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Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 12.4 hrs on record (12.3 hrs at review time)
Posted: 20 Feb, 2021 @ 4:58pm
Updated: 20 Feb, 2021 @ 5:01pm

It all starts with a dead girl...

Medium is the most ambitious creation for a small independent developer. Probably so ambitious, it could almost eat and wear them off, like insatiable maw. Not everything here is perfect. Performance can tank incredibly hard without any apparent complexity in the scene, yet scenery can be beautiful and photorealistic at times. Stuttering can irritate, but gameplay is forgiving for it. There might be lack of game mechanics, but that doesn't wave away interest and keeps the pace of moving forward. Camera can be restrictive, yet Silent Hill taught me it's the best tool for telling story, to let feel alternate world and make unforgettable player experience. Animations are stiff, but camerawork make you ignore that. Walkthrough is linear, yet it leads to the most open ending.

What makes the good game great are things that developers nailed down. Art direction is top notch, alternative world looks and feels as it should in horror. Music is eerie and evokes emotions from melancholy to terror. Display of parallel world is fresh and to a degree technologically impressive. Story stars intriguing, keeps your interest through cleverly hidden turnarounds, always hiding that last piece of story puzzle from you, and ends as a personal tragedy. Characters are well designed and feel alive. As true labor of love, they come dear to the player and make you care.

It all starts with a dead girl...

... but it don't have to end with one.

Thank you, Bloober, for this story, and I hope Marianne's tale will continue.
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