classic concept of horror, but on the other hand tried to innovate it with a bifurcated reality, as we have not yet experienced it. Has a bold mixture fallen on fertile soil, or will you not bloom from this seedling of wheat?
The new horror from Bloober Team is harmed by a relatively slow start and a very straightforward gameplay in the first part. Our stream demonstrated this well.
The main heroine of the game is Marianne, who as a medium can look into the spiritual world and connect with it as well as with the ghosts and ghosts that inhabit it. A mysterious phone call takes her to an abandoned hotel, where a mysterious man promises to answer all her long-standing questions. Marianne chases a nightmare in which an unknown girl is murdered and does not know her past. Once she arrives, her special talent will make it clear to her that many people died here under mysterious circumstances years ago under mysterious circumstances. And it seems to have a common past with the place. There is no shortage of paranormal phenomena and supernatural forces in the story, it functions both as a detective story and a personal traumatic journey into the past. We can’t look deeper in the review, because we would find ourselves on the thin ice of potential spoilers. This cannot be allowed, given that the story is supposed to be one of the main drivers of the game, although sometimes it is harmed by an unbalanced pace or the fact that the authors hold us back for some time. location unnecessarily long. But I certainly can’t say that I’m bored with the story. I was really curious how the game would turn out.
The new horror from Bloober Team is harmed by a relatively slow start and a very straightforward gameplay in the first part. This was well demonstrated by our stream, where we didn’t come across basically any real puzzles in the opening hour, and most of the time it was enough to go straight for the nose. But once you get to the hotel itself, the gameplay will develop and become more varied. The main advantage of the game is, of course, to be the heavily promoted dual reality. Her perception also develops over time, and initially the some untapped potential of a good idea manages to sell better in the next few hours. In some situations, Marianne jumps from one world to another without her own intervention. At other times, it seems to move smoothly between the two realities that are intertwined at that moment. Later, however, they will learn to control these movements in part with the help of mirrors, which act as a gateway between our world and the spiritual one, whose form was inspired by the Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński. And finally, there are situations where the image splits horizontally or vertically and you watch both realities simultaneously.
One affects the other, so if Marianne encounters an obstacle in her way in the first, she can’t go any further in the opposite reality. But even this rule later ceases to apply, because the main heroine acquires dematerialization and is able to move for a limited time in the spirit world independently of her physical box. Realities are interrelated and interact in other respects, and a number of puzzles are naturally based on this principle. Initially, they came to me very simple and their solution is almost automatic, but later, with a larger number of available capabilities, the combination of possibilities and potential solutions will expand. For example, Marianne can use special energy to put electrical devices into operation, track down her target, cut through and cut through some previously inaccessible sections, listen to echoes of past events and memories from objects in the game, evoke photos and, in part, manipulate time.
Although Marianne is not fighting in the true sense of the word, and for fans of more action-packed survival horrors, her psychological expedition may seem a bit passive, it does not mean that she does not face danger or cannot die. She is followed by a tireless enemy, which she sometimes tries to avoid, other times she sneaks around him and when she is not left, she takes her feet on her shoulders. Unfortunately, these passages are among the weakest. I think I’m already quite well known for my aversion to stealth in horror movies, and The Medium didn’t make me change my mind. On the contrary, it convinced me that creeping and scaring don’t usually go very well together. Here it is mainly due to very poor technical processing. Marianne crouches strangely, and even though she can listen to where the poorly visible enemy is, or hold her breath so she doesn’t reveal herself, these situations are very chaotic and don’t look very pretty. Perhaps even worse are the confusing escape sequences, when you flee from danger. The camera throws sticks at your feet and you have to master some sections by trial and error.
Really effectively, Marianne can defend herself against some threats only with the help of some kind of spiritual energy shield that will allow her to pass through the dangerous area. In all cases, however, it is said what resources to use and in what situation. You can forget about some creative solutions to puzzles. I haven’t noticed that there is more freedom somewhere, which is true for the environment itself, which is partially open, but the developers usually take you by the hand and gradually unlock the local labyrinth and close behind you so that you don’t wander around much. This slowly brings us to the technical side and the overall solution of the game. Given the relatively small team behind the title, I am inclined to believe that The Medium looks very good, but it cannot do without reservations. I appreciate the courage of the authors to enter the unexplored territory of more classic survival horror movies with fixed and partially fixed cameras and angles. I like old-fashioned scary games and their dramatic shots, although it often means more stubborn control and a momentary loss of orientation. I’m glad to be able to watch the character again, because first person horror movies now completely dominate the scary games. At the same time, however, it is known that the authors do not have enough experience with this perspective. Due to some confusing places, you sometimes get tangled up, or you can’t tell exactly where you can go and where you can’t, or you can’t hit the door.
Of course, the authors refer to the classic parts of Silent Hill not only with a camera, but also with a bifurcated world. Even though I thought that they would shout more out of this idea in terms of gameplay and riddles, they still deserve praise for trying to take this concept one step further, even with the help of modern technology. Despite playing The Medium on the all-new Xbox Series X, I felt like the game was still not performing. Occasionally, the image tears or the character responds with a delay. Above all, however, the familiar flaw of Unreal Engine returns in the form of bouncing textures to an unexpected extent. The details are visibly drawn for even a few seconds when transitioning from scene to scene, and this is most painfully evident when traveling between realities, which is otherwise effective and the technical side unnecessarily reduces the impression of these dramatic moments. The animations and movement of the main heroine are also strange in places. Here, too, there seems to be a lack of experience with an external camera, because some activities are very awkward. Marianne looks very stiff, for example when running. In addition, wandering combined with walking animations can sometimes cause the character to get stuck and you have to reload the game from the last checkpoint, the placement of which would also deserve more consideration.
Paradoxically, I had the biggest doubts in the first hour or two, and since then my opinion on the game has been constantly improving and with it the resulting rating in my head has grown.
Bloober Team, on the other hand, has advanced in filmmaking. Cut scenes are very well captured and cut. The atmosphere is also greatly aided by the excellent soundtrack, which also refers to the cult horror film by Konami. He was taken care of by Arkadiusz Reikowski and the court composer of Silent Hill by Akira Jamaok. In the audiovisual field, the comprehensive editing of subtitles is also commendable. On the contrary, I did not understand much why the game located in Poland does not emphasize more that we are in Poland. So to be precise, the depicted environment, historic nipples or architecture are great, but I didn’t like that all the inscriptions, signs, posters and documents were in English.
The attempt to bring Silent Hill into the 21st century, presented in a modern but at the same time old-fashioned to archaic horror, did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but not as badly as I had feared. The game will keep you entertained for at least 7 to 8 hours, during which time you will come across a few interesting surprises with which I would like to support my evaluation, but it is not possible to reveal them. At times, they lose pace, you spend unnecessarily much time in a certain location or you feel that the authors not only recycle the perspective of classic horror movies, but also their playability and puzzles unnecessarily much. But none of that spoiled my overall impression. Paradoxically, I had the biggest doubts in the first hour or two, and since then my opinion on the game has been constantly improving and with it the resulting rating in my head has grown. Only one reproach lasted until the final, and in fact, paradoxically, I consider it more serious than all the others, so I saved it until the end. Although it’s a sovereignly individual thing, the biggest disappointment for me was the fact that The Medium is almost never a scary game. She is sinister, disturbing, exciting. But I wasn’t at all afraid of being a horror movie, and only once was I really scared.
