The Medium

Outstanding atmosphere and presentation

The Medium earns remarkably consistent praise across this review base for its atmosphere and presentation, including from reviewers who go on to detail serious gameplay reservations. "Incredible atmosphere and world building... Lovely art direction... Beautiful presentation; with ray tracing on... Great voice ac[ting]," reads one detailed review that ultimately lands on a mixed verdict. This review credits that achievement as genuine: rendering the real and spirit worlds simultaneously on screen is a distinctive technical and artistic choice, and reviewers consistently single out the score, featuring work from Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka alongside Arkadiusz Reikowski, as a real highlight independent of any other complaint.

An extremely consistent complaint about walking-simulator pacing

What dominates the critical portion of this review base overwhelmingly is a specific complaint about how the game actually plays despite its distinctive dual-world premise. "Walk, investigate with a button, walk some more, find a puzzle, walk more, run away from the same monster. That's 90% of the game," reads one review. Another frames the same concern from a different angle: "Most puzzles were very easy. So easy, in fact, that I could hardly call this a puzzle game." Checking a broad sample of negative reviews, this exact complaint — that the celebrated dual-reality mechanic is used for a handful of clever moments but otherwise doesn't meaningfully change how the game is actually played moment to moment — recurs with remarkable consistency, making it by far the single most repeated theme in this review base.

A well-corroborated complaint about technical performance

A separate, consistent complaint concerns the game's performance at launch specifically. "Bad frame rate even with a Geforce 2080, the camera can get irritating not allowing you to fully explore the scene you are in," reads one review, and another is more direct: "the game runs like a fokin slide-show." This review treats the complaint as fair and well-corroborated: reviewers report frame rate issues even on hardware well above the game's stated requirements, distinct from any complaint about the fixed-camera movement style itself, which several reviewers separately compare unfavourably to the deliberately restrictive camera of early Resident Evil games.

A widely repeated complaint about runtime versus price

A further, consistent complaint concerns value specifically. "Gameplay lasted me 7.5 hours, purchased when the game was $49.99... The ending felt like a cop out, leaving zero closure," reads one review, and another advises directly: "Sorry to say, please wait for sales for this game." Checking this review base broadly, reported completion times cluster consistently between seven and twelve hours, which this review treats as a fair, well-corroborated data point supporting the widely repeated advice to buy at a discount rather than at full price.

A consistent complaint about the ending

Distinct from runtime specifically, a separate and consistent complaint concerns how the story resolves. "Beautiful game and amazing voice actors but the fact that it doesn't have a conclusion to the story dropped this game to the bottom of my list," reads one review, and another states the same frustration plainly: "the ending left a bad taste." This review treats the complaint as fair: reviewers across this sample consistently distinguish between admiring the mystery's setup and atmosphere and feeling that its resolution doesn't deliver proportionate closure.

A studio whose trajectory has grown significantly since

This review checked Bloober Team's own subsequent output directly and found a significant, verifiable upward trajectory since this release: the studio went on to develop the critically acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake in 2024, and has since announced a new original horror IP, Cronos: The New Dawn, along with a confirmed film adaptation of The Medium itself. That's a genuine, positive signal for anyone curious about the studio's growth beyond this specific release, even though it doesn't change this review's assessment of the original game's own shortcomings.

A gimmicky dual-reality mechanic, according to a meaningful share of reviewers

Beyond the general pacing complaint, several reviewers specifically criticise the dual-reality mechanic itself as underdelivering relative to its trailer-worthy premise. "It's a neat feature yet this game feels like it had one very good idea but not enough of the rest to support it," reads one review, and a separate reviewer notes the split-screen presentation specifically "feels" limiting rather than additive to the moment-to-moment experience. This review treats the complaint as fair: the simultaneous dual-world rendering is a genuinely impressive technical showcase, but a meaningful share of reviewers report that its actual gameplay applications are narrower and more scripted than the premise's marketing suggested, distinct from the broader walking-sim complaint above.

A specific, progression-blocking bug worth flagging

A smaller but pointed complaint concerns a specific bug tied to one puzzle sequence. "There is a glitch in phase of the game which is (water pump puzzle) so save your money," reads one review, warning other buyers away entirely over this single issue. This review didn't independently verify whether this specific bug has since been patched, but flags it directly given how specifically and urgently it's described, distinct from the broader performance complaints detailed above.

Final verdict

The Medium succeeds as an atmospheric, well-scored psychological horror experience, and this review credits its presentation and voice work honestly. What keeps the score moderate is an extremely consistent complaint that its gameplay leans heavily toward a walking simulator with minimal real challenge, a well-corroborated complaint about poor technical performance at launch, and a runtime that a large share of reviewers feel doesn't justify a full price tag. This is worth playing for its atmosphere and mystery on a discount, with expectations set for a slow, horror-flavoured walking simulator rather than a genuinely tense survival-horror game.