The Medium - What We Know So Far
Ever since the release of Layers of Fear, Bloober Team has been on a first person psychological horror bend. The studio followed up Layers of Fear with the sci-fi title Observer, returned to the supernatural world with Layers of Fear 2, and then developed the out-of-left-field Blair Witch. Bloober Team's next game, The Medium, will continue the psychological horror trend.
Several months ago, Microsoft and Bloober Team unveiled the upcoming title with a cryptic trailer featuring a pregnant woman receiving a sonogram, giant churches, and orange hellscapes. Nobody knew what to make of the announcement, but the companies recently released a new, more informative trailer that should clear up some confusion surrounding this game. Here's everything there is to know about The Medium so far.
When will The Medium release?
The recent reveal didn't provide a release date, so you might assume neither Microsoft nor Bloober Team are ready to make launch window promises — even vague ones. However, a bit of digging reveals the game will be available fairly soon.
Currently, you can pre-order The Medium on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and the Xbox Series X, as well as on Steam. While the Microsoft Store version gives a general "Coming Soon" date, Steam is a little more informative and claims The Medium will launch "Holiday 2020." While Steam doesn't narrow the release window any more than that, we now know we can play the game within the next five months, assuming Bloober Team doesn't experience unexpected delays.
Is there a trailer for The Medium?
The recent Xbox Games Showcase was all about video game trailers, and since The Medium was part of the showcase, it should come as no surprise this upcoming release got a trailer, too.
Unlike the previous video for The Medium, the showcase trailer demonstrates what players can expect from the game. The Medium will revolve around a woman solving mysteries (murder mysteries, not harmless Scooby-Doo mysteries) by exploring two worlds. One world will obviously be the real world, while the other will be an orange-tinted, Silent Hill otherworld-esque spirit world.
While the trailer details some prominent information about the protagonist and her personality, Bloober Team isn't ready to completely show its hand just yet. The video is intentionally vague regarding The Medium's story beats, so gamers will have to wait if they want a story summary.
What is The Medium's gameplay like?
Unlike the first trailer for The Medium, which consisted of nothing but pre-rendered graphics, the showcase trailer is largely made up of gameplay.
Judging by said trailer, The Medium will apparently play from a third-person perspective as gamers explore two worlds simultaneously. While games such as Silent Hill force players to swap between the normal world and the otherworld, The Medium will utilize what the trailer calls "dual-reality gameplay" and render two different versions of the same location on screen at the same time.
This dual-reality gameplay will serve as The Medium's defining feature. While one world might look safe (decrepit, but safe), the other one will be fraught with dangers like eldritch monsters and giant man-eating moths. The new trailer doesn't show anything in the way of combat or puzzle solving, but players will probably have to navigate both worlds simultaneously if they want to survive.