Bloober Team has long established itself as a purveyor of innovative and frightening horror experiences, but it will be tough to outdo this one. The Medium is a terrifying and disturbing look into the darkest recesses of human behavior, wrapped in an immersive, atmospheric, and beautiful looking game world.

So far, The Medium is the best game developed by Bloober Team: a love letter to the horror genre and a major step forward for the studio.

With a fairly direct narrative, this might not be the sort of game that you’ll head back to replay often but this is an experience worth picking up. Bloober Team’s latest story manages to be both unsettling and engaging in equal measure. The presentation is fantastic, the characterization and voice acting is great, and the nods to other horror tropes is knowing rather than sloppy. This team from Krakow clearly know their chosen genre inside out and while it might be hard to fully discuss this new horror title without ruining the twists in the tale, I can be certain that The Medium will make you think twice about your next vacation.

The Medium is yet additional proof of Bloober Team's talent in creating authentic digital nightmares. Gameplay-wise the game is inspired by the classics of the past without giving up its own personal imprint, and the story is also well written. The art direction, though, is the real deal.

The Medium is a really good horror adventure with some stand out ideas and excellent presentation. It makes the most of its influences to create an atmospheric and involving narrative, but its wider context as a next-gen exclusive may lead many to expect it to be a grander step forward than it is. Taken on its own merits, and particularly for genre fans, this is a genuinely great game and I look forward to replaying it to take in all the amazing details and touches that I may have missed first time through. With some questions left unanswered, I hope it does well and develops into a franchise.

The Bloober Team delivers a psychological and supernatural thriller with multiple controlled influences, and a story that is both dark and touching. The Medium is an artistic work in its own right, both visual and musical, whose universe deserves to be explored. The Polish studio also manage to take advantage of this playful duality between the physical and spiritual planes without necessarily innovating too much during a linear adventure. The threat weighing on Marianne, as intense as it may be at times, loses too often in intensity to permanently mark the players. The Medium is ultimately an “arty” horrific experience like the developers' previous productions.

The Medium is a poor game that is rife with bugs, bad ideas, and some nice things to look at.