The Medium is an upcoming horror game and is one of many Xbox Series X launch titles. For many in the gaming community, The Medium shows quite a lot of promise in terms of its aesthetic and design, but there hasn't been that much detailed explanation in terms of how the game will operate on a larger scale. Luckily, a spokesperson from Bloober Team has explained how The Medium's key mechanic functions.
One of the core design elements featured in The Medium is this dual-reality gameplay mechanic. In gameplay trailers, it would show the playable character, Marianne, being controlled in two locations at once, with the screen being split vertically down the middle. For some, this design choice felt rather strange and many were left confused as to how it might function.
Michal Napora, a community team member from Bloober Team, was featured in a video posted to The Medium's official Twitter page. In the video, Napora discusses at detailed length the game's various features and mechanics. He talked about how puzzle-solving would be at the forefront of the gameplay, given The Medium's lack of weapons. However, things started to get very interesting once he brought up the dual-reality mechanic.
Napora explained how throughout two thirds of the game, the player will experience one reality at a time. Though, for the remaining third of the game, the screen will be split between both realities and both will be rendered in real-time, thanks to the hardware capabilities of the Xbox Series X. It's nice that the game won't have both realities happening simultaneously 100% of the time, but Napora also included some rather curious details.
Depending on the context, one side of the screen could be larger than the other while the dual reality mechanic is in use, subtly cluing the player into what to do during certain segments of the game. In addition, both realities are impacted by each other in tandem, so if something happens in one reality, it will lead to a different outcome in the opposing reality. One thing that wasn't brought up was how the main villain, The Maw, will impact the dual reality mechanic, which likely will be left as a surprise for when the game properly releases.
In any case, it will be interesting how this game ultimately turns out. It's clear that many aspects of the game were influenced by Silent Hill, with one of the composers even returning to help with the music. Perhaps this game could be the spiritual successor to Silent Hill that so many horror fans have been waiting for.
The Medium is set to launch in December 2020.