Bloober Team and Lionsgate Games have teamed up for a new first-person psychological horror game called Blair Witch. Based on the Blair Witch films that first came out in 1999, the game is developed by Bloober Team that’s best known for Layers of Fear, also a psychological horror game.
The game is set to release on 30 August this year, available only on PC and Xbox One.
The story
The premise is set in 1996 when a young boy named Peter Shannon went missing in the Black Hills Forest near Burkittsville, Maryland. You’ll be playing the protagonist Ellis, a former police officer with a troubled past, as you participate in the search for Shannon with your loyal dog Bullet. While investigating in the forest, weird things start happening and you come across something terrifying that’s been haunting the woods.
Due to Ellis’ troubled past, you’ll discover his history and that whatever happened to him before will affect him in the game. This seems to also be an effect of the Blair Witch’s curse. According to Steam’s description of the game, you’ll “experience first-hand the toll that fear can take on the mind”.
The gameplay
Exploration of the haunted forest
The game is in a first-person perspective. Daniel Engelhardt, the Senior Vice President of Lionsgate Interactive Ventures & Games, said in a statement to the press, “The team at Bloober is made up of amazing storytellers. We were excited to give them the opportunity to craft an original narrative set in the iconic woods of Blair Witch.”
From the official gameplay trailer, exploration looks to be a big part of the game. So you’ll be wandering through the the haunted forest as you look for the missing boy Peter, accompanied only by Bullet.
Commands
With Bullet, you can give him 5 commands to help with your search, one of which is “seek”. Perhaps at different points in the game, as previewed in the trailer, you’ll need Bullet’s assistance to uncover clues. The dog icon will appear on objects when such an opportunity arises.
Camcorder
Possibly another useful tool is the camcorder. Seems like the footages recorded may contain the key to solving the mystery of Blair Witch and the cursed forest. You’ll likely be using the camcorder at certain points of the game but hopefully not rely too much on it since it’s such a horror cliche, even if that’s an homage to the films.
Besides, the camcorder distorts the game’s graphics which look amazing on their own.
Combat
I can’t tell what kind of combat would be involved in the game but from the looks of the trailer, the deeper you go into the woods, the higher the danger level becomes. According to Steam, how you react to it will teach you more about Ellis eventually. What that means isn’t clear right now.
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