themedium #silenthill The Medium (2021) has been compared to the long-dead Silent Hill franchise. With the recruitment of Akira Yamaoka and a game that …
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themedium #silenthill The Medium (2021) has been compared to the long-dead Silent Hill franchise. With the recruitment of Akira Yamaoka and a game that …
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First!~!!!!!!!
Nice
kinda funny how in situations like this they always mention SH2, and never 1, 3 or 4.
As Fergie once famously said:
"Where is the love [for Silent Hill 3]"?
Nicely edited and concise review! I did have my issues with the game, but overall found myself enjoying it. I came away from it enjoying the narrative above the gameplay. I do feel like the splitscreen stuff could have been a more compelling mechanic though. I also enjoyed Akira Yamaoka's tracks in this game. They felt nostalgic but also so unmistakably Yamaoka.
Another amazing review, and you saved me a ton of time playing this game with your specific critique. When the devs said they were primarily influenced by Silent Hill 2, it was hilarious to me when I started seeing all the stuff ripped from SH: Downpour (including the color palette), whose devs said the exact same thing.
To any devs watching: characters in games like these need to be quiet. Let us immerse ourselves. SHOW us horror, SHOW us the esoteric. We don't need to be TOLD how crazy these situations are. Bloober nailed the environments but spoiled the atmosphere by having characters constantly talking to themselves, especially given how basic the writing was.
I understand it's like everybody thinks they know SH, but these are fundamental rules that existed in cinema since the 1920s. Did Bloober think modern audiences were too stupid to concentrate on their game without people talking about how "fucking relieved" they were that they found a pair of bolt cutters?
It doesn't surprise me that this game has little to no gameplay considering this is from the same devs as Layers of Fear. Also you forgot the mention that the enviroment design was directly inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński paintings. As someone who has loved Beksinksi's art for years that honestly got me a little more excited than Akira's involvement.
two things i avoid
Horror movies that claim to be inspired by The Shining
and Horror games that claim to be inspired by Silent Hill 2
I played a couple hours of the medium last night. It's a bloober game all right – it has great atmosphere, but I'm bored to tears.
So what are your opinions on the ending? I've seen discourse on social media regarding it, mostly negative specifically regarding the message it (likely inadvertently) delivers.
Omg I'm so tired of everybody worshipping sh2. Yes its a great game but, its not the best horror game ever made. Hell its not even the best sh. Sh2 is an oddball it completely disregards the other 3 main games lore and feel. Sh2 isn't real sh that's 1 and 3 even 4 respects the lore more than 2.
I wish people would stop aping SH 2 so hard.
When does The Medium pachinko machine come out?
Blooper Team has had a really hit or miss track record when it comes to their output. I feel that their Layer of Fear games were lacking, but I also personally loved Observer, and was overall meh on their Blair Witch title. So I was really only mildly interested in the Medium because of that and because I tire of Silent Hill inspired horror titles if I am being honest.
I feel like many games "inspired by Silent Hill" just yoink some of the aesthetics and some story thematics (psych horror and all that jazz) and then just kinda slap it all together with mixed results that largely don't really compare with the game they are emulating. As you say in this video about The Medium, these games' main weakness is relying on their ties with Silent Hill they have no real identity outside of that.
I think in the past 10 years since Silent Hill basically died, there have been two games that I have tackled similar themes with as much grace as SH2 but stood solidly on their own with their own unique identity, and they both happen to be by the same developer, Red Candle Games. Detention and Devotion, with the latter being a top 10 game of mine.
Still, I do plan on checking this game out at some point down the line, and I do hope for the best for Blooper Team, as I do with any dev that tries to make a piece out of passion.
Great video as always, Miles!
I figured this game wouldn't be so bad. It seems like the kind of game that caters to old-school survival horror fans. Hence, why it seems to filters Zoomers, and Kojima kucks that never played a single Silent Hill game.
I see both your praises and criticisms are valid, except for the achivement one. I know it's annoying, but it's unfortunately part of playing on Xbox. They easily have the most intrusive achivements of any platform. Fortunately, you can turn off achievement notifications in the settings before you play a game you'd like to be immersed in. It's something I've had to learn over time depending on the title I play.
great work! keep it up 😀
good
salad hall
It looks like this team did good, but obviously excel primarily at level design. If they get contracted to design for some awesome writers and/or directors, we may be in for some mind-blowing games in the near future.
Shame. A horror game inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński's art should be the most pants shittingly scary thing ever! But it still looks cool. I want that soundtrack at least
Wish this wld come ps, just to give it a look
I didn't play this game, but it seems that the main source of inspiration to the developers was the art of Zdzislaw Beksinski. Silent Hill was thrown in just for marketing purposes. Not really a bad thing, considering they did a fine job capturing Beksinski's visual aesthetic, so to speak.
However, the outright bad thing for me, contrary to popular opinion, was the soundtrack. I think, it felt way too "generically cinematic", like something released by Cryo Chamber (mainstream Dark Ambient label), and lacked the usual, so to say, Yamaoka'ish grit – most likely due to western meddling. A massive disappointment.
Heck… I dare say that Let it Die – a simulator of mushroom consumption – has more Silent Hill'esque tracks than this mess. Heh.
Well, anyway – great review, Hikiko! I apologize for my unnecessary opinions.
This game doesn’t look scary at all unfortunately. And really that’s the biggest problem I have with games inspired by Silent Hill.
The game does look interesting enough on its own though, and it’s nice to see Akira compose again. It was also cool when the developer got Rutger Hauer involved with the Observer game they made before. So it’s not like the developer doesn’t know how to get talent involved with their games.
always was interested in this one mostly for the setting and level designs looked awesome. wow never thought i would see a vote for pedro message in a horror lol but it does seem like a decent ride and like you said hopefully they can continue this moving forward
Great review, Hikiko.
Sadly no serious game company will ever touch the themes and graphic representations of the four original Silent Hill games. They would be panned by critics and gamers alike for being "out of touch" with the XXI century.
So you spend 20 minutes shitting on that game and you still recommend it? I want those 20 minutes back…
Game looks like a tech demo or proof of concept..high hopes for it's sequel, The Venti, dropping this Fall.