Blair Witch

... the last hour or so. Up until this point I applaud the game for relatively few cheap jumpscares. Achieving it's creepiness soley through the dark and confusing forrest and soundscape. The interactions with the dog were cool an my partner felt almost life like. But the last hour or so was such a drag, looping hallways galore, jumpscares, whispering voices. I was mostly just sprinting through them just to get it over with. And the ending, well without spoilers, you might not get what you think earned throughout the game.

First, the bad: I couldn't get past the intro scene, after playing the title cutscene the game just crashes. Did this with everything I tried. After about 15 tries or so (quite annoying because the checkpoint forced me to replay the same section over and over again) I managed to get past and play. Had maybe one or two crashes for the next 6 hours after that. All that said, this game was so good! Now I must say from the start that I'm not a Blair Witch Project fan. I didn't like the movie so I stopped watching it midway through. So I have no idea if this game follows the movie lore or atmosphere or whatever. But in terms of standalone spooky FPP walking simulator with light combat and puzzles it's almost perfect. I love that subgenre of games and this just went very high in my top. I loved so many things about it: - the forest (at least when it's daylight and can see it) it's amazingly well done, graphically, the lighting is very good - the sound design was great, the creepy weird noises following me through the forest always kept me on my nerves - the dog companion is a great addition - the puzzles didn't have any moon logic and didn't require spending so much time going back and forth to solve them that I would stop being immersed in the atmosphere - the PTSD episodes were interesting and added some variation to the otherwise classic horror elements I very much recommend it, especially if on sale! Here's hoping you won't have those early game crashes I experienced.

Even though this is not the strongest Bloober offering in my estimation and the last act is a bit weaker than the rest of the game, it's still a very good game and showcases how Bloober are masters at achieving oppressive, dark atmosphere and keeping the tension thick without too many jumpscares or chase scenes. If you prefer more adrenaline driven chase sequences, this might not be all too impressive to you. If you prefer sampling from the platter of terror in your own time, get this! Worthy of playing.

The game comes close to reliving the frights of the original 1999 film.