12 Things You Need To Know About The Medium - The Medium gameplay preview

00:00:04.799the medium is a psychological horror

00:00:07.120game coming to pc and xbox series x

00:00:09.840and s at the end of january 2021.

00:00:13.200it's being developed by bloober team the

00:00:15.280same extremely talented studio behind

00:00:17.520layers of fear

00:00:18.480and blair witch playing as the titular

00:00:21.119medium

00:00:21.760marianne you're able to live

00:00:23.800simultaneously in two worlds

00:00:26.000the so-called normal realm and the

00:00:28.160spirit one

00:00:29.119not a huge amount is known about the

00:00:30.720story except that marianne has traveled

00:00:32.800to an abandoned hotel

00:00:34.480that was once the site of something

00:00:36.800terrible that happened

00:00:38.320and so you're looking for answers of one

00:00:40.399sort or another

00:00:41.680we recently had the chance to be shown

00:00:43.840three short segments of the game by

00:00:45.920blooper team over discord

00:00:47.760and ask them some questions about the

00:00:49.840game so get ready to get spooked

00:00:52.559here are 12 facts you absolutely need to

00:00:55.280know

00:00:55.920about the medium

00:00:59.039in the first clip of the game were shown

00:01:00.960marianne visits the niwa hotel

00:01:03.120looking for a man named thomas but runs

00:01:06.320into a spirit named sadness

00:01:08.560instead who helps her look for him

00:01:13.280marianne can use her psychic abilities

00:01:15.680to sense connections and gain

00:01:17.680insight into the spirit realm in

00:01:19.680everyday objects

00:01:21.280as she does here

00:01:30.479so it's true the neva massacre

00:01:35.680i need to find this thomas guy and get

00:01:37.360the hell out of here

00:01:40.479the first thing blooper team taught us

00:01:42.159about the hotel itself

00:01:43.600is that the building is based on a real

00:01:45.759hotel in the heart of krakow

00:01:47.920where the studio visited took photos and

00:01:50.479sketched plans for reference

00:01:52.399the krakovia hotel as it's called in

00:01:54.479real life is a pretty striking piece of

00:01:56.880brutalist architecture

00:01:58.399a communist monument in the heart of

00:02:00.399krakow as the team called it

00:02:02.159and you can see from photos of the hotel

00:02:04.240online that blooper stayed

00:02:05.759very close to its original design in the

00:02:08.160foyer area

00:02:12.000you might have also noticed that the

00:02:13.440medium uses fixed camera angle

00:02:15.280perspectives

00:02:16.319just like old resident evil and silent

00:02:18.720hill games

00:02:19.760the developers say that the game is a

00:02:21.520very cinematic experience

00:02:23.440and the fixed camera angles help you

00:02:25.680focus on both worlds

00:02:27.280at the same time they also told us that

00:02:29.520in early prototypes for the game

00:02:31.200the camera was more like your standard

00:02:33.040third person player control camera

00:02:35.280but they find that trying to track that

00:02:37.760in both worlds at the same time

00:02:39.760quickly gave players motion sickness i

00:02:42.160mean rotating two worlds

00:02:43.920does sound like a bit too much for most

00:02:46.080people and in fact the developers say

00:02:48.319that they still feel

00:02:49.360a little bit ill thinking about it now

00:02:55.680easy marianne it's just a good

00:02:58.800old-fashioned

00:02:59.680haunted hotel calm your ass down and

00:03:02.800answer the bell in the final version of

00:03:04.879the game you're controlling marianne

00:03:06.680simultaneously in both worlds

00:03:08.640so that's one controller two avatars and

00:03:11.360the cameras will be taken care of by the

00:03:13.280game itself

00:03:14.400you'll end up seeing both vertical and

00:03:16.319horizontal split screens

00:03:18.000as the game progresses too

00:03:44.959you startled me i did didn't i

00:03:48.319you look real scared

00:03:51.760i'm sadness about a third of the medium

00:03:55.120is played in dual reality

00:03:57.040where you can see marianne exist in both

00:03:59.200the human and spirit realms

00:04:00.879at the same time navigating these two

00:04:03.120realms simultaneously

00:04:04.480makes up the basic gameplay of the

00:04:06.159medium as marianne solves environmental

00:04:08.480puzzles to eliminate physical obstacles

00:04:10.720between her and her objectives and uses

00:04:13.519elements of each world

00:04:14.720to her advantage all the puzzles and

00:04:17.280even the monster encounters flow between

00:04:19.840the two worlds

00:04:21.040that duality extends to the music too

00:04:24.080the game is actually co-composed by

00:04:26.639blubber team's arcadius rokowski

00:04:28.960and akira yamaoka the legendary mind

00:04:32.000behind the music

00:04:32.960of silent hill while rokowski handles

