Blair Witch Reviews
Blair Witch makes you feel desperately lost in the forest at times, while giving you a new story in the series. It starts out well with a good tension, but this dims down a bit later on. Luckily only to build up to a scary ending. A good game to play in between the blockbusters of the fall.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Blair Witch may not be the scariest game out there but the developers have crafted an atmospheric forest that feels true to the lore as well as a solid enough if not poorly paced storyline combined with some solid gameplay mechanics and perhaps the best choice they could have made, the inclusion of Bullet as an integral part of both navigation and combat.
As a regular game, this title would likely have underwhelmed me somewhat with its basic gameplay and simplistic puzzle-exploration nature. The story is intriguing and hits its stride in the second half, but follows some usual tropes, doesn’t land all of its more complex themes and is relatively predictable. As a VR title though, the atmosphere of the forest, the foreboding sense of dread and the feeling of unease is ever present and amplified from the immersion of the headset and excellent audio design. It’s a great experience in VR and worth having a go with if you love all things horror or psychological thriller, just don’t expect to be scared to death or for anything deep gameplay-wise.
Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition is a bit of an enigma. The use of VR adds so much in terms of tension, immersion and interactivity, that makes it feels both awesome and terrifying. Then, the removal of certain sections and the addition of very basic scares makes it feel a bit rushed as the scares don’t really pay off from the tension that’d been building. It’s only really the crazy ending that feels truly spooky while the simplistic wandering through the woods picking stuff up feels like a limited experience. If you’ve never played the original Flat version, I still think that’s the best version to play, but it’s worth jumping into the VR edition if you’re a fan of immersive psychological horror games or the original release and want to experience some of the thrills up close and personal. Bonus: You can pet Bullet in VR – so if all else fails, at least the game has that.
What the game does borrow from, and contribute to, the Blair Witch mythos is exactly what made the movie such an effective piece of horror. For the overwhelming majority of it, there are no jump scares or cheap tricks. What you get instead is the terrifying sensation of being very lost, and very hunted in a forest that seemingly gets darker by the second, as you slowly start to question Ellis’ (and your own) sanity. For psychological horror fans like me, that alone is worth the price of admission. For video game fans, well, I’ll leave that to the experts.
If you are looking for something to whet your horror appetite, and you only have a Switch, then you can’t go wrong with Blair Switch. However, if you have an Xbox, PC or PS4, then you’re better off experiencing it on something with a bit more technical capability.
If you're into this genre or if you're a Blair Witch fan, you should check this one out, but it doesn't offer much to other players.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Blair Witch brings the horror, but several gameplay and visual bugs drag down an otherwise scary walk through the woods.
Blair Witch makes a valiant effort to revive the franchise, and while it won't generate the hype of the 1999 film, it's a worthwhile horror title despite some flaws discussed above.
Blair Witch might just become one of the most satisfying psychological horror experiences on consoles. Despite the protagonist's weak story, the context and sound design in the game turn into a unique experience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you don't mind a quite predictable story and a few flaws, you'll find in Blair Witch a very effective way to spend your evenings in total fear with a lovely dog and some good game mechanics to help you.
Review in French | Read full review
If you’re in the market for a short adventure to tide you over for an evening or two ahead of September’s big releases and its atmospheric premise intrigues you, go right ahead. However, if you’re looking for the next smash-hit horror title, you’re best going elsewhere.
Blair Witch is impressive and cleverly designed in many ways. Although there are answers to the abundant amount of questions that start to stir up over the course of the game, the end result still leaves many of those to be unanswered. The visual and sound fidelity provides an excellent foundation to the story that is being told. For psychological horror fans, it will scratch that much-needed itch.
Blair Witch certainly has its shortcomings, but it's easily the best thing to happen to the franchise since the original Blair Witch Project movie.
Blair Witch is great at building tension and letting you get lost in its unforgiving forest, but sometimes it takes that too literally. It mostly overcomes that, however, thanks to your magic camcorder and superb pooch.
Blair Witch VR Edition is an effective transposition into virtual reality of an horror game that is certainly not essential but has a nice dark and evil atmosphere.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Blair Witch is a horror game with some good ideas poorly executed such as the use of a video camera to change environments or the relationship between the main character and his dog.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
So, is the Blair Witch game a good fit for a franchise many have mostly written off by now? As a fan of said series, I would say yes. It absolutely has its faults, with the poorly paced gameplay and story elements being the worst offenders, but the amazing set pieces and psychological horror do a great job of raising the heart rate of anyone willing to venture through the forest. Ultimately, there are a lot of interesting ideas here, but they simply don't come together like they needed to in order to make the best of them.
Blair Witch does a good job capturing the sensation of getting lost – something I actively try to avoid. A memorable final act partially redeems the tedium of getting to that point
The sights and sounds of the forest keep you unsettled, Ellis’ flashbacks and conversations slowly unravel his past, puzzling and combat is nicely interspersed with exploration, and Bullet is one of my new favourite animal companions in a video game.