The world of movie-to-game adaptions is one of cynical cash-grabs and functional messes. Every now and again, however, there’s a diamond in the rough – such as 2014’s Alien Isolation – which surpasses expectations and delivers a faithful and entertaining experience.
Is Blair Witch one of them? Well, yes and no.
As a fan of the original film, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by Blair Witch as I was sceptical whether it would be able to capture the 1999 classic’s atmosphere of isolation and confusion. Fortunately, it’s one of the things this game does brilliantly.
From the grim and foggy forest to protagonist Ellis’ intense hallucinations, the game does a good job of portraying that feeling of being hopelessly lost and alone, and the paranoia that comes with it. It would’ve been easy for the game’s backdrop to become dull quickly, but it does enough to differentiate set pieces and locations around the Black Hills Forest to keep the player’s attention and the overlying tension.
It’s mostly a walking simulator, with a couple of puzzles and lacklustre ‘combat’ encounters throughout. The first of these encounters is genuinely terrifying, to the game’s credit, but once I ran into my hundreth monster I just wanted to get back to hiking. That’s not something often said about video games.
Ellis’ character is at the heart of Blair Witch. As we move through the game, we uncover more of his history through increasingly horrifying visions. In a way, the titular witch’s troublemaking is merely the push which sends our mentally anguished protagonist spiralling over the edge, with only his canine companion Bullet keeping him relatively sane.
Speaking of Bullet, it’s not difficult for any piece of media to make its viewer care about a dog character. Blair Witch, however, doesn’t just make you like Bullet – the developers have made him a comforting presence who I would always return to in order to pet him or give him a treat whenever things got a bit too scary. In scenes where Bullet gets lost, the player feels lost, too.
Although its combat encounters are dire and the pacing can be a bit slow, even for a horror game, I’d still suggest for people interested in the genre to give this game a try. However, there’s no one I’d recommend this game to more than fans of the original The Blair Witch Project; not only does it nail the film’s iconic atmosphere, but there’s a surprise throwback in its climactic final act which will simultaneously cause you to leap in excitement and to hide behind the sofa.
After two terrible movie sequels, I think it’s just what fans needed.
Harry Douglas-Gratton 