The Medium starts when Marianne prepares for her foster father’s funeral. We soon discover that Marianne has a special gift, a gift of seeing the spiritual realm. Marianne doesn’t know her past so when she finally gets a phone call from someone saying they know her, she goes to the Niwa Resort to investigate. As Marianne explores the place, she slowly learns the story of her past and of a man named Thomas. After finding a way to stop Henry, you will finally find yourself in the Living Room of the Red House. This Red house is burned down and holds memories and puzzles for you to solve.
Investigating the Red House
Once you finally reach the Red House, you can use the stairs to climb into the living room. There are multiple things you can investigate first. You will find a fireplace and a dollhouse that have the same layout of the house.
Family Photos
The first thing you can do in the red house is to find the family photos in the house. Picking up the photos, Marianne feels weird leaving them on the floor. You need to put these family photos in chronological order near the fireplace.
Wedding Photo
The first photo you find is the wedding photo of Thomas and his wife. You can pick this up on the desk that is on the left side of the room. You can put this on the first spot on the fireplace.
Pregnant Photo
The next family photo you can pick up is right in front of the dollhouse. The wife of Thomas is pregnant in this photo and it goes into the second spot in the fireplace.
Family Photo
The last photo you can pick up is actually next to the wedding photo on the ground. This is the family photo of Thomas and it goes on the last space in the fireplace. After placing all of the photos in the fireplace, it will ignite for a moment. There is also another section on the burned house just to the right of the dollhouse. You can find the note written by Thomas in this area.
Colored Butterflies and Masks
The next items you have to collect and solve are the colored butterflies and masks. If you touch the mirror, you will go to the spiritual realm.
Red Butterfly and Mask of Joy
Once you go to the spiritual realm, go to the desk near the fireplace. You will find a skin sac that you can cut through. After using the razor blade on the skin sac, you can pick up the Red Butterly item. You can also get the Mask of Joy from the fireplace before leaving this room. After leaving this room, inspect the dollhouse and get the toy mirror. Place the toy mirror on the top left of the room.
Blue Butterfly and Mask of Calm
You will find a desk to your left that has a fish toy on top of it. Get this fish toy as you will need it later. Go inspect the pillow on the bed and you will find the Mask of Calm underneath. Go to the left of the bed and you will see another skin sac, open it up and you will find the Blue Butterfly. Aside from this, you will find another skin sac that you can open up. This wall will reveal three dolls having a tea party. You can put the Mask of Joy on the left-most doll and the Mask of Calm goes to the middle doll.
Yellow and White Butterfly
After placing the masks, go back to the real world and place the toy mirror on the right part of the dollhouse. Go back to the spirit world and you will see yourself in another bedroom. There are two skin sacs in this room. Cutting the skin sac on the left side of the bed will give you the Yellow Butterfly. Cut the skin sac on the left wall and you can play the Toy Fish you got earlier on the baby mobile. The White Butterfly will appear and you can take it.
Mask of Wonder
On the footboard of the bed, you will see the slots for the butterflies. Place them in this order from the right: After placing the butterflies in the right order, the bed will open up and give you the Mask of Wonder. Return to the real world and place the toy mirror in the left room of the dollhouse once again. Finally, place the Mask of Wonder on the right-most doll. Moths will appear and you have to run back to the mirror to get to the real world.
Investigating the Basement
Before going to the basement, get the Toy Mirror from the dollhouse. You will notice that the mirror collapsed into stairs that lead to the basement. There are multiple items here that you can investigate to learn more about Marianne’s Story.
Interact with the teddy bear in the center of the room to hear its echo. You can find a needle on the rear center that also has an echo. Across the teddy bear, there is a shoe that has an echo. Go to the desk on the right corner to find another note called “A different Kind of Sickness”. There is also a wood shelving by the stairs that contains another note called “The Missing Piece”. The last note you can see in this area is in the backroom. You can find this note across the wood shelving by the stairs.
Once you are investigating the basement, you will see a hole on the wall by the right side of the main room, go here and you will find a door locked by a secret code.
The Basement Door Secret Code
Most players get stuck on the basement door’s Secret Code. To know the secret code, go back to the main room and go to the back left room. There is a locker that is locked up with chains. Use the bolt cutter to cut away the chains and find the pocket watch inside. If you look on the desk by your right, you will find the receipt for this pocket watch is dated back in 1976. The box says that the gift is for their 10th anniversary so you must subtract ten from 1976 to get the real code. Enter the code 1966 to unlock the basement door.
Summary
The Medium is an atmospheric horror puzzle that centers its gameplay on solving puzzles in both the real world and spiritual realm. After finding the burned house, you must investigate the past of the house and find the photos, butterflies, and masks. After unlocking the basement, you can look around to find more information about Thomas. Afterward, go to the back left room to find the code for the basement door. Enter the code 1966 on the basement door to unlock it and progress through the game.
