wfmag.cc \ 59ReviewRated
ReviewA fright in the woods
t’s 1996. A boy has disappeared in the
woods near Burkittsville, Maryland.
<ou’re (llis, a former police oɝcer with
a tortured past who’s joined the search
for the child with your reliable canine
companion, Bullet. Blair Witch puts you at the
heart of the forest with little more than a radio,
a torch, and a video camera. It’s a horror that
appeals to the senses, with subtle noises and
visual cues driving the main scares. Part of the
mystery comes from trying to solve what exactly
is happening in this twisted place. Is a person
behind this kidnapping, or is it the work of
supernatural forces?
As you proceed further into the forest, you
find creepy photos of missing children and video
cassettes that allow you to psychokinetically
manipulate the world around you. Bullet comes
in handy, as he can collect hidden items and
sniff trails to lead you on the right path, butdodgy pathfinding and confusing level design
can frequently have you getting lost. While it may
seem apt for a Blair Witch game, there comes a
point where it’s more frustrating than scary.
I think one of my favourite parts of wandering
these woods was how much uncertainty there
was with every step I took. /ike the film, the
geography seemed to ‘warp’ depending on my
movement. Walking in a straight line eventually
returned me to a spot I’d visited earlier, creating
the illusion of a circular journey while reinforcing
a distorted perception of the world. It made me
Tuestion myself. 'id I really circle around this area,
or was the game intentionally messing with me?
'espite the trickery, Blair Witch isn’t as terrifying
as it promises. Getting lost, questioning your own
perception, and hearing tree branches break in
the darkness all feel in line with the film’s legacy,
but it’s also reliant on hallucinations to create jump
scares and moments of anxiety. Flashbacks to Ellis’
time as a police oɝcer and the emotional toll it
had on his mind take precedence over the scary
things happening in the woods. Once you deduce
the events that aren’t real compared to the ones
that are, it doesn’t work for the horror it tries to be.
If there’s a true horror in Blair Witch, it’s
the bugs. 3oor frame rates and occasional
crashes are one thing, but the game’s also host
to a myriad glitches. If Bullet isn’t clipping through
trees, he’s running around in circles, ignoring my
commands. While they‘re uncommon enough to
not be a real nuisance, these moments ended up
ruining any sense of tension the sequence had
going for it. In the end, Blair Witch’s horror ebbs
rather than builds to a terrifying crescendo.Blair Witch
I
VERDICT
The Blair Witch filc
series could be perfectly
translated to a codern
Yorror gaceŧ Mut tYe
execution doesn’t respect
the legacy the franchise
has built over the years.60 %
GENRE
Psychological horror
FORMAT
PC (tested) / XBO
DEVELOPER
Bloober Team
PUBLISHER
Bloober Team NA
PRICE
£24.99
RELEASE
Out nowInfo
ReviewRated
REVIEWED BY
Olly SmithHIGHLIGHT
The 1990s setting is reinforced
by the inclusion of video
camcorders and Polaroid
photographs, but the best part
is being able to pull out your
old brick phone and play Snake.
A perfect way to recover during
a tense moment. Admittedly, i t ’s
an anachronism by a couple
of years, with Snake not hitting
phones until 1998, but at least
this isn’t the kind of magazine
to be pedantic enough to... oh. While largely disconnected
ǹrom the originƃȢ fiȢmӗ ƃ Ȣot oǹ
its imagery is used in the game. Aespite the technicƃȢ issuesӗ ǹorest enʤironments
hƃʤe neʤer Ȣooȟeǁ this ƹeƃutiǹuȢӝ