Developer: Bloober Team
Publisher: Bloober Team
Platform: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
Tested on: PS5
The Medium (PS5) – Review
Back in February, we wrote an in-depth review of The Medium, which was an amazing experience. The game seemingly had it all when looking at its story, the graphics, the sound design, and even the gameplay. We did encounter a few annoying sequences because of the fixed camera view, but given the overall quality of the game, this was easily forgiven. At that point in time, the game was a Microsoft exclusive, thus being only available on PC and Xbox Series X/S. Now, PlayStation 5 owners may also delve into the story of Marianne, who treads a dangerous path in the spirit world due to her unique powers. As we already extensively covered the game in the past, we will only be discussing the quality of the game on the PS5. Our original review can be found by clicking here.
In terms of actual gameplay not much has changed. The PS5 version just adds a small layer of extra immersive properties thanks to its DualSense support. This means that you’ll have proper feedback from the controller, including adaptive triggers and audio playing through the speakers of the DualSense controller when you inspect certain items, triggering small memories. We very much enjoyed this touch, even though the game is of course perfectly playable without having this extra gimmick included. The overall controls still proved to be a bit clunky, especially during stealth or chase sequences. The motion controls might also be a fun addition for some. These are only available when inspecting a small area, such as the surface of a desk, allowing you to move the camera around slightly quicker by tilting your controller.
The graphical prowess of the PS5 version is on par with the Xbox Series X version, and both versions alternate in quality in certain areas. Sadly though, the PS5 version is absolutely not optimized when it comes to its loading times. It is so underperforming it sometimes actually takes double the amount of time to reload a scene in case you meet your untimely demise. We have encountered loading times ranging from 30 to 60 seconds for certain parts of the game when we loaded our save file, or when we respawned after dying. This is quite a shame, especially when other next-gen titles throw you back in the game after mere seconds.
As mentioned above, the gameplay has not really changed, safe for the DualSense support. The game is very appealing, no matter what platform you get it on. You’ll be able to play through roughly eight to ten hours of content, and it’s just a matter of preference which platform caters to you more. We personally liked the added DualSense support, but we very much disliked the long loading times during the game’s unbalanced chase sequences. We even found ourselves spawning, to be grabbed immediately, to go through another loading loop. That being said, this is all just a minor inconvenience for a truly amazing experience.
Conclusion
The Medium is an amazing game, no matter what platform you play it on. The PS5 version has a few added immersive touches thanks to the DualSense support, but the longer loading times compared to other platforms may cause some annoyance when you’re bad at stealth or chasing sequences. Nonetheless, the story, the atmosphere, the sound design, and the gameplay in general, make this one of the best next-gen titles out there. We are very much looking forward to Bloober Team’s next project and hope it can equal the quality of this one.
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