00:04:35.680the soundtrack for the normal realm

00:04:37.759yamauka composes the music for the

00:04:40.000spirit realm

00:04:40.960making the soundscapes of each unique

00:04:44.080and very distinct from one another

00:04:47.280you wouldn't believe how boring it gets

00:04:49.840sometimes

00:04:50.880i can imagine

00:04:53.919this place must have been oh yes

00:04:58.400it's so busy on that note everything

00:05:01.759marianne says and does in one world

00:05:04.240is murdered in the other world so as a

00:05:06.880result

00:05:07.520she might look a bit strange to an

00:05:09.759outside observer

00:05:10.960the fundamental theme of the game says

00:05:13.199blooper team

00:05:14.160is dualism and seeing things from

00:05:16.800different perspectives

00:05:18.320there are no simple universal truths

00:05:20.720essentially

00:05:21.520so if she's talking to a spirit like

00:05:23.680sadness here

00:05:24.560in the real world it'll just look like

00:05:26.320she's talking to thin air

00:05:27.840which we imagine might be a problem for

00:05:30.479marianne

00:05:31.199the blooper team says that it's an

00:05:32.880important topic the studio wanted to

00:05:34.960address

00:05:35.520and cover especially in our current

00:05:37.759climate when things are

00:05:39.360constantly branded as fake news or a

00:05:41.680cropped picture can go viral

00:05:43.680even though it shows an incomplete truth

00:05:46.479i can take care of myself

00:05:48.880hey i was wondering have you seen

00:05:52.000marianne yes

00:05:56.080would you play with me to overcome

00:05:58.160certain obstacles

00:05:59.280you'll need to have an out-of-body

00:06:01.360experience these are when you sever the

00:06:03.440link between your body and soul

00:06:05.280and can control your body in the spirit

00:06:07.520world independent of its limitations in

00:06:10.000the normal realm

00:06:11.280you are vulnerable when you have an

00:06:12.960out-of-body experience however

00:06:14.720and you can't keep it up for too long as

00:06:17.360marianne will slowly disappear into

00:06:19.759nothing as it happens

00:06:21.120letting you know roughly how much time

00:06:23.120you have left luckily your spirit

00:06:25.199doesn't have to run back to the exact

00:06:27.039spot it left your body

00:06:28.560and you can reconnect at any time once

00:06:30.880your objective

00:06:31.840is complete an out-of-body experience

00:06:35.520it's like taking a plunge into

00:06:37.199nothingness

00:06:39.199stay under for too long and it just

00:06:42.319pulls you in marianne slowly

00:06:45.199disappearing as her spirit fades

00:06:47.199isn't just an aesthetic choice it's an

00:06:49.840example of how the game foregoes

00:06:51.840any hud elements at all and instead

00:06:54.160shows you everything you need

00:06:55.680in an organic way so when marianne

00:06:58.240collects

00:06:58.720mana for her spirit blast in the spirit

00:07:00.800well which will create

00:07:02.080energy in the normal world her hand

00:07:04.400glows to let you know there's a charge

00:07:06.479there

00:07:06.960it's a pretty elegant way of doing

00:07:08.560things and it makes sense given the

00:07:10.880screen is already split into two

00:07:12.800you wouldn't want it cluttered up with a

00:07:14.560busy hud design

00:07:34.319we then skipped forward to another

00:07:36.080segment in the game where marianne has

00:07:37.919passed through a mirror and is now

00:07:39.840stuck within the spirit realm the reason

00:07:42.000that happened is that your inventory is

00:07:44.000also connected to the worlds but it

00:07:46.240doesn't flow from one into another

00:07:48.319so what you carry in one world may not

00:07:50.960pass through

00:07:51.759to the other side being in each world

00:07:54.240will have its pros and cons

00:07:56.160in the spirit world you're able to use

00:07:57.919marianne's abilities like spirit blast

00:08:00.000and spirit shield

00:08:01.199but in the normal world you can only use

00:08:03.440your medium senses

00:08:04.639to track something or hear voices from

00:08:07.280the past

00:08:08.560here she finds a tormented spirit named

00:08:10.879bernard who she wants to put to rest

00:08:13.599but in order to do that a medium needs

00:08:16.319the spirit's name

00:08:17.520though in this case it isn't enough as

00:08:20.240bernard is also missing

00:08:22.479his face trapped there just like i was

00:08:26.160i knew his name but somehow that wasn't

00:08:28.560enough to send him away

00:08:30.720it was like a part of him was missing

00:08:33.680getting a closer look at the spirit

00:08:35.360world here

00:08:36.320it is beautifully terrifying the

00:08:39.039landscapes of the spirit world were

00:08:40.800mostly inspired

00:08:42.000by one artist zajitslav

00:08:45.040bekzynski apologies for the terrible

00:08:47.760pronunciation to our polish friends

