The Medium tech analysis: a closer look at Xbox's first next-gen exclusive

Eurogamer: "While there's no doubt that The Medium is a little rough around the edges in terms of polish and its overall production values, the fact is that it's a beautiful and memorable horror adventure, and I'd rank it as the best title to emerge from Bloober thus far."

[utopiancat]

Let me fix that title for you John.

The Medium tech analysis: a closer look at Xbox's first next-gen -=TIMED=- exclusive

[thornintheside]

I would wait to get actual confirmation, instead of going off rumours and speculations.
in this interview( https://www.vg247.com/2021/...
from a few days ago the developer said this:

Interviewer: "And what about the current Xbox console exclusivity? Will The Medium come to PS5, just as Blair Witch eventually came to PS4?"
Zieba: “For now we are just focusing on Xbox and PC”.

[lonewolf10]

And if you read it you would of seen that was addressed:

I do think it's worth stressing that despite being an Xbox platform exclusive for now, The Medium is not a triple-A juggernaut in the traditional sense, but it is different, it is unique, and I highly recommend checking it out.

[utopiancat]

I am questioning the title... not the content.

But you further highlight my point.

Why skip the timed nature in the title when acknowledged in the article itself?

[TheProblem]

For a series x showcase I don’t thing the visuals are that great. Yet everyone keeps hyping the series x power for some reason

[thrust]

You know it is rendering 2 worlds which is crazy good 👌

[TheProblem]

If you say so....

[Atom666]

It's a AA title from a small team with a small budget.

"The Problem" is that, instead of recognizing the growth of Blooper and their slow emergence as a quality team focused on a great genre, every damn thing has to turn into your stupid console war.

It looks different, yet very nostalgic. It doesn't look like AAA 100m budget quality, but damn if it doesn't look really good for what it is.

[Edito]

All last gen PS4 exclusives look better, but a good game is not defined just by it's graphics.

[alb1899]

Untill there we got a confirmation it is console exclusive. But it doesn't matter, nothin will be better than play the medium from Gamepass.

[utopiancat]

"But it doesn't matter, nothin will be better than play the medium from Gamepass."

Except actually owning.

[alb1899]

If I want to own the game I just have to pay a fraction. There's no way to lose with Gamepass.

[wiz7191]

Hope you have that same tune with games that are times exclusive to PS5 ! It’s definitely a few of them.

[Dragonscale]

Therefore its not an exclusive full stop.

[monkey602]

I think trailers and gameplay footage for this has always looked a bit rough so it doesn't come as a surprise but I dont think that was ever the draw to it. It has its own unique play style and somewhat of an air of mystery so I'm still looking forward to it

[lonewolf10]

Same as, hoping they open the game up just after midnight (rather than wait until early evening in UK/Europe).

[shabz666]

Woah didn't know they had direct x ray tracing in it, looks like the split screen set up and double engine render on the same screen is quiet a stress. And uneven frame pacing is very annoying. Especially hated it in ff15 at launch. Looking forward to this. Review embargos for it lift soon I think. I sense it not being okay. Probably a 7/10.

[Kilua]

7/10 is still honestly pretty good and playable. Seems like John enjoyed his playthrough. I hear this is very, very short though.

[shabz666]

Ofc 7/10 is not bad also. Surprisingly a 9/10 and 8/10 from gamespot and ign. But also a 6.5 from game informer. Sounds like it’s one of those games. Now I have to check it out.

[Axecution]

Sweet! I'm getting so sick of games thinking they need to be as long as possible lol if it's a 6-8 hour story I'm happier than a 20-200 hour repetitive grind fest

[iplay1up2]

If this is better than Layers Of Fear, it should be a minimum of 8/10. Layers of Fear was cool! Played it through 2xs. Digital Foundry says this is better. Also Foundry said dips in framerates are very infrequent.

Did you even read this article?

[shabz666]

The issue is uneven Frame pacing , not frame rate. It causes a stutter during gameplay. John explains it in the video.

[badz149]

not fully RT. just selected areas and SSR is still largely being used throughout the game

[shabz666]

Still not bad though right. I’m surprised how early they are able to implement all these things. But I guess keeping it at 30fps it’s possible. Looking forward to seeing how remedy handles their rt implementation in control ue for consoles

[talocaca]

Microsoft really needs to do a better way curating content and commiting to new IPs.

They hyped this game as a 90+ game....and it's clearly not.

[Tacoboto]

What kind of marketer hypes a product saying it's gonna be a 7?

From the reviews, it seems to be a decent title. Maybe not the best, but a 90+ from this studio isn't expected - they've routinely put out average ish titles.

[utopiancat]

"What kind of marketer hypes a product saying it's gonna be a 7?"

Well that get's back to the whole Microsoft problem with over promising and under delivering.

[Tacoboto]

Did anyone think this game was going to be a 9? ABizzel hits the nail on the head

[ABizzel1]

I don't blame MS, I blame the fans. They have to hype the product, but anyone seeing gameplay of this knew to keep their expectations in check. The people seeing gameplay of this and still pushing it as if it was about to blow everything out the water are the issue.

This is what I hope GamePass doesn't slowly turn into a reach for the new bottom, not saying the Medium is garbage, it's a solid 7/10 IMO, and I can understand the 8's for those who like basically point and click style games of old, and I understand the 6's for those who hate how basic the gameplay is as it's mostly walking and pressing X.

[mike32UK]

Has the Last of Us Part 2's animation system spoilt me too much or is this game stiff as hell??

[ABizzel1]

The animations are minimum, it's a small team, which is why most of their games were first person, but yeah the animations aren't good. They even compare it to Heavy Rain on PS3 which is kind of an insult.

[mike32UK]

Yeah I can totally see that rigid Heavy rain sequence look. She walks like Madison in the club 😂

[badz149]

comparing any game to TLoU2 is gonna be rough for the other game, let alone one from a small team as this. it's clear as day that TLoU2 looks way better graphically than this "next-gen" exclusive game.

[mike32UK]

In general I think the Medium LOOKS great. Its just the animations are completely jarring to me.

I guess resources can only stretch so far can't they

[LoveSpuds]

MS need to deliver some absolute bangers and I am sorry to say, this really doesn't appear capable of reaching that standard. This looks like a potentially okay game but it isn't going to move the needle as far as quality exclusives go., particularly as it is clearly only a timed exclusive.

[HusbandAndWifeGaming]

650p on Series S. 900p on Series X. Ouch.

[chrisoadamson]

Resolution goes to native 4k and drops to 1440p. Only when there are 2 viewports (2 screens are rendered at once) this is when it can drop to the lowest of 900(and only at certain locatons) Try harder or maybe it was the wife commenting "husbandandwife" if so we will let ya away with it . "Spectacularly realised" is the description from digital foundry

[HusbandAndWifeGaming]

Two scenes being rendered at once is the entire selling point of the game, lol.

[crazyCoconuts]

650p! wow i can't imagine how bad that must look on a reasonably sized TV. I'd call a next gen title going below 720p a fail from an engineering perspective - that's crazy

[utopiancat]

Seriously that's lower resolution than most Switch games even in portable.

[DazaMc]

The resolution goes down to 900p on series X and 648p on series S.

[Thundercat77]

I though this game was a triple A but it doesn't look like it.

[repsahj]

...im sorry, looks really boring. 17 mins of nothing spectacular.