Dominic Sheard writes:
The Medium is Bloober Team’s latest horror title in their current run of producing horror themed games since their entry in the genre with Layers of Fear back in 2016. This is easily the studio’s most ambitious title, both in visual technologies and pushing their way of telling a story, plus it is the Xbox Series X/S first exclusive, so it has a lot riding on it. The Medium might not be a traditional horror in sense of gore and jump scares, this is a game that wants to tell its story through its unique split screen approach mixed with some vintage fixed camera angles that are seen in 90s horror games, such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
COG writes: Dim the lights, put on your headset, and prepare to embark on a heart-pounding journey into the scariest video games on the Xbox Series X/S.
Bloober Team has announced that it will turning its psychological horror game The Medium into a TV show, though no details were provided.
I wonder if the TV will lean heavily on that same split-screen mechanic. Not sure if it would work, but it would definitely be interesting.
I think that would be the main selling point. It would set the show apart from others in its category.
Given techniques like split diopter shots (seen a lot in De Palma films) or splicing different takes in editing, there's way to incorporate a similar split-screen effect.
For the first time ever I feel like a tv show could be infinitely better than the game. Man that game was a dumpster fire of boredom.
I do think there's nice untapped potential for a Tv show with a six-sense vibe.
Call me crazy but I'm one of the few who did enjoy the plot of the game and finished it.
Was it perfect hell no but nice and refreshing hell yeah.
-"Call me crazy but I'm one of the few who did enjoy the plot of the game and finished it."
Don't let the most vocal of this site fool you: you're in the majority for those who actually played it.
If you guys enjoyed it, then good for you but Bloober has a history of writing trauma themes into their plot and handling it horribly. The Medium was particularly problematic. People aren't advocating against Bloober for no reason.
@monkey602
-"...Bloober has a history of writing trauma themes into their plot and handling it horribly."
As someone who's played almost all of their recent main games to some extent (Layers of Fear 2 excluded), they are inconsistent writers. Blair Witch had some rough execution for example.
-"The Medium was particularly problematic."
It has moments of shock value that harm the overall experience, but there's actually meaningful subtext buried here. Whenever I see the term "problematic" I reflexively wonder how much that accusation is fueled by reddit's subculture or whatever. By today's standard, Silent Hill 2 would get dinged for being problematic despite that... being the entire point. Bloober's applying a 'trauma begets trauma' motif through its world by incorporating the ravages done to Poland by Nazis and Communists. There are legit reasons why all of these pieces are in place and how they're explored is done in earnestness. I've seen some otherwise solid people, like Gene Park, critique it but I think he misunderstands some of its crucial context.
Not the best of last year, but it was well within its right for '21 writing nominations.
I'm definitely not trying to be the voice of a new generation here. And I'm definitely not against using sensitive themes for setting and plot. But the conclusion Bloober came to with their themes in The Medium was incredibly jarring and poorly crafted.
I'm not going to deep dive into it, it is spoiler territory and I wouldn't want to ruin it for someone who would enjoy it.
But I played 2 games last year that absolutely botched what they set out to achieve in narrative. The Medium was one, The Suicide of Rachel Foster was the other.
-"But the conclusion Bloober came to with their themes in The Medium was incredibly jarring and poorly crafted."
I guess there's just going to be a hard disagree between us then. It ranks up there with Observer as far as Bloober's storytelling goes and it gave me more optimism about their heavily rumored Silent Hill project/remake. I can understand not wanting to get into details here, but I'm down for an extended convo via PM. It just might take a while for me to respond.
-"But I played 2 games last year that absolutely botched what they set out to achieve in narrative. The Medium was one, The Suicide of Rachel Foster was the other."
It's weird b/c I'm with you on Rachel Foster and its "Legal Lolita" angle too. I'd almost argue there's a yin/yang disparity between them with regards to handling their themes. *MAYBE* not black and white difference per se - Medium has some issues, but something closer to a black and... beige.
Hmm. That actually makes a lot of sense. I could see the dual reality split screen being used in some scenes. That would provide some pretty incredible visuals that we don't normally get in films or tv shows.
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