How horror game The Medium immerses players with the DualSense wireless controller

Hello! I’m Szymon Erdmański, producer at Bloober Team, and I’m happy to tell you more about The Medium, coming to PlayStation 5 on September 3.

For those who haven’t heard about the game, The Medium is a third-person psychological horror game that features innovative dual-reality gameplay – basically, you can play in two worlds at the same time. This unique twist on single-player split-screen gameplay is only possible on next-gen hardware such as PS5. 

You play as Marianne, a medium who lives in two worlds: our world and a hostile spirit world. At the beginning of the game, Marianne is haunted by a strange vision: a little girl murdered at a lake. She comes to believe that she can learn the truth behind the vision at an abandoned hotel resort. Once there, she discovers that years ago the place was a stage of a horrifying tragedy and hides a grim mystery only a medium like her can solve.

Using Marianne’s unique psychic abilities, you must uncover deeply disturbing secrets, solve intriguing dual-reality puzzles, survive encounters with sinister spirits, all while exploring two realities at the same time. A haunting soundtrack co-composed by Bloober Team’s Arkadiusz Reikowski and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamoaka will accompany you on your journey.

DualSense controller and dual-reality horror 

On PS5, we are taking full advantage of the console’s DualSense wireless controller to immerse you even deeper into the mystery of the Niwa Hotel.

Our goal is to let you feel Marianne’s reactions to what is happening as she explores and interacts with the game world, thanks to haptic feedback. For example, when she is using her Spirit Shield ability, you can literally feel in your hands as dozens of spirit-world moths hit the barrier. 

Another example is Marianne’s Out of Body ability, which lets you leave your physical body and explore as the spirit only. It’s a bit like diving, you can’t survive too long in that state, eventually you’ll suffocate if you don’t return. So the longer you remain out of the body, the quicker you’ll feel the controller pulsate – giving you a hint when it’s time to go back.

The adaptive triggers will not only raise the level of immersion but also make the controls more intuitive. When you start charging up the Spirit Blast, the medium’s offensive ability, the trigger will resist at the beginning but gradually loosen up until it can be fully pressed – this means the blast is also fully charged and ready to discharge.

These are only a few of the examples of how the DualSense controller will work when playing The Medium on PS5. On top of it, we’re including support for the controller’s speaker, touchpad, light bar, and motion controls.

You can expect a lot of hand-picked moments in the story enhanced with the gamepad’s features… but we obviously won’t spoil them now. We’re keeping a couple of aces up our sleeves until you play the game yourself on PS5 September 3.Look for more information about The Medium coming soon and thanks for reading!