00:08:49.920this came about initially because the

00:08:52.000team didn't want the spirit world to

00:08:54.080reflect any one religion

00:08:56.080so they turned to in their words their

00:08:58.640art religion

00:08:59.680this very famous surrealist dystopian

00:09:02.560polish artist

00:09:03.440for inspiration in fact when legendary

00:09:06.320composer akira yamaoka

00:09:08.000came to visit the studio they took him

00:09:10.160to a bikshinsky exhibit

00:09:11.600and he was apparently blown away saying

00:09:14.640okay guys now i understand you on

00:09:17.839bekzinski

00:09:18.800mexican director guillermo del toro said

00:09:21.600in the medieval tradition

00:09:23.040bakzinski seems to believe art to be a

00:09:25.360forewarning about the fragility of the

00:09:27.360flesh

00:09:28.080whatever pleasures we know are doomed to

00:09:30.240perish thus his paintings manage to

00:09:32.720evoke at once the process of decay

00:09:34.959and the ongoing struggle for life they

00:09:37.200hold within them a secret poetry

00:09:39.440stained with blood and rust bekzinski

00:09:42.560himself was deeply inspired by music

00:09:44.959and liked his work which did focus on

00:09:47.360death and decay and ultimately yes the

00:09:49.440struggle for

00:09:50.080life to remain ambiguous in its meaning

00:09:52.959he also had a fascinating but ultimately

00:09:55.519tragic life

00:09:56.640blooper team being a polish studio

00:09:59.040naturally wanted to put a spotlight on

00:10:01.040polish art

00:10:02.160and architecture in this game

00:10:06.640watching marianne explore the spirit

00:10:08.480world i was reminded

00:10:10.000a little bit of resident evil's claire

00:10:12.320redfield

00:10:13.200and given the blooper team have called

00:10:15.040the medium a love letter of sorts to

00:10:16.959classic 90s horror games

00:10:18.800this might not entirely be a mistake one

00:10:21.680thing the two do have in common at least

00:10:23.680in connection to their excellent taste

00:10:25.360in leather jackets is that they both use

00:10:27.440a bike

00:10:28.000that's how marianne arrives at the niwa

00:10:30.079hotel according to the developers

00:10:36.560huh it kind of looks like the one i use

00:10:39.680to get through the mirror

00:10:42.240feels like it too

00:10:54.720it's in this section of gameplay that

00:10:56.399were first introduced to the mall

00:10:58.480a genderless spirit according to the

00:11:00.079bloober team that is a manifestation of

00:11:02.240negative emotions

00:11:03.360that hunts marianne similar to other

00:11:05.760horror games with an unkillable enemy

00:11:07.920you can only run and hide when the maw

00:11:09.839is around there is no fighting it head

00:11:12.240on

00:11:12.880that said if they grab you and if you

00:11:15.040have a charge of it handy

00:11:16.480you can use spirit blast to get away

00:11:19.839interestingly the mall can travel

00:11:21.680between worlds and they work differently

00:11:23.920in the two worlds too

00:11:25.360in the real world you can't see them so

00:11:27.680you can use your medium sense to try

00:11:29.519and get a sense of where they are it

00:11:32.000actually feels much scarier and more

00:11:33.680oppressive in the real world

00:11:35.040where you can't really see them only

00:11:37.360hear their taunts

00:11:38.640and the team referenced alien as a sort

00:11:40.720of inspiration here

00:11:42.000kind of like an alien one when it's much

00:11:44.240scarier

00:11:45.040whenever you can't see the monster now

00:11:48.240if the moss sounds familiar

00:11:50.079they should they're being voiced by troy

00:11:52.720baker

00:11:53.360the developers say he really wanted to

00:11:55.279be a part of the project because of the

00:11:57.040opportunity the monster gave him to do

00:11:59.200something a little different

00:12:00.560he's played plenty of heroes and

00:12:02.560villains before of course

00:12:04.000but he also apparently does monsters

00:12:06.480very well

00:12:07.360the blubber teams say they were blown

00:12:09.200away by his performance

00:12:10.880they all had goosebumps by the end of

00:12:12.959his very first

00:12:13.920session he was perfect they said and

00:12:16.560even when they had recorded and sent his

00:12:18.320takes to the audio team

00:12:19.680they said it's impossible he's pitching

00:12:22.160his voice

00:12:22.880but nope he was just producing all these

00:12:24.959terrifying sounds with his vocal cords

00:12:27.600apparently after a few intense sessions

00:12:29.839with troy in the recording booth

00:12:31.440some team members even find it a bit

00:12:33.519scary then going home

00:12:34.959and wandering around an empty house

00:12:40.399in a third and final sequence we were

00:12:42.480shown of the medium

00:12:43.440marianne was outdoors and trying to

