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The Medium |OT| Silent Hells

The Shepard

Member
Liking the game so far. Definitely inspired by sillent hill, just not as scary. I'd ignore reviews and always go with your gut feeling about a game.

Playing on the series x and the game seems to throw achievements at you.

Also it's much better than Blair witch, that game was bad. Had no idea the same studio made both till I read this thread.
 
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Just played for about an hour and a half. It's an audio and visual treat, undoubtedly. Especially impressive for basically an AA game. Great contrast, very clean image. Just very sharp visuals. Sounds amazing on my headphones.

I can understand if the gameplay isn't someone's cup of tea. I've been playing Genshin Impact nonstop for the past week or so, so this is a nice change of pace for me.
 
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Self

Member
I just finished the chase scene and it's getting scarier and bit more dangerous. But it isn't silent hill scary, because the protagonist constantly makes this cool jokes. But it's not bad humor by any means.

Technically it's clean and good enough for that kind of game. I like the aesthetics, just the character models look a bit rough. I would say it's the same technical level of 'tell me why', but has a more realistic tone to it. I like it so far.
 

Moogle11

Banned
Enjoying it so far. Currently in the hotel and trying to find Sadness gain. Solid looking game for an AA title, though the character animation is a bit stiff.

I’m not big into horror so I‘m fine with it not being that scary so far (playing in daylight limits that too) and seeming more like an atmospheric walking sim more than a horror game with combat etc. like Silent Hill or RE. Granted, I’m early and that could change (and I didn’t read up on the game much at all since I just wanted to try it since it’s on Gamepass).

I continue to love having Gamepass and bouncing around shorter games and things like this that I’d probably never buy, but end up enjoying.
 
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saintjules

Member
Strange with the Gamma settings. Every time I check a new cutscene, I go to the display settings and the demo image looks different each time in terms of brightness. The scenes are changing the way the it looks.

I'm going to keep it at one setting as it should and go from there. Anyone else experiencing this?
 
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dcmk7

Banned
Only managed to put 30 minutes into this, liking it so far, good atmosphere and background graphics are quite impressive.

Hope it continues.
 

Zeeed

Member
Is it just me or this game doesn't support Quick Resume too well.
I was playing the game, paused, went to the home screen, then powered down the console.
Came back an hour later, powered on the console and no quick resume. Tried the process again and did not work.

The quick resume seems to work if you don't turn off the console though.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Is it just me or this game doesn't support Quick Resume too well.
I was playing the game, paused, went to the home screen, then powered down the console.
Came back an hour later, powered on the console and no quick resume. Tried the process again and did not work.

The quick resume seems to work if you don't turn off the console though.

Worked for me before. Press xbox button. Turn off console?
 

saintjules

Member
The demo picture is misleading. It looks way to washed out compared to the actual graphics. Leave it at default. It gave me pure blacks with (HDR).

Thanks. I'm usually good with HDR settings and all that on my C9. Just found this one interesting since it changed per scene in the background lol
 

The Shepard

Member
Is it just me or this game doesn't support Quick Resume too well.
I was playing the game, paused, went to the home screen, then powered down the console.
Came back an hour later, powered on the console and no quick resume. Tried the process again and did not work.

The quick resume seems to work if you don't turn off the console though.

I find that quick resume doesn't work for me as much as it does, I don't trust it at all.

Your best to click on something like YouTube before you turn off as this seems to store it better.
 
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Just a little anecdote, ymmv, but I had been using Ray Tracing: Forced On setting and decided to switch just to standard "Ray Tracing: On" setting and that seemed to iron out a lot of frame pacing issues and odd dips I was having. I can't tell a visual difference between the two either, I don't know what the point of Forced On is over standard On. Also improved overall performance quite a bit.

The ray traced reflections on puddles are really well done. They aren't over the top (like in Watch Dogs Legion where everything looks like it is covered in olive oil). Very subtle and realistic. Great usage here. I hope other devs take notice. Ray Tracing doesn't just have to make everything look shiny.

This game has a great overall visual palate
 
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Bartski

Gold Member
After the dayroom scene. Overall it's much better than I expected but in some rather obscure ways, maybe more on that later.

But man, those loading textures wtf...? 2021, 12 teraflops, 30fps and it's not enough to switch items in full resolution the inventory... The game is fine, runs like shit. Series X.
 

Zeeed

Member
I find that quick resume doesn't work for me as much as it does, I don't trust it at all.

Your best to click on something like YouTube before you turn off as this seems to store it better.

Quick Resume in this game doesn't work for me when the console is shutdown and start up again.
The Quick Resume does work if I don't restart the console but switch back and fourth to another game.

