Bloober Team, the studio behind acclaimed horror games including Blair Witch, Observer: System Redux and Layers of Fear, today released a live-action trailer for its anticipated The Medium game.
The cinematic two-and-half-minute trailer was produced in cooperation with award-winning VFX and animation studio Platige Image, with academy award nominee Tomasz Bagiński serving as writer and creative producer, and talented Paweł Maślona as director.
The trailer brings to life in detail The Medium game’s unique atmosphere and art style inspired by painter Zdzisław Beksiński – in addition the key characters central to the game’s mystery, including Marianna the titular medium, an enigmatic man named Thomas, a spirit called Sadness, and The Maw, a deceptive and hostile entity who can travel between the material and spirit world.
“The Medium is a game with a very strong narrative backbone. The most important thing for me was to understand what the essence of this story is, who its heroes are and its tone,” said Bagiński.
“The task was to lean as hard as possible on the emotional side of the story while trying to keep as many of the twists as possible a secret. The script is supposed to build a certain mood rather than reveal a story.”
Bagiński is an academy award-nominated and Bafta-winning filmmaker, visualist and storyteller. He was responsible for directing the now-iconic cinematics for such games as The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as Microsoft and Ubisoft productions.
While the live-action trailer takes a thematic, atmospheric and character-driven approach to The Medium game, Bloober Team also recently released an extended 14-minute gameplay trailer that can be seen by clicking here.
The 14-minute video sees the titular medium Marianne explore the real and spirit world both alternatively and simultaneously; showcasing the unique split-screen dual reality gameplay system that will see you play in two locations at the same time.
Players will be able to fully recognize and appreciate the many references and interesting details included as part of the live-action trailer once they have the chance to play the game later this month.
Marianne is gifted with a number of psychic abilities she must combine to overcome the threats and obstacles of both worlds, such as the protective Spirit Shield and the more potent Spirit Blast.
As she uses her powers to untangle the mystery of the Niwa resort, her investigation eventually takes her beyond the walls of the haunted hotel to other locations, including the mysterious Old Fort showcased for the first time in the new gameplay.
“The Medium is our biggest and most ambitious project to date. When we thought who could write a live action trailer for the game, Tomasz Bagiński quickly became the most natural choice,” said Piotr Babieno, CEO, Bloober Team.
“After all, his Oscar-nominated The Cathedral was also inspired by the art of Zdzisław Beksiński, just like the spirit world in our game. I’m personally very happy that we could create something together.”
You can head to TheMediumGame.com to preorder on Steam, Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store at the price of $49.99/€49.99/£41.74 with a 10% off discount before launch. Players who pre order via Steam will receive The Medium Original Soundtrack (by Akira Yamaoka and Arkadiusz Reikowski) and The Art of The Medium (digital artbook).
Developed and published by Bloober Team, and rated “M for Mature” by the ESRB and PEGI 18, The Medium will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store on January 28.
