![]() ![]() Marianne’s time in Niwa does run into a few performance problems. There were multiple moments in the story where Marianne could’ve been replaced with anyone, literally anyone, and The Medium would have lost zero emotional weight from her disappearance. You’ll learn the painful and disturbing past of the resort through the eyes of the people who were present during its demise, and while the puzzles and collectibles do a good job crossings T’s and dotting I’s, these stories provide much more interest and reasons to continue then our main character. While Marianne spends time at the abandoned resort, Niwa, she will help wandering souls in the alternate reality be set free from their painful shackles. The player isn’t given a real reason to care for this story other than, “Marianne has a recurring bad dream, we’re not going to elaborate on why this is necessary, but we need you to trust us that you want to find out why.” This can be a very tall order when we’re given a protagonist with nothing but a name and a neat power that seems to inflict pain on her. The Medium spends the majority of its 8 hour story very slowly piecing together the past and present of Marianne while shrouding almost every piece of necessary information in the dark: the “dead girl” in the opening scene, Marianne’s past, who and Marianne is really at all. I’ll start with the first big issue: I could not care less for Marianne. As The Medium progressed further I started to figure that the dual-reality schtick was indeed the main focus and almost the only thing keeping this project afloat because man, this story is not good. As a fan of walking simulators and visual novels, I understand that sprawling gameplay achievements aren’t needed as long as the story is worth the time spent. It’s when we get into the story that my love for the game starts to dwindle. The Medium‘s main draw is a good one, and it was very interesting seeing the ideas used to expand Marianne’s abilities throughout the story. ![]() Cutscenes will play out with both realities present with events happening on one side but not the other, and an expansive amount of puzzles dive deep into the use of the dual-realities. Given The Medium was shelved for years because this concept was too stressful for the seventh generation of consoles, it’s amazing to see it in motion and is pretty impressive. Marianne’s powers as a medium allow her to phase and connect through both realities, and the main focus of gameplay flows through this mechanic. If there’s one thing The Medium has been banking on since it’s first rumblings back in 2012, it’s the design of split worlds whilst playing simultaneously in both areas. While venturing in blindly, her powers as a medium will soon reveal the past nature of the desolate resort and the strands of time that will tie Marianne to secrets she never knew. Stricken by a recurring dream that vividly paints the murder of a young girl on an unknown pier, Marianne is given a mysterious call to explore the ruins of an abandoned resort to seek the truth behind her dream. ![]() “It all starts with a dead girl” is the first piece to a long, arduous puzzle in the mind of Marianne. When people believe crossing over to be a serene and surreal experience, the other side for Marianne is cold, stressful, and unwelcoming: which describes my experience with The Medium quite well. For Marianne, being a medium was not a choice that was given to her. For the mediums, it’s a duty to deliver peace to souls who may have left too soon, and to spread their word before they move on. In the eyes of believers it’s a chance to reconnect with loved ones gone from our mortal reality and receive a sense of closure that may not have been achieved. The ability to connect with the dead: a long regarded skill given to those who are blessed with the capability and long desired by those who believe in it. ![]()
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