In this article I found dated yesterday, there is this quote: The Medium is worth playing, but only if you already have Game Pass

At the moment the game doesn’t support the console’s Quick Resume functionality which was frustrating and should be patched.
*shrug*

Other then that. I like this game so far, but only 1 hour in. I like that it has the Silent Hill 3 vibe so far. And something that hasn't been mentioned (because everyone is talking about the graphics and performance) is the main character's voice acting. I think it's spectacular so far, you can really feel the melancholy sadness she has during these beginning scenes.
 
Anyone playing on pc? Hows the performance?

I have played it on a 3080 and a 3060 ti.

With a 3060 ti, at 1440p native, ultra settings and RT on (not forced on, just on), you're sitting anywhere between 25-65 fps depending on the scene. Some scenes really tank the FPS but change as soon as you move to a new camera angle. Probably averaging 40ish FPS so far if I had to guess. You can use DLSS on High and gain an extra 10-15 FPS and it still looks great.

Same setup with my 3080 and I am anywhere between 40 fps (in those scenes that tank hard but just for that one camera angle) up to 90 in the simplest scenes. If I had to guess it is probably averaging 68ish FPS but those tanks below 60 are very noticeable.

I am honestly considering just capping it at 30.

Frame time spikes happen on both my cards, less so on 3080.
 
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CrustyBritches

Gold Member
I'm on R5 1600+2060 Super. At 1440p(DLSS 'High'), RT 'On', High settings I'm getting ~48fps avg and 42fps min during a psychic splitscreen sequence. CPU usage was ~20% wandering, ~25% during the psychic sequence. This is just the first encounter, so I'm sure it can get heavier with more complex scenes later on. Planning on just going with 30fps for the smoothness, and I don't think this game needs 60fps.

I9JnE6O.jpg
 
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Whats the difference between rtx on and force on?
From what I understand the game really doesn't use RTX a whole lot, just in certain scenes, so force on probably uses it in other scenes. I am guessing though.

The frame pacing problem is really bad on PC so I am playing on unlimited fps and if it drops below it'll still probably look better than the jerky jerky 30fps. So far I haven't had any problems but I haven't gotten to the fancy split screen stuff yet.
 
From what I understand the game really doesn't use RTX a whole lot, just in certain scenes, so force on probably uses it in other scenes. I am guessing though.

The frame pacing problem is really bad on PC so I am playing on unlimited fps and if it drops below it'll still probably look better than the jerky jerky 30fps. So far I haven't had any problems but I haven't gotten to the fancy split screen stuff yet.
Cool I'll just leave it to on. I capped at 30, higher doesn't look too much different imo.
 
Cool I'll just leave it to on. I capped at 30, higher doesn't look too much different imo.

I highly recommend using On, not Forced On.

Been testing this for the past hour or so and Forced On just adds a lot of frame pacing issues and stutters in transitions/cutscenes without adding any noticeable effects. I don't notice any extra RT anywhere on Forced On instead of just On, but I definitely noticed a much smoother overall experience just using On (not Forced On).

I am probably gonna cap at 30 too. To me that feels better than the huge swings this game throws at GPUs, even my 3080, scene to scene.
 
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Handful of hours in. This game is pretty cool. Not perfect by any means but it’s doing something novel and succeeding most of the time. It’s got great atmosphere, and the setting and narrative are compelling. I wish the voice acting and PC performance was better.

And yeah, don’t go in expecting a full on horror game. It has some scares and a spooky tone but it’s not the focus here.
 

Kagey K

Banned
I just played up to title card to see how it feels, and I’m enjoying it so far.

I laughed out loud when I saw they felt they needed to put a trigger warning in the opening splash screens.

It really shows how fragile people are in current year.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Handful of hours in. This game is pretty cool. Not perfect by any means but it’s doing something novel and succeeding most of the time. It’s got great atmosphere, and the setting and narrative are compelling. I wish the voice acting and PC performance was better.

And yeah, don’t go in expecting a full on horror game. It has some scares and a spooky tone but it’s not the focus here.
Seems like supporting characters have great VA, but main protagonist doesn't.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Fuck, I mean I hated the game now, I went through the path in the beggining before the Niva complex and there was dead animal and she was with like cheerful voice "what happened to you". I mean W H A T
 
How the standards have dropped.
All this talk about next gen visuals ,ray tracing etc and look this game looks shit.
There is no sugar coating it.

Also dare i say the same individuals in this thread praise the shit out of this yet all i see is a cinematic game, a walking simulator, a point and click game....you know how they describe tlou2 and ghost and all sony exclusives.

The double standards here are on the same level like this biden fake president who bitched at trump about not doing enough about covid and look he now admits he cant do any more than was already done or just simple facts how california is reopening the first week under biden or how amazon is helping to distribute vaccines the first week under biden, not like they couldnt have done it under trump....but hey we are all conspiracy theorist or now under biden terrorist lol.


