The MEDIUM is an adult themed psychological horror story told through the eyes and actions of Marianne, your avatar for this challenging adventure into the spirit world.

The tale is set in Poland around 30 years ago. It is written by Grzegorz Like, Andrzej Mądrzak and Marcin Wełnicki, and produced by the Bloober Team.

It's a fantasy, a drama that begins with Marianne having troubled nightmarish dreams. How it concludes however is something the version I have for review doesn't reach; this is one of the unfortunate downsides of playing early versions, you don't always get to see the ending.

The screen-shots on this page have been taken over numerous attempts to play, the game kicking me back to the Desktop at irregular intervals. They show the darkness of the narrative and give good interpretation of the creepy atmosphere created by the eerie programming of Mariusz Szaflik.

You 'control' Marianne in the third-person, making your way through post-Communism Poland seeking the meaning of her recurring dream, a sleep-fed vision of a young girl by a lake being shot by an unknown man.

This game really gets under your skin as it keeps you on edge. It has the intellectual weirdness and emotional subconcious probing of movies such as 'Silence of the Lambs'. It does have Butterflies but does not include a nut-job killing and eating people for fun, although it wouldn't have surprised me if it had.

The terror is more 'real' than imaginary, though many of the puzzles presented using your imagination as they can only be solved by traveling between the conscious and the spirit worlds. 

Deep, dark, moody and thoughtful. The MEDIUM is a game I keep returning to. Almost each time it boots me out I go back and get a mite further into it. The problem I am having is that each new continuance lasts less and less, so it is taking me longer and longer to get anywhere. The other problem is that as a game it is extremely addictive, and so I persevere with my creeping (I said it was creepy) along and around.

I believe that the version available now, retailing at £39.99 for the basic game and £43.99 for the de-luxe edition, has no hiccups and all possible wrinkles are ironed out. The de-luxe edition also features a special digitised mix of the soundtrack and an exceptional Art collection. 

Discover a dark mystery only a medium can solve. Explore the real world and the spirit world at the same time. Use your 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.

This game contains adult and mature (no they are not the same thing) content, language suitable only to manual workers and scenes that Tarantino would be proud to own.

If you have been waiting for the game that is going to be your home for the near future, then look no further than The MEDIUM.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: It also requires an 'adult' computer