The first few times this happened, I couldn't tell if it was the game doing funky looping geometry, or if I had genuinely become disoriented. You go up one path, down a hill, around some bushes, and find yourself back in the decrepit campsite where you started. Soon you realise that the forest is playing tricks on you, with insensible twists and turns. There are flashbacks, there are hallucinations, there are jumpscares, and demonic bundles of sticks whooshing through the trees, there are moments where you black out and wake up in the middle of the night. You find an old tent campsite and things inevitably go spooky. So you amble around the forest, looking for clues and chatting over a walkie-talkie radio with the local Sheriff, who's also out there looking for the lost child. Although I will say I never used the "reprimand" command to scold Bullet, because good heavens, I'm not a monster. A lot of the time, I forgot he was there. You aren't given much reason to feel attached to him beyond him existing as a non-verbal being who follows you around.
And the very existence of a dialog wheel for dog-centric chat will be enough to make woofer wuvvers swear fealty to this long-eared good boy. I appreciate giving the unavoidable gaminess of first-person horror a canine cover story. Here that generic interaction becomes "press X to make dog do thing". It isn't long before you realise that barky boy Bullet is really an extension of "press X to do thing". There were moments when I'd be so far from my pupperpal, I couldn't hear him bark in response to my calls, but Ellis seemed fine. But this emotional leash doesn't really show up much in the game. It's hinted early that he is also a kind of support dog, and if he gets too far from you it causes stress and anxiety in the form of a wobbly screen. But you can also pet him or ask him to stay close to you. Saying "seek" will get him to sniff around for clues, or bonus collectible litter so you can clean up the woods (to get an achievement, horror fans!). There's a little wheel of commands that lets you order him around. He finds old baseball caps, follows scents, and barks you in the right direction. But don't worry, he has a dog.īullet the dog is your handy helper pup. He's a wreck, and in the early moments, not someone you exactly feel a great deal of sympathy towards. Flashbacks hint at an abusive relationship with his partner, and other psychological troubles. Not just in his attire (green jacket, faded jeans) but in his behaviour too. He gives off serious vibes of James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2. This time you're a man called Ellis, who is joining a police search for a missing child. This is a spin-off of the horror movies of the same name, ghost stories about people becoming lost in the woods with an otherworldly, hostile presence, and trying to record that creepiness on camera. Oh well, at least the existential dread of Snake's infinitely looping arena remains compelling. But I would later discover that it never comes together in anything truly frightening or thought-provoking. There is an abundance of craftsmanship on display in this spook 'em up. The leaf-strewn forest floor, the puddles of stagnant water, the dirty baseball cap of a missing child.
It's such a good facsimile of the crap phones of yesteryear, I found myself completely ignoring the opening to this detailed game world. I spent the first 15 minutes of this horror game fiddling with a 1990s mobile, calling a pizzeria, snooping through old texts, and collecting tiny squares in an off-brand version of Snake called "Cobra Masters". The best thing about Blair Witch is that the main character carries a knock-off Nokia phone.
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