Look the game looks shit ,there is nothing here i havent seen or played before. This is by no means next gen and is just gamepass filler something you will have to get used to as we go further into this gen.

But hey i guess its at least something to play unlike on ps5.

And hey if you want to report me or ban me for pointing out facts lol do it.
I am shaking my head the last few weeks from all the grabage people write and defend here.

Oh how the standards have dropped on gaf.
You....you are not wrong, have a 🔥
 
You....you are not wrong, have a 🔥

You sure? What part of that incoherent rant do you agree with?

I'm on R5 1600+2060 Super. At 1440p(DLSS 'High'), RT 'On', High settings I'm getting ~48fps avg and 42fps min during a psychic splitscreen sequence. CPU usage was ~20% wandering, ~40% during the psychic sequence. This is just the first encounter, so I'm sure it can get heavier with more complex scenes later on. Planning on just going with 30fps for the smoothness, and I don't think this game needs 60fps.

I9JnE6O.jpg

I am kinda surprised by the low CPU utilization. I thought with the dual world stuff I would be in the 60s but at times it is as low as 19.
 
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CrustyBritches

Gold Member
I am kinda surprised by the low CPU utilization. I thought with the dual world stuff I would be in the 60s but at times it is as low as 19.
That's true. I went back and recorded that sequence and I was wrong about the higher CPU utilization, it mostly hovers in that 20-30% range. I expected it to jump more. I'll have to test whether it works best on my setup to have uncapped, 30fps capped, and/or v-sync. It's a slow paced game, but I'm enjoying it so far. My biggest gripe would be facial animation, but otherwise I'm enjoying the change of pace from ACV and CP2077 to Cyber Shadow and The Medium. If I was to give a score from my early impression, this is a solid 6.5-7.5 game that sits in what was formerly called a AA-tier game.

P.S.- Don't let the trolls get to ya!
 

Greggy

Member
Just arrived at the resort that’s in all the trailers. Enjoying the game so far (about 30 mns in). The fact that it’s on GP makes it a steal. Fantastic sound and voice acting, character models not impressive. Can’t speak to the story yet but good start and good atmosphere.
 

driqe

Member
Pros:
- Environments look very beautiful
- Soundtrack
- Dual screen puzzles are good
- There was one set-piece where you are being chased and you keep alternating between worlds (not split-screen) that was cool as fuck, more games need shit like that.
- easy 100g


Cons:
- Bad animations
- VA carried by Troy Baker (Maw) and Graham Vick (Thomas)
- The mechanics make Uncharted 4 feel like doom. Literally only two gameplay mechanics.
- Story was confusing as fuck or maybe I'm just stupid
- Character models look horrible barring Jeff Bezos (Jack) and Thomas. Thomas fucking carried the entire game.
- Boring

Mfs spent all their money on Akira

I can't recommend this even if you have Gamepass.

5/10

Play Yakuza instead (y)
 
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driqe

Member
Is it just me or this game doesn't support Quick Resume too well.
I was playing the game, paused, went to the home screen, then powered down the console.
Came back an hour later, powered on the console and no quick resume. Tried the process again and did not work.

The quick resume seems to work if you don't turn off the console though.
worked for me
 

IgnotumCL

Member
After five or more hours, the game urgently needs to be optimized. With an rtx 3080 at 1440p from 60 to 90 fps. There are scenes with really bad lows and the gameplay tends to be slow. They should add more percentage to movement speed. The camera? The worst thing, at first I wanted to play with keyboard and mouse but it was impossible. The game is made to be enjoyed with a joystick.
The music is very good as well as the puzzles.
 

Zeeed

Member
Fuck, I mean I hated the game now, I went through the path in the beggining before the Niva complex and there was dead animal and she was with like cheerful voice "what happened to you". I mean W H A T
You have to put it in context.

-She has grown up all her life seeing dead things.
-Her father works in a funeral home and she has helped him prep dead bodies.
-She is a Medium who helps the dead cross over.
-To her, death is a part of life. And she has embraced it. If she didn't embrace it, she might have gone crazy all these years.
-And seeing a deer in the forest with what looks like an arrow or bullet wound to the neck IMHO, seems to be a normal thing, don't you think?
-If she were to freak out on a dead deer in a forest, I doubt she would continue with her adventure to an abandon building?

That is just my point of view for that specific part, the rest of the game... I am still up in the air.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
That dual reality shit is bad, like a really bad. I mean I got an idea for you, if you feel like a smartass that you come up with something genius, take a step back. I gave devs a hint, makes the realms switchable on the fly and bam....instantly better game. I am looking at the half of screen and it just does.not.work.
 
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