Inspired by the famous 1999 horror film, the new title of Bloober Team (authors of Layers of Fear) takes us back to the forest of Burkittsville for a terrifying new story set two years after the events of the film. In this review we will show you as much as possible without spoiling you.
A new case of disappearance
Maryland 1996, a new disappearance case hits the quiet town of Burkittsville, the woods engulfing another victim. Tracing the missing person, a boy named Peter Shannon, is there as well as the police Ellis a former US Army policeman and veteran intent on helping search for the missing boy. Our protagonist will be equipped with a few but essential tools: a backpack, a flashlight, a telephone, a walkie talkie and later a video camera, but the most important element for survival will be Bullet, our dog.
The friendly quadruped will in fact be the main key to reading the game environment since there will be no user interface. Then begins our search in the maze of trees and brambles that characterizes the Blair forest, aware of the fact that it is not the first time that the police have dealt with a similar case and that the rumors about the witch who lives there they are becoming more and more frequent.
A little quiet walk in the woods
Blair Witch looks like a survival horror with strong walking simulator tendencies, the proposed scenario is breathtaking: hectares of forest that stand out as far as the eye can see to be observed and explored rigorously in first person. Entering the forest we will immediately be dragged by a sense of bewilderment that will lead us to go around in circles several times before completing the different puzzles we will encounter: the more we collect pieces for our investigation, the more we will have to untangle ourselves in the dense plot of the Witch who will begin to play with our psyche, changing the surrounding environment and letting us know more about our daring protagonist in the worst possible ways.
Inevitable in this title is the handy cam which will play a key role in resolving many situations. The paranormal element manifests itself through the videos found around: by sending the tape back and forth to the right place it will be possible to change reality thus opening up new avenues of exploration, moreover it can be used as a real filter through which to look around to find hidden traces or dangers. Of course, what haunted forest would it be if there weren't some monsters hiding here and there ready to blow us off our chairs? Surprisingly, however, we will not find ourselves shooting or engaging in very peasant fights, but we will have to coordinate with our dog to see where to point the torch to drive away evil beings.
The game features a system called tracked behaviour, a system that unlike other games (such as the Quantic Dream titles) it does not offer us a series of well-defined moral choices but instead keeps track of our actions as a silent observer, leaving the player free to act, for example, if we are told to stop we will be able to continue walking without the game suggesting that you have the possibility. In theory is an amazing concept but in practice, at least for now, that doesn't apply much since most scenarios are one-way and often collides with the dialogue script if certain actions are not performed in the correct order.
Special mention definitely goes to Bullet who, apart from the sporadic moments in which he plants himself on the ground or penetrates his paws, is certainly a protagonist like Ellis more than a simple shoulder: Bullet's animations and AI are flawless reaching levels of realism that not only make you fond of it but even make my dog react during certain sections of the game.
In conclusion:
Blair Witch remains very faithful to the source material by fully transmitting the feelings of anxiety typical of the franchise, without falling into the obvious jumpscare, which leads us to descend more and more into a spiral of madness as we continue our investigations. From an artistic point of view, the title absolutely does not disappoint the eye of the viewer by offering scenarios as beautiful as they are gloomy and an audio sector at the height of a film. By taking advantage of binaural technology you can listen to ASMR quietly wearing it. The technical sector, on the other hand, lacks some smudging with some dog animations that collide and sporadic freezes but nothing that ruins the gaming experience. Despite the maniacal care for some details (such as the possibility of playing Snake on the mobile phone) and a really challenging subtext, the game does not enjoy a great longevity but fortunately ends before being boring, the presence of multiple endings similar to each other and choices for mostly forced will not push you to start a new game. Ultimately Blair Witch is perfectly placed in the middle between the good and the bad, it really demonstrates enormous potential but in some ways it does not seem to be exploited to the maximum but for the proposed price (€ 26,99) it can be a targeted purchase for those looking for some thrill of the night. Personally I would see it as perfect as a VR experience.
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