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Bloober Team’s Blair Witch game sequel to 1999’s The Blair Witch Project introduces an inventive combination of gameplay mechanics and a spooky story.
Blair Witchis a far better game than it ever needed to be . play as a subsequence to the 1999 find footage filmThe Blair Witch Projectand mostly brush aside events depicted in the picture show ’s actual subsequence , Book of Shadows , Blair Witcheffectively translates the themes and iconic moment have in its source material while adding new and interesting constituent that ferment in tandem with the movie ’s meat mythology to make inventive gameplay loops .
Developed by Bloober Team , the Polish plot company that created pastpsychological horror titlesObserverand theLayers of Fearseries , Blair Witchtakes place two years after the event of the original picture show and learn players stepping into the shoes of Ellis , a valet who connect a search party in parliamentary law to assist find a new boy lost in the woods of Burkittsville , Maryland . play along Ellis on his journeying is Bullet , his loyal canine companion , as well as an earned run average - appropriate Nokia earphone , and , because it would n’t be aBlair Witchtitle without it , a camcorder .
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In much the same way thatThe Blair Witch Project , while not the first found footage movie but undeniably the one that kicked off mass interest in the genre , engender countless lesser iterations of the same concept over the long time , games likeAmnesia : The Dark DescentandSlendermanhave led to an surfeit of likewise - pace repulsion form of address . While the idea of taking combat out of a plot to instill a sentience of reverence and helplessness was once thought of as a novel concept , shortly it became unmortgaged that many under - skilled developers were simply get hold of vantage of that fact to do less work . A simple search for psychological horror indie title on Steam will let out century , if not yard , of these type of games .
Blair Witchdoes have scrap , but those minute are few and far between , and much more along the lines ofAlan WakethanResident Evil . alternatively of a gun Ellis is armed with only his flashlight , which , along with its obvious use , is his only defense against the weird , blurred monsters in the Wood . Just asAlan Wakewould have to aim his torch at enemy in parliamentary law to defuse their shell , Ellis can point his spark at the creatures in gild to scare them away . Quick and unsafe , these monsters are hard to spot in the dark , and player must swear on Bullet ’s growl to point them in the right counsel .
Pointing out opposition is n’t Bullet ’s only consumption . As Ellis ’ assigned comrade , Bullet acts as a comfort brute , helping to calm the instrumentalist down when thing in the forest get too stressful . He can be feed treat , petted , told to stay put cheeseparing , and chide . Like Dogmeat inFallout 4 , Bullet can also be instructed to go search for clues or to play along a trail , and can even squeeze into modest spaces that Ellis ca n’t so as to retrieve items . He ’s a good male child , and pretty much the only physical contact with a friendly character the player has throughout the entire game .
There are other characters , of course , but in keeping with the mode of said psychological horror game figure most , but not all , of them are relegated to voice - only visual aspect . Ellis has a walkie - talking picture and a cell phone , both of which can be used to communicate with a small pool of people , and while the walkie - talking picture is more plot of ground - revolve around , offering less in the way of devoid communicating , the Nokia allows for the player to call a telephone number of multitude in Ellis ’ address Christian Bible at any fourth dimension . Some of these conversations are nothing more than Easter eggs and a little humor , but others let on bits of Ellis ’ backstory .
Blair Witchis that rarified licensed biz that could easily stand alone as its own ware and yet is still elevated by the fact that is has a pre - established history and setting for the interactions that take position , and nothing is more indicative of that than the direction the camcorder is used . Discovered almost now after setting foot in the Burkittsville woodland , the camcorder is a secondary airfield of vision for the player , a way to view past upshot that move the plot along via cassette tapes , and a tool to manipulate reality .
By finding certain red - back cassette , the instrumentalist can vary the world around them . In its most canonic form , an early deterrent example sees Ellis discovering a locked door . He searches around a nearby shed and determine a red - backed magnetic tape , which he then watches . The tape shows someone participate that doorway , and if the camcorder is hesitate before the room access closes then , in veridical life , the door will be open . This concept is used multiple times throughout the game for figure out stock and progression teaser , and while none of the situation are rottenly complicated to decipher there is still a mother wit of satisfaction find in alter the world via this method .
Blair Witchis not hard in the manner some repulsion claim can be , largely due to the deficiency of fight encounters and the somewhat linear fashion in which the game progresses . Ellis ’ exploration of the Burkittsville woods occur in chunks , some more open than others , and border these chunks are either topographical barriers , Ellis ’ own determination , or upright sometime - fashioned invisible wall . Although the player is at times in danger of take scathe from monsters , death is handle with a quick restart back to the beginning of the combat clash , with no lives organization or lasting failure state .
This is both helpful and harmful . While it would be wordy to have to replay large sections of the game over again after a death , peculiarly in a statute title like this which tender drawn-out amount of downtime bar to walk around and search for clue , a shivery minute when replayed several times in immediate secession becomes importantly less chilling . This conclusion , however , lead back into one of the plot ’s main themes : inescapable loop .
It ’s clear that Bloober Team is infatuate by thecancelledP.T.projectthatDeath Strandingdirector Hideo Kojima make . Layers of Fearwas heavily regulate by the reaction to thatSilent Hillsplayable annoyer , andBlair Witchfeels like both a unearthly continuation and the logical progression of the looping horror concept the demo emphasized , especially in the latter half of the game where many of the actions and ideas a instrumentalist may have develop get twisted and inverted . enemy that were once afraid of the luminousness now run towards it , force Ellis to turn his back on the monsters and instead habituate his camcorder to travel along some hidden trail to safety . A special reference should be made of the good design as well , much of which feels lifted straight from the original movie .
To say much more is to spoil what in the last is a fantastic seven - hour experience , longer if a role player want to see all the substitute endings . Although many mechanics sport here are copied in one fashion or another from other horror titles , the finical organisation and compounding Bloober Team decided on elevates the game high than any one concept stands by itself . As a sequel to one of thebest found footage moving-picture show of all prison term , one that come out 20 years ago at that , Blair Witchis far better than it had any right hand to be . Also , you’re able to play old - schoolSnakeand aSpace Invaders - style hit man on the in - secret plan Nokia phone . That ’s three games for the price of one .
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Blair Witchis out now for the Xbox One and microcomputer . A Steam codification was supply to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review article .
