The Medium is the latest Microsoft exclusive game, developed and published by Bloober Team. The game is a psychological horror, a genre the studio is no stranger to. Prior to shipping The Medium, the studio behind the game created Layers of Fear and Observer, both horror games that received positive reception.
The Medium, on the other hand, received mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. Despite that, though, playing the game can elicit its own form of engagement, as long as someone knows what they're doing throughout. The Medium is filled with unique ideas and unconventional gameplay, and learning a couple of pro-tips may help you overcome the game better.
10 Play With Headphones
As soon as someone starts the game, a prompt on the screen will immediately advise them to play the game with headphones. This is a piece of advice everyone should absolutely listen to.
Throughout the game, there are going to be faint sounds of whispers the players will have to watch out for in order to unsheath this game's facade. Wearing a pair of headphones at a decent volume will make it easy to spot them.
9 Watch Your Arm
The spirit world is a plane of existence that's central in the story and gameplay of the game. While the players are here, they'll be presented with situations where they'll have to defend themselves.
This is where Marianne can use her spiritual energy as a defense. However, it can be easy to recklessly spend all of her powers, making them deplete faster. The players can watch out for that by taking a look at Marriane's arm. Her arms will glow white if she still has spiritual energy to spare.
8 Stealth Is Key
The Medium is a game that is not similar to other horror titles that have action elements in them. The players are almost given no means of defeating a monster, only ways to slow them down for a bit.
The most essential key when dealing with most of the monsters in the game is stealth. If the players can't be patient, they will certainly have an awful time playing The Medium.
7 Always Use Insight
Insight is an ability the players will discover very early on in the game. As soon as Insight is attained, the players must find every opportunity to use this handy technique.
Marriane's Insight will allow you to spot and identify things you will most likely miss without the ability. These things are essential in both completing the story and collecting items. Once the players have the ability, they can simply look around to spot things that are noteworthy.
6 Know When And When Not To Run
One thing people will have to get used to when playing The Medium is its pacing, both in revealing its narrative and in actual gameplay. This game almost feels very contemplative, and players will have to spend a lot of time simply walking around while discovering things.
Every so often, though, things will begin to pick up. These are moments when players can and should run. During the duration of the game, players can also decide to speed things along by choosing to run, which is completely fine, but it may also cause them to miss a couple of essential things.
5 Jumping Back During Out Of Body Experiences
One of the game's most incredible aspects is its "Out of Body Experience" mechanic. This is when Marriane mentally and spiritually exits her physical form and move around in the spiritual world.
These moments in the game are often done to solve puzzles and the like. However, players are also given a time limit while doing this. Running is a very good way of making the most out of their experience while in this form, but they should also jump back to their body to start fresh and retrace their steps.
4 Split-Screen
Perhaps this game's feature that stands out most is its split-screen integration. People are forced to control one character who is moving in two separate realities at the same time. It's a very cool concept, as unorthodox as it is, but it may take some getting used to.
Players may be tempted to simply look at one of the screens, but they should take the time and get acquainted with the idea of going back and forth between both screens. Oftentimes, there will be items that can be found in one reality but are inaccessible in the other. Be sure to pay attention to both.
3 Read The Items As Often As You Can
There are plenty of items waiting to be found in The Medium. They also aren't simply placed in the game for the sake of having something to discover. A lot of those items are integral to the story and may help the player in their journey.
When picking up an item that has text on it, players should take the time to read them. Make sure to press the prompt to read the text on-screen.
2 Adjust The Video Settings
Many of the scenes in The Medium are way darker than they should be, which of course, makes sense considering the aesthetics of the game. However, this can be a hindrance when the player is trying to discover essential items.
To mitigate this, regardless if someone is playing the game on PC or the Xbox Series X, they should adjust the video settings and brightness to their liking to make sure they don't miss out on essential materials.
1 Play The Game In One Sitting
This may sound like an absurd pro-tip, but it will serve the players so much better if they're able to play this game all the way through to the end in one sitting. The reason for this is that The Medium almost feels like a movie. Playing it in one sitting makes it easier to internalize the story, which is the best way to comprehend narratives like this one.
The game isn't too long either, requiring around seven to eight hours. It's not a necessity, of course, to finish the game in one sitting, but it will enhance the experience.