Have I gone insane? Am I mad? I very much doubt so, yet for some reason, video game companies continue to believe this is the mythical road to horror. To the degree, we find the trope now overused and rarely if ever adequately utilized.
For you see, there is nothing horrific about going in insane when you are not the one actually going insane. Insanity creates a perpetual uncertainty that drives anxiety—leaving a person doubting themselves and the very nature of reality around them. How, after all, can something perceived be so real yet untrue at the same time? Questions without answers arise, and ultimately one can no longer be sure if anything, including themselves, is real and not another delusion.
That is horrifying to experience, but we the player do not experience this. For us, there is no anxiety, no tension, no uncertainty. Only the wait for the big reveal of “surprise you weren’t crazy after all,” or “none of it was real, just in your head.”
Some outlets have taken to surmising the “you’re crazy” is the core of Bloober Team’s latest psychological horror game, The Medium. Bearing no connection to the hit TV show, the game will follow Marianne, a medium who is tormented by visions and able to drift into the desolate spirit world.
Central to the game’s theme is there is no one truth to perception. That there is more to the world than most of us perceive, and players will explore this concept as they explore Krakow. A small town Marianne’s visions have lead her too.
For the moment, there isn’t much to go on about the game. It will feature a soundtrack composed by Akira Yamaoka, and in house talent Arkadiusz Reikowski, so the Silent Hill vibes are palpable even in the trailer. Other than that, most marketing centers itself around how awesome the Xbox Series X is.
Given the reach, the game was given that rhetoric is to be expected.
To bring this creative theme to life, we have placed players into the role of Marianne, a medium hounded by visions, living and interacting across two worlds: our one, and the spirit world.
Her visions lead her to an abandoned hotel in Krakow, the site of a terrible tragedy many years ago, hiding a mystery only a medium can solve. With access to both worlds, players will have a wider perspective and discover that there’s no one simple truth.
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN A DUAL-REALITY HORROR
Become a medium living in two worlds: the real and the spirit one. Haunted by a vision of a child’s murder, you travel to an abandoned hotel resort, which years ago became the stage of an unthinkable tragedy. There you begin your search for difficult answers. The Medium features a “dual” soundtrack by Bloober Team’s Arkadiusz Reikowski and legendary composer Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame.
Optimized for Xbox Series X
Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness, and framerates up to 120FPS.
