Blair Witch is a compelling but flawed horror game set in the same universe as The Blair Witch Project. It’s currently available on Xbox and PC. Blair Witch is a psychological survival horror video game developed by Bloober Team based on the Blair Witch series of horror films. It was published by Lionsgate Games for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One on August 30, 2019.
By 2019-09-04 12:00:00 UTCYou'd assume putting two great things together — an iconic horror movie and acclaimed indie horror video game studio — would guarantee at least a good result. But the Blair Witch video game, recently released by the celebrated creators of games like Layers of Fear and Observer, proves otherwise.To be fair, not a single extension to the unassuming 1999 independent horror movie turned genre-defining found-footage sensation has ever succeeded in adding anything worthwhile to the original. The video game is far from the worst efforts born out of cashing in on this iconic IP.
But that's not a high bar to clear, considering its nearest comparison might actually be the nauseatingly millennial. But like all its failed predecessors, the video game misses the point entirely on what made The Blair Witch Project lightning in a bottle with a lasting impact on our cultural consciousness.
Worse still, it turns the strengths of Bloober Team game studio — namely, surreal narrative storytelling through spacial exploration — against itself.Set a couple years after the movie, you play as Ellis, whose entire personality, backstory, and arc can be distilled into the single word 'tortured.' A former cop and war veteran struggling with PTSD, he's eager to redeem himself for unknown bad deeds and joins the search party for a missing boy in Black Hills Forest.You know how this ends. And the journey there does nothing to surprise or terrify you.Yeah, you know how this ends. And the journey there does nothing to surprise or terrify you.There's also a dog named Bullet who, by nature of being a dog, is the goodest part of the game — though even then, his purpose is mechanically incongruent with what made Blair Witch a great horror movie.Hardcore fans of Blair Witch (hello, me) understand its greatness doesn't come from any amount of narrative laurels. Instead, it recontextualized the old, run-of-the-mill woods witch archetype through an innovative framing device that tapped into our developing relationship with a new technology at the time. Suddenly, everyone could afford a camcorder and try to make a documentary about their town's stupid urban legend.
What if you did that for a laugh — and found something real?The movie also basically invented the, selling it as a 'true story.' You'd think video games — our most modern medium with a huge capacity for experimentation and innovation — could breathe some life back into this old witch again.Sadly, it doesn't innovate on either the Blair Witch movie or Layers of Fear formula in any meaningful way. Really, it doesn't even attempt to meld the two in a way that makes any amount of sense.Spooky tree enemies work for found-footage — but fall flat in a game. Image: LIONSGATE / BLOOBER TEAMThere's camcorder mechanics, all infuriatingly forced, half-baked, and less essential to your moment-to-moment experience than, like, a flashlight. The game is smart enough to know that mystifying our relationship to new tech was essential to Blair Witch's horror in 1999.
But it's not smart enough to realize that in 2019, there's nothing scary about receiving a T9 SMS text from a mystic force on your Nokia phone that's like, 'g2g murder u down?' There's nothing scary about receiving a T9 SMS text from a mystic force on your Nokia phone that's like, 'g2g murder u down?' Three-quarters of the game takes place in nondescript woods that look procedurally generated, zapping all the power of Layers of Fear's sumptuously surrealist approach to atmospheric storytelling.
Blair Witch, the new horror game by Bloober Team, the fright-suppliers that brought us Layers of Fear, features a twisty psychological narrative that matches the weirdness of their previous games. Mixing in themes of PTSD, Blair Witch isn’t exactly the game you might think it is. There are a series of endings you can unlock, and some of them are a lot trickier to get than others — for one, you’ll have to complete the game, then take an item with you into NG+ to complete a puzzle.What sets this game apart is your dog companion Bullet. This barking friend is by your side for most of the game, and he’ll help defend you against the strange creatures that stalk the woods where the Blair Witch resides. Depending on how you treat your animal companion, you might be able to unlock a unique secret ending — check out all the endings below to learn more.
More Bloober Team guides:.How To Unlock Every Ending Good & Bad Endings GuideThere are two main endings in Blair Witch — the good ending and the bad ending, and two secret additional endings you can unlock. The game tells you a little white lie about how to actually uncover these endings. It doesn’t matter how you treat your dog.
The endings are determined (mostly) by whether you ‘fight’ the monsters or avoid them, and whether you choose violent or non-violent actions.Take His Face – The Bad Ending. The Good Ending is a little harder — you need to avoid ‘killing’ any of the monsters with your flashlight.
Instead, use the Night-Vision to sneak around them. Don’t collect any of the Dolls (except the dolls that are required to progress in Chapter 17) — and don’t destroy the Totems.In Chapter 17, you need to disobey orders instead of following the commands. Don’t pull the lever, and don’t kill. Just leave through the door. When it slams shut, just open it and leave again.Secret EndingsThere are two additional secret endings you can unlock.
These are additional scenes that reveal the true fates of certain characters in the game.