The first major Xbox Series X/S console exclusive, The Medium, arrives tomorrow, but how does the game measure up on a technical level? The game features an innovative split-screen mechanic, with players investigating two worlds at once, but it’s also rather old-school, featuring fixed camera angles and rather deliberate classic survival horror gameplay, so it’s an interesting test case. Thankfully, the tech heads at Digital Foundry have put the game through its paces on Xbox Series X and S. You can check out their full video below, provided you have around 20 minutes to spare.
The Medium features dynamic resolution on consoles, with the range being much wider than usual given the game’s unique dual-screen gameplay. While in single-screen mode The Medium ranges from a full 4K to around 1440p on Xbox Series X and between 1080p and 900p on Xbox Series S. Unfortunately, things really take a plunge when splitscreen comes into play – on Series X the resolution can drop as low as 900p and on the Series S it dwindles away to a sub-HD 648p.
At least the game mostly maintains a steady 30fps on Xbox Series X and S, although DF did record very brief dips to as low as 20fps, likely due to background loading. Regrettably, the game seems to have pretty serious frame-pacing issues, with stutter being a constant companion. Also, DF has confirmed the weird issue with pre-rendered cutscenes having their gamma set way too high, which many noticed in pre-release footage, in present in the final game.
Need to know more? Wccftech’s Kai Powell found The Medium to be a solid, if somewhat rough-around-the-edges experience in his full review…
The Medium [tries] to invoke the split realities of Silent Hill and rely on those feelings of longing and desire for something new from Team Silent. […] Marianne might be able to jump between two realities, but The Medium is trapped somewhere between being a worthy Silent Hill successor and another mediocre hide and seek horror game.
The Medium arrives on PC and Xbox Series X/S tomorrow (January 28). You can check out the game's PC requirements here.
About the author: Professional writer of trivial things. Nathan has been covering games, entertainment, and online culture for over a decade with bylines at IGN, GameSpy, Cracked, Uproxx, ComicBook, and more. Joined Wccftech gaming team in 2017, and has written hundreds of game reviews and thousands of news stories since.
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