There’s always a risk when you spend a bunch of time and energy on a project, and it doesn’t turn out the way you hoped for. That’s the case with Blair Witch, a popular horror movie franchise that’s been around since 1999. But it’s not a disappointing movie. It’s more of an experience, with a few good scares and even a few laughs.
The producers of the Blair Witch documentary, a film that caused a sensation when it first came out in 1999, have made a new film, and the best thing about it is that it’s not a documentary. It’s a virtual reality (VR) experience that allows you to enter the fantasy realm of the Blair Witch and solve its supernatural horror.
Some of you may already know that the Blair Witch Project was one of the first such true scary films, but I assure you this one is even worse. The Blair Witch Project was a film about a series of events in a small town in Maryland that had the supposed paranormal activity of a witch. However, the Blair Witch Project was not a scary movie, nor was it a film with real life horror. The Blair Witch Project is a film that is a fictional tale and does not depict anything that is real, but it was actually a very well done film in a lot of ways.
For whatever reason, games based on film series are seldom excellent. Many have smaller budgets than others and seem to have a basic lack of creative freedom. Most of the time, this results in a sloppy reproduction of the original content and a huge letdown for the gamer. Thankfully, this isn’t the case with Blair Witch, a story-driven psychological horror game that was originally released on PC in 2019 and has now been remade for Oculus Quest. The VR version is a little rough around the edges, but despite its jankiness and reduced graphical quality, it offers a dark, spine-chilling tale that pushes you to plunge headfirst into madness.
Details about Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition:
Oculus Quest is where you can get it. The film will be released on October 29th, 2020. Price: $30 Bloober Team was the developer, and Quest was the subject of the review (2019)
Gameplay
Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition has been rebuilt for VR and immerses you in the haunting woodland originally imagined in The Blair Witch Project (1999), the breakthrough ‘found footage’ horror film that inspired a flurry of sequels, novels, and computer games.
As ex-police officer Ellis, you join a search team for a missing child in Maryland’s Black Hills Forest, a location where even the daylight seems gloomy and claustrophobic. Things aren’t as they appear, as Ellis fights demons (both physical and psychological) and delves deeper into his own difficult history as he follows a path that leads to the kid. There are various endings based on the choices you take during the game, so no spoilers here.
Lionsgate’s Bloober Team provided this image.
Although the game recommends using headphones for a more immersive experience, you may get away with using Quest’s built-in audio if you want to maintain some distance between you and what lies ahead. Because of the realistic representations of post-traumatic stress and—you know—horrible creatures pursuing you through the forest, the game is severe and comes with a trigger warning.
Jump scares are rare, but they’re well-timed enough to keep you on your toes. In the end, it’s less about confronting the monsters and more about unraveling the narrative through the eyes of a guy suffering from PTSD in the most inhospitable location conceivable. Only a flashlight, an outdated smartphone, a CB radio, a camera to disclose hidden secrets and play discovered video, and your loyal German Shepard, Bullet, are available to you. There are no firearms or melee weapons.
Lionsgate’s Bloober Team provided this image.
Bullet is an excellent feature, despite being one of the greatest immersion breakers (more on that under Immersion). He warns you about impending dangers, unearths important objects, and guides you on the right track, which isn’t always where you’d expect to go. It’s far more pleasant to have Bullet around rather than a continuously talking guide that forces you through the experience while still leaving you with your own ideas on how to complete the tasks ahead. You may pat him, use your whistle to call him back, tell him to search, and let him smell things to lead you in the correct direction.
The cellphone is also a fun feature, since you get calls and text messages that contribute to the story’s realism. Although the dialogue between you and your significant other Jess is never very essential to the plot, there are moments when an SMS may terrify you. The radio serves the same purpose as text messaging in terms of staying in touch with the rest of the search party.
Lionsgate’s Bloober Team provided this image.
The camcorder is by far my favorite addition. Found video strewn around the game not only allows you to witness important events in the narrative as they are recorded by a certain adversary, but it also allows you to magically create things in your environment, such as a vital item or unblock a previously blocked route. Looking straight at monsters can result in your gruesome death a few times throughout the game, forcing you to physically look away from each approaching demon and follow a trail provided by the enchanted camera.
You’ll come across a wide variety of creatures, many of which are thematically related to the story’s narrative high points. As creatures offer their own well-defined obstacles to conquer, whether by total avoidance or facing them head-on, I never felt like the pleasures were cheap or excessively concerned with jump scares. Even when it’s apparent you’ve left danger behind, you never know whether that rustling in the woods or the pebbles falling behind you are signs of something lurking in the shadows ready to attack. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out. Overall, monster encounters are more on the experience side of the spectrum, and do not need the use of particular abilities, as in games like Alien Isolation’s Xenomorph.
There aren’t many riddles to complete apart from utilizing the camera, which is a pity. Puzzles are usually one-time fetch missions that need little more than a strong spatial recall of the level to solve. Inventory is also lacking, as items mysteriously vanish from your hands, never to be seen again. The game’s body-mounted holsters, whether you like them or not, were always a cause of consternation, requiring me to glance down to correctly grasp the smartphone rather than the radio, or the flashlight rather than the camcorder. It would have been lot less irritating if there had been some physical separation here. A diary of all your discoveries was similarly worthless, and should only be utilized if you’re playing the game in much smaller chunks than I did.
Lionsgate’s Bloober Team provided this image.
