Available for Xbox Series X and S, in addition to PC, The Medium is one of the first notable next-gen Xbox exclusives to hit the scene. A scene which includes the game arriving on Xbox Game Pass too. A psychological horror game in the tradition of classic adventure games with an interesting split-screen ‘dual reality’ mechanic.

A snippet from our full review.

As with movies and television, the genre-tag ‘Horror’ can be used to describe a large range of games of varying styles. The Medium, which is the latest release from Polish studio Bloober Team (Layers of Fear and the sci-fi tinged Observer), is more moody psychological horror than the survival horror or action seen in, say, the Resident Evil series. This is not to say one approach is better than the other, but to connect The Medium’s use of static cinematic cameras as more in-line with traditional adventure games from the CD-ROM era than survival horror from the, err, same CD-ROM era.

As per the title, you take control of a Medium – Marianne – who can commune and interact with the spirit realm, or realms. Like one of those charlatans on TV, asking the audience if anyone knew a Jeff or a John or a man whose name starts with a J, maybe they wore jeans that one time, or, jumped -- except for reals. And it’s here where the game’s pre-release mechanic, split-screen single-player movement, comes into play. Albeit sparingly, but always in a fashion that is interesting from a cinematic and narrative perspective – even though it adds very little in the way of actual interactivity.

Our Full Review of The Medium