Bloober Team, the Polish video game developer behind projects such as Observer and the Layers of Fear series, recently released their latest horror endeavor – Blair Witch – on the Nintendo Switch.
Originally revealed at E3 2019, Blair Witch was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam in August 2019 – and now Switch owners can take it on the go. Based off of the titular Blair Witch movies, players take on the identity of Ellis, a police officer in 1996 investigating the disappearance of a young boy alongside his dog, Bullet. Bullet is a main aspect of gameplay, sniffing out trails, searching for clues, and protecting Ellis. Another key mechanic is the found-footage motif the game uses, taken from the movies. Ellis can rewind or fast-forward footage. altering the environments around him in the process. He can also look through the camcorder to see monsters stalking him that are invisible to his naked eye.
With the rapid successes horror games have had in recent times, it’s clear the market would see some form of saturation. Five Nights At Freddy’s, Outlast, Amnesia – as more releases roll out, it becomes harder to scare, and that’s where Bloober Team’s unique take on psychological horror is their greatest strength. Their ability to scare with grotesque atmospheres and slow descents into insanity make their titles truly frightening, on a level a simple jump scare or big monster couldn’t hope to achieve. With this in mind, it’s obvious that the subtle and atmospheric horror style of Blair Witch would be the perfect project for Bloober Team to take on.
“It’s exciting to work with this legendary horror (franchise),” said Bloober Team narrative designer Barbara Kciuk in an interview with Den Of Geek. “There is this tremendous fear that is actually coming from the fear of the [characters] you see. There’s nothing really scary in the movie itself — it’s the overall atmosphere that is so overpowering and scary. It’s hard to capture this magic again, but this is a challenge we really want to take.”
Blair Witch is available on PS4, Xbox One, Steam, and now Switch. You can check it out here.