The Medium: Review, Release Date, Pre Load, Size, Platforms, Trailer, PC Specs, Ray Tracing, Game Pass, How Long To Beat & everything you need to know

The Medium is out tomorrow, bringing a new take on the psychological horror genre.

It has a fairly unusual mechanic, called the Dual Art Style, which should set it apart from most other horror games.

Here is everything we know so far.

Latest News - The Reviews Are Out

The embargo has been lifted and the reviews are out for The Medium.

Our partner Gfinity has had the chance to get their hands on the game early and their review is now out.

Click here to read Gfinity's review of The Medium!

Pre-loads And Install Size

Pre-loading has begun for The Medium.

This only applies to players who have purchased the game on either Xbox or PC.

For players that will be playing via Game Pass, you may have to wait until launch day to install.

Thankfully the game is only 23gb on Xbox Series X|S, and 24gb on PC, which means it shouldn't take too long for the average user to install.

How Long To Beat The Medium

One thing everyone wants to know is, how long will it take to beat The Medium?

Horror games usually aren't overly long experiences, with many clocking in at 5-10 hours.

That figure is right on the money for The Medium too.

In an interview GamingBolt, the game's Director Jacek Zieba told them that "The Medium will be about 8-10 hours long".

So it won't be a super quick playthrough, but also won't drag on longer than it needs to.

What Is The Medium?

The Medium is a new third-person psychological horror game that is due out this month.

As the name suggests, players will take control of a medium, using "psychic abilities to solve puzzles spanning both worlds, uncover deeply disturbing secrets, and survive encounters with The Maw - a monster born from an unspeakable tragedy."

It features a new mechanic called "Dual Reality Gameplay", which allows players to explore both the real world and the spirit world.

Because of the power of the next gen consoles, the game actually renders both the real world and spirit world together in real time, allowing for seamless transitions between the two without the need for loading screens.

The Medium should be one of the first games to truly showcase the power of the next gen hardware with this transition feature.

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Who Are Bloober Team?

The Medium isn't Bloober Team's first go at horror.

Bloober Team are the developers responsible for the fantastic Layers of Fear series, as well as 2019's Blair Witch.

They also developed 2017's Observer, it definitely seems that the devs are all about psychological horror these dates, as their last five games have been in that genre.

Behind The Scenes: Dual Art Style

Ahead of its launch, Bloober Team have taken players behind the scenes to show how they create, and render, the Dual Art Style in real time.

The Dual Art Style is a unique mechanic and one we haven't seen in this capacity before.

With the power of current tech, Bloober Team are able to render two separate game worlds at the same time, allowing players to jump between them with no loading screens, as well as being able to run the two worlds side by side on screen.

This is something that wouldn't be possible to do without the power of the next generation consoles, as well as the advancement in GPU tech, such as Nvidia's RTX 3000 series.

Check out the Dual Art Style in action:

Live Action Trailer

To promote the upcoming game. Bloober Team have released a live action trailer for The Medium.

In the trailer we get to see many aspects of the game recreated with live actors, including a look at both the real world and the spirit world.

Check out the trailer below.

Release Date

The Medium is due to launch on January 28 2021.

Its original release date was December 10 2020, but after Cyberpunk 2077 got pushed back to that date, Bloober Team thought it would be wise to delay The Medium.

With Cyberpunk 2077 selling over 13 million copies and being the centre of a lot of backlash and controversy, The Medium would have definitely been overshadowed by Cyberpunk had it released back in December.

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Platforms

The Medium will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC via Windows Store and Steam.

There are no plans for the game to launch on Xbox One due to the power requirements needed to render both worlds side by side.

The lack of power from the last gen systems would mean huge sacrifices in quality, as well as loading screens between worlds, so it makes sense to just launch it exclusively for next gen.

14 Minutes Of Gameplay

Bloober Team have released 14 minutes of gameplay, showcasing what to expect from The Medium.

In the video we get to see how the dual reality feature will work as we see the two worlds rendered side by side, truly impressive stuff that showcases the power of the Xbox Series X.

System Requirements

The Medium will be launching on PC as well as console, but can your PC run it?

Here are the requirements for The Medium:

The Medium Minimum Requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 (64bit version only)
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-6600 / AMD Ryzen™ 5 2500X
• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB / AMD Radeon™ R9 390X (or equivalent with 4 GB VRAM)
• DirectX: 11
• Disc Space: 30 GB (SSD recommended)
• Sound: DirectX compatible
• Notes: Headphones recommended

The Medium Medium Requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 (64bit version only)
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-9600 / AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X
• Memory: 16 GB
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® RTX 2070/ AMD Radeon™ 5700XT
• DirectX: 11
• Disc Space: 30 GB (SSD recommended)
• Sound: DirectX compatible
• Notes: Headphones recommended

The Medium Recommended Requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 (64bit version only)
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-9600 / AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X
• Memory: 16 GB
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® RTX 2080

• DirectX: 12
• Disc Space: 30 GB (SSD recommended)
• Sound: DirectX compatible
• Notes: Headphones recommended

Will Support Ray Tracing and DLSS

It has been confirmed that The Medium will utilise Ray Tracing on both PC and Xbox Series X.

By using a Nvidia RTX 20 or 30 series GPU, players will be able to take advantage of Ray Tracing and DLSS.

This will help provide stunning visuals and higher frames.

Check out the Ray Tracing trailer below.

The Medium Coming To Game Pass For Console and PC

Despite not being a Microsoft Games Studios game, The Medium will launch on day 1 on Xbox Game Pass on both console and PC.

Game Pass is Microsoft's own subscription service which gives players access to hundreds of games for one monthly price.

All of Microsoft's first and second party games, such as Halo Infinite, Gear of War, Forza, Fable, and Perfect Dark will all launch on Game Pass on day 1.

This means that players don't ever need to spend $60-80 to play the latest Microsoft game and can instead just pay one monthly subscription to enjoy them.

Last year EA also partnered with Game Pass to bring their own EA Play subscription to the service.

In addition to partnering with EA, Microsoft also purchased ZeniMax, which adds games such as DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout to their library.

This added over 100 new games including Star Wars Battlefront 2, the Mass Effect Trilogy, FIFA, Madden, NBA, Need For Speed, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

There are also rumours that Ubisoft's subscription, Ubisoft+, could be coming to Game Pass too, which would add games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion to the service.

READ MORE: The 1.1 Cyberpunk Update Is Coming This Week

PlayStation 5

At present there are no plans to bring the game to PlayStation 5, and instead is being kept as a Microsoft exclusive.

Bloober Team aren't part of Microsoft Games Studios, so aren't bound to make their games exclusive for Xbox, but in an interview gave the reasoning for doing so.

“It’s an outcome of our relations with Microsoft, the hardware we needed, and how our development progress and Microsoft’s plans for Xbox Series X align.”

“The bottomline it’s an exciting adventure bringing The Medium as one of the first games for Xbox Series X.”

Blair Witch launched in 2019 as an Xbox exclusive before eventually making its way to PlayStation, so it is possible that the game will eventually be released on PlayStation 5.

Just right now there are no plans or release date for it, so PS gamers that want to play it need to either buy an Xbox Series X|S or hope their PC can handle it.

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