For lovers of the movies, the Blair Witch game adaption from the developer Bloober Team will either excite you or possibly let you down in the worst way. When players found out that the game was in development, their excitement was all over the place. Now, reactions have surfaced and the battle has begun to try and explain what happened with the game and the direction it took.
Ellis Lynch, you, get to be submersed in the world that is Blair Witch. You get messed with a lot. This psychological horror messes with your head and your sense of space and time. In search of a missing boy, Ellis takes his beloved dog with him to somehow redeem himself, or so it seems. Against the instruction of his colleagues, Ellis pushes to find the missing boy and finds himself in trouble.
In the beginning, the game starts a bit slow trying to introduce the player to the world that takes place right after the 1996 movie. You sort of get a feel for Ellis but let’s be honest, we’re mostly in it for the dog. Much like Firewatch, players walk around and follow the dog to find clues and there isn’t much action to be had. The lack of action at the beginning and the focus on “Bullet” is what makes the beginning so tense.
The small noises and being forced to pay attention to little things are exactly what makes the environment feel cramped and confusing. As things, progress and the camera comes in to play, found footage becomes funs to get in to as well as scary to be involved in. Time becomes distorted and items teleport, or something. All of this gets very chaotic, and that’s about when the monsters start showing up. At this point, I was pretty freaked out about dying and losing my dog.
Bullet is like your emotional support animal and must be near you almost always. If he isn’t then you suffer a loss of sanity which makes you vulnerable. Basically, you can die without your dog. If you treat him bad on top of everything then you’re screwed all the way around (just be nice ok). Plus you’ll be lost without him, literally.
Among all of the creepy crawlies, monsters, and wandering paths, the game hasn’t completely been the best ever. Since this plot is slightly different it can come off as boring at times and the plot can seem disjointed too. Combine this with some frame rate issues and the game becomes a walking simulator with a strong motion sickness warning.
Overall, fans of the movie will still enjoy the game for what it is, but maybe not as much as a game that took a different path for the plot. If the plot followed more of an independent style then the trickery with space and time wouldn’t feel so overplayed. The addition of Bullet though changes the dynamic because you are no longer focused on friends and yourself. Blair Witch is still a tense game that messes with your head, just not a knock it out of the park type.
6.8/10
Available on: PC, Xbox One
