As the main setting for the majority of The Medium, Niwa Resort is a disturbing location filled with mystery, misery, and suffering even without traveling to the spirit world. The site of a gruesome massacre, it’s easy for players to get caught up in the atmosphere of the game and completely miss certain aspects of Niwa on a first playthrough.
While some aspects of Niwa stick in your mind long after the credits roll, such as some of the more horrific Memory Shard collectibles, others are both easy to miss in a normal play through as well as being somewhat forgettable by the time players reach the climactic end of the story.
10 The World War II Memorial At The Entrance
On your way up to the resort, players are able to diverge from the beaten path whilee following the trail of footprints, though not every path leads to something worth investigating. One path that is worth investigating, found just before the hotel itself, is a World War II memorial site that looks a little worse for wear alongside everything else in Niwa. According to some vague information that can be found around Niwa, before becoming a resort, it was used during World War II for some other function, though what it was used for is never explained in the game.
9 Henry’s Echoes Are All Connected To Phone Calls
Although he doesn’t make a physical appearance and the only scenes of Henry are from his first-person perspective, he is one of the more important characters in the story of what happened at Niwa, despite not being originally portrayed as such. For the majority of his Echoes, where he is simply referred to as “Man”, there aren’t any Echoes connected to Henry that aren’t found through phone calls, with most of them being found on the many payphones found on the outskirts of Niwa and the very first one that can be found is about him investigating Niwa and Thomas.
8 The Spinning Top Appears In Henry’s Mind
Around halfway through the game, just before Marianne discovers what happened between Richard and Thomas, Sadness directs her around an indoor pool area and through several Memory Shards to see what life was like for Lily in Niwa. One of these Shards is found on a large, red spinning top that belonged to another child at Niwa.
Later in the game, when Spirit Thomas is inside Henry’s mind, this top reappears during a sequence between Henry and his son, who is apparently confined to a wheelchair and it seems as though this top belonged to Henry’s son. This may be why Henry was so interested in Niwa in the first place, though there is no reason to suspect that there were any survivors of the Niwa Massacre aside from Thomas, Lilianne, and Francis.
7 The Bunker Would Have Been Already On The Grounds
After Maw is set loose in order to save Lilianne and Marianne from the fire that Henry started in their family home, they would go on to possess the troubled nurse, Ursula, and begin the Niwa Massacre. Shortly after this, Thomas would confine both Lilianne and Maw inside a bunker found on the grounds, though the reason for this bunker existing in the first place is never touched on. Considering Niwa’s link to World War II, it could have been some kind of bomb shelter, though there isn’t enough information given to decide one way or the other what this place was actually used for.
6 Spirit World Niwa Looks Nothing Like It Should From The Outside
For most of the game, the material and spirit worlds look fairly similar in terms of layout as this is the only feasibly way that Marianne would be able to traverse the two worlds at the same time. However, when Marianne first arrives at Niwa, the hotel’s layout looks radically different on the outside than it otherwise should and looks as though it has been split down the middle, with the two sides being separated by a beam of light.
5 T+K Carved On A Tree
One the way up to Niwa, found on the main road when Marianne is following hand and footprints up to the hotel, there is one tree that stands out from the rest as it has a carving on it that seems to connect to Thomas. Inside a heart-shape, the letters “T+K” can be found, which is most likely referring to Thomas and his unnamed wife who may have died while giving birth to Marianne. Despite how much information is given on Thomas’s family, his wife is one aspect that is still fairly unknown by the end of the game.
4 The Flickering Lights Indicate How Far Away Maw Is
While Marianne is in the material world, Maw is completely invisible aside from a slight shimmer in the air when she uses her Insight ability, making it hard for players to see just where the monster is when they need to hide from them. However, there is one trick that helps in knowing how far away Maw is if players pay attention to the lights.
If Maw is close to Marianne, both her flashlight and the lights around Niwa will begin flashing rapidly and will flash slower the further away Maw gets from the player. If Maw is nowhere in the vicinity, then the lights won’t flash at all.
3 The Screwdriver Location Doesn’t Make Much Sense
Before Marianne can get into Niwa, she first needs to find a way to break through the locked door that’s keeping anyone stupid enough to travel to the haunted hotel from getting inside. In order to do this, Marianne finds a screwdriver inside an abandoned car, just outside of the hotel. The problem is that there’s no reason for the screwdriver to just be left in this place, since, if players assume that the car belonged to either Francis or Thomas, then either one of them would probably keep it somewhere other than the trunk of their car.
2 There Used To Be Some Kind Of Train Line Through Niwa
Until later in the game, it seems as though Niwa Resort was some kind of refuge or military base during World War II that was reimagined into a hotel as there are several references in the game that point towards Niwa being important during that time. However, there is also a section of the game that takes place in an abandoned train yard that looks much older than the rest of the resort. Unfortunately, both this train yard and the bunker found near it aren’t explored in any real detail, so the player never finds out what it was used for or if it was important at all.
1 There Are Two Abandoned Cars At Niwa
Since The Medium only really takes off one Marianne sets foot inside Niwa, it makes sense that players won’t remember everything that happens between Thomas’ mysterious phone call and Marianne setting foot inside her old home. One thing that is very easy to miss, or at least forget about, is the fact that there are two abandoned cars in Niwa, one just outside the gated entrance to the grounds and another just outside the hotel itself. One of these belongs to Francis, most likely the one near the hotel due to one of his postcards being found inside it, though who owns the second car is never explained. In all likelihood, it belongs to Thomas and is how he was able to keep Lilianne and himself alive inside the bunker for all those years.
