The Medium guide: How to escape the Maw

The Maw is a grotesque, monstrous, and extremely deadly entity that you’ll encounter in The Medium. Here’s our guide to help you out.

Note: For more information, check out our guides and features hub for The Medium. Likewise, please be reminded that this guide contains minor spoilers.

The Medium: Encountering and escaping the Maw

You’ll first encounter the Maw once you’ve solved a puzzle in Thomas Reckowicz’s office in Niwa Resort. This is followed by a hectic game of cat and mouse, and even a chase sequence.

The Maw will pop up multiple times throughout your run in The Medium, and Marianne has few tricks up her sleeve. It’s possible to unleash a spirit blast (you’ll see a prompt to press “F” or the spacebar). If the prompts aren’t there (which is most of the time), then all the Maw has to do is grab her which leads to a game over.

Here are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind:

• The Maw is blind in the material world. This means Marianne can crouch-walk and hold her breath, allowing her to bypass the thing easily. In a couple of instances, you can even wait for it to smash barricades so you can go through.
• Unfortunately, the Maw easily sees Marianne in the spirit world. This leads to chase sequences where you just need to be fast.
• If Marianne experiences “the split” or dual-reality system, meaning she exists in both worlds, then the Maw will still see her spirit form. This, too, requires you to evade it.

Most encounters with the Maw are straightforward, but a few can be a little tricky. One example is the first chase sequence through narrow corridors filled with moths.

Once you reach a large chamber, the Maw will swipe at you from a corner. This can be hard to avoid so you’ll want to swiftly dash to the left.

The next one takes place at the abandoned fort. After picking up the gasoline canister and lever, you have to use the cart to reach the next area.

The generator has a cap that you can open to fill it with gasoline. After this, push the cart so that it runs over the monster.

Lastly, there’s another moment at the end of the game when you’re about to leave the water plant. The Maw is guarding the exit and there’s a switch behind the creature.

Have an out-of-body experience, dash past the Maw, then press “F” if the monster grabs you. It’ll temporarily stun the creature and you can activate the switch to electrocute it.

The Medium is available via Steam, Epic, and the Xbox Game Pass. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.