Bloober Team Shows Off Otherworldly Gameplay of “The Medium”

2021 figures to be a big year for horror games, and one of the first notable titles of the year figures to be The Medium, a mind-bending psychological mystery-horror title from Bloober Team. The developers are probably best-known for the superbly trippy Layers of Fear, cyberpunk techno-thriller Observer, and Snake emulator Blair Witch. They showed off their next release with an extended gameplay trailer just a couple of weeks ago, and they followed that up with a shorter, more focused look at the role of protagonist Marianne.

One of the more unique aspects of The Medium is that its gameplay not only allows players to swap between the real world and the spirit world but also sometimes requires the player to navigate both worlds at the same time via splitscreen. The latest trailer focuses on the connection between the two worlds, showing Marianne’s ability to highlight elements that exist in both realms and her supernatural senses that allow her to recreate past events through “echoes” contained in certain items. Solving a puzzle in one world may be key to unlocking progression in the other, and better understanding the history of the spirits you encounter will be essential to helping them move on in peace. Also, there’s a creepy one-armed doll-faced girl and similar featureless porcelain masks embedded in the walls at one point, so that’s apparently going to be a thing in this game. Cool cool cool.

We’re excited to try out The Medium‘s uniquely horrifying gameplay for ourselves when it releases on Xbox Series X/S and PC on January 28th. (Seriously, it only didn’t make our list of games we’re most excited for in 2021 because it comes out so soon and we already had plenty of other horror games on the list.)

Let us know what you think of this new gameplay trailer in the comments below, and check us out on Twitter @FilmIronic so you don’t miss out on any important entertainment news!