00:12:45.600avoid the monster

00:12:46.800you can kind of see them in certain

00:12:48.399situations because the mall

00:12:50.000like a lot of spectral entities affects

00:12:52.320electric lines and lights

00:12:54.240in the normal world marianne does have a

00:12:56.560slight advantage over them all

00:12:58.160because they're blind they can hear

00:13:00.880exceptionally well however which is why

00:13:02.800marianne needs to crouch and hold her

00:13:04.880breath

00:13:05.360as she sneaks around and why she'll need

00:13:07.600to avoid startling birds or knocking

00:13:09.600anything

00:13:10.079over as she tries to escape the mole was

00:13:12.720a little bit inspired by pyramid head or

00:13:15.040nemesis apparently but the main

00:13:16.800difference is the maw has an agenda

00:13:19.120and has a voice they have things to say

00:13:22.160and what they say might change your

00:13:24.800perspective

00:13:31.200when asked if the mall was the game's

00:13:33.040one and only enemy

00:13:34.399the team were a little bit coy they're

00:13:36.880our main antagonist here

00:13:38.800maybe they said it's not so easy with

00:13:41.440our story

00:13:42.399there are other entities they say but

00:13:44.480the world of the game

00:13:45.519is bigger than people may think they

00:13:47.839don't want to spoil anything but it

00:13:49.760sounds like at this stage pretty much

00:13:51.920everything in the game is a potential

00:13:53.839spoiler

00:13:54.639but they can say that the medium isn't

00:13:57.600just about marianne and the monster

00:13:59.920this is interesting when coupled with

00:14:02.000the fact that the game is about

00:14:03.519perspective

00:14:04.399because sometimes you need more than one

00:14:06.880person to get perspective on events or

00:14:08.720tragedies

00:14:09.600so does that mean that there will be

00:14:11.040perspectives that will contradict or

00:14:12.880challenge marianne's

00:14:14.320the teams say maybe but marianne's

00:14:16.880perspective

00:14:17.519is unique in the cheese and medium

00:14:19.839seeing the spirit world

00:14:21.279they describe the spirit world as a bit

00:14:23.360like a junkyard for our world

00:14:25.760everything we cast aside in ourselves

00:14:28.079ends up there

00:14:29.040lost souls also marianne can step into a

00:14:32.000normal room and she will see that room

00:14:34.240but she'll also see

00:14:35.440something more maybe symbols maybe

00:14:37.920specters

00:14:38.800clues to piece together what happened in

00:14:40.959the real world

00:14:41.839with that perspective she can make the

00:14:44.160surrealist landscape of the spirit world

00:14:46.800make sense yeah

00:14:50.880that thing almost got me almost a year

00:14:52.880of the medium's development time was

00:14:54.639navigated

00:14:55.440during lockdown the most difficult part

00:14:57.920of that

00:14:58.560says the team was creating cutscenes and

00:15:00.959recording motion capture

00:15:02.480remotely some of the development team

00:15:04.639had to step in and record live

00:15:06.399action versions of the cutscenes for

00:15:08.480reference that meant that every time

00:15:10.560they were showing the game internally

00:15:12.160for almost a year

00:15:13.440they had these self-filmed videos in

00:15:15.680there too as a reference point for the

00:15:17.760story

00:15:18.480several beardy guys were given the job

00:15:20.639of playing marianne

00:15:21.760or the little girl sadness it was very

00:15:24.079helpful for lockdown apparently but then

00:15:26.399they send it to the mocap actors saying

00:15:28.480please do this but with acting no

00:15:31.920don't tell them it seems like all that

00:15:34.079didn't slow the team down too much at

00:15:36.079all

00:15:36.480although the three clips we were shown

00:15:38.079were exceptionally short

00:15:39.519and we still don't know much about the

00:15:41.199medium story given that the team

00:15:42.959want to leave as much as possible up to

00:15:45.199players to discover for themselves

00:15:47.279it's going to be interesting to see how

00:15:49.199the dual reality gameplay is utilized in

00:15:51.920fleshing out

00:15:52.800marianne's story it may be a bit of a

00:15:55.120slow burn at first

00:15:56.480but that sounds like the perfect pace

00:15:58.959for fans of old school horror

00:16:00.959like resident evil and silent hill if

00:16:03.759that sounds like something you'd be into

00:16:05.519then stay tuned to the channel for more

00:16:07.600on the medium closer to launch

00:16:09.279because psychological horror games are

00:16:11.360most definitely up our street

00:16:13.759until then we have plenty more videos to

00:16:15.920keep you entertained so click on one of

00:16:17.839these

00:16:18.320right now if you're interested in

00:16:19.680checking some out and

00:16:21.360we will see you next time bye