In the end, it took me around five hours to complete the game from beginning to finish, but your mileage may vary as you try to unlock all of the endings. Aside from the immersion-breakers, I had a great experience watching Blair Witch. Because of the seeming absence of sidequests, it is only worth a single replaying and not much more.
Nonetheless, it was a stressful journey laced with existential dread and phycological horror. Sure, you may die and be returned to your last checkpoint, but it’s the bumps in the night and unexpected pleasures that stick with you.
Immersion
While the game’s one-way journey through Black Hills Forest is really well done in terms of narrative and fundamental structure, some of it seemed a little crammed into VR. Cut scenes are performed via immersion-breaking 2D windows that I truly wish didn’t exist.
Leave your gripes aside for a moment: the game’s tension comes in a variety of flavors that penetrate into your reptilian brain. The danger of encountering a demon around any corner is extremely real, as creepy bumps in the night frighten you away from the perimeter of levels, decrepit interiors compel you to face gruesome murders, and the possibility of meeting a demon around any corner scares you away from the periphery of levels. Disjointed parts of the game perplexed you, leaving you unsure if what is genuine, if any of it is real at all. Photos of alleged victims litter the globe, and you’re never sure whether you’ll come upon your own Polaroid image among them. Now for some additional gripes.
The overall graphics quality is one of the first things you’ll notice. It’s lower on the original Quest than on the PC or console versions since most of the levels are muddy and repetitive. I haven’t received my own Quest 2, so I can’t say if the Snapdragon XR2’s additional power improves render distance or texture quality, two of my major complaints. Quest 2 increases the quality of textures, 3D elements like dog hair, and foliage density, according to Bloober Team.
Lionsgate’s Bloober Team provided this image.
Bullet, on the other hand, is unquestionably the king of jank, which is a sad pity. I’d often see him sprinting into a clump of trees, where he’d stay in his endless forward bound. Although he’s nice and helpful, watching him sprint through a minecart or robotically readjusting to go past barriers was nevertheless disappointing. You may touch him, tangle his ears, and even feed him for a chuckle, but there’s seldom a quiet moment when it’s worthwhile to do so.
Even as is, the studio’s achievement on the Quest 1 hardware is nonetheless impressive. Much of the game is dark and foggy, forcing you to concentrate on close-range items. It’s not that you couldn’t tell the game was chunking and loading the parts just beyond the fog—there was certainly some jank there, with trees popping in and out of view at points. You’ll be interrupted several times during any of the 17 chapters to load a new part, which is a bit of a nuisance. Fortunately, there is no retracing, so these panels only occur every 20 minutes or so.
Comfort
While the game has been re-engineered to accommodate VR, and all of the usual locomotion and comfort settings are accessible, the level layout forces you to go up and down inclines such as hills and bumps in the road, which may be unpleasant. Although short, one instance of an unnaturally twisted home was a turn off.
Smooth forward and teleporting are also possible, as well as hand and head-relative forward movement. Variable snap-turn and VR blinders are among the comfort features offered to prevent you from feeling sick as you go through the tightly packed levels.
The game, thankfully, has both standing and sitting standing modes, as well as a manual height adjustment for fine-tuning.
‘Blair Witch’ has been one of the most popular horror movies of the last several years, and it’s one that horror fans have been waiting for quite a long time. The creators of the Blair Witch Project have combined their special brand of psychological thriller with the virtual reality technology to bring ‘Blair Witch: Quest Edition’ to life. It’s actually a very good horror movie and it looks amazing too.. Read more about phantom: covert ops and let us know what you think.
Related Tags:
blair witch vr ps4blair witch vr walkthroughin death vr reviewblair witch: oculus quest walkthroughin death: unchained quest 2 reviewblair witch vr steam,People also search for,Privacy settings,How Search works,3:56In Death VR ReviewVirtual Reality OasisYouTube – Feb 5, 2018,3:56,In Death VR Review,Virtual Reality OasisYouTube – Feb 5, 2018,Virtual Reality Oasis,YouTube – Feb 5, 2018,5:57In Death: Unchained ReviewUploadVRYouTube – Jul 23, 2020,5:57,In Death: Unchained Review,UploadVRYouTube – Jul 23, 2020,UploadVR,YouTube – Jul 23, 2020,5:19In Death | PSVR ReviewPSVR Without ParoleYouTube – Nov 28, 2018,5:19,In Death | PSVR Review,PSVR Without ParoleYouTube – Nov 28, 2018,PSVR Without Parole,YouTube – Nov 28, 2018,See more,1:35Blair Witch – Official Gameplay TrailerBloober TeamYouTube – Jul 29, 2019,1:35,Blair Witch – Official Gameplay Trailer,Bloober TeamYouTube – Jul 29, 2019,Bloober Team,YouTube – Jul 29, 2019,19:56Blair Witch On Oculus Quest 2 Is TERRIFYING!Virtual Reality OasisYouTube – Oct 29, 2020,19:56,Blair Witch On Oculus Quest 2 Is TERRIFYING!,Virtual Reality OasisYouTube – Oct 29, 2020,YouTube – Oct 29, 2020,1:46Blair Witch: Oculus Quest EditionOculusYouTube – Nov 3, 2020,1:46,Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition,OculusYouTube – Nov 3, 2020,Oculus,YouTube – Nov 3, 2020,blair witch vr ps4,blair witch vr walkthrough,blair witch: oculus quest walkthrough,death: unchained quest review,phantom: covert ops,walking dead onslaught quest
