Net of any possible criticism, the first The Blair Witch Project it was a great little cinematic event. The 1999 film written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez - a couple of first-time directors and authors - was nothing more than a clever mix between the documentary and horror genres, a sort of "fake amateur documentary" capable of obtaining many acclaim from the public and critics (as well as various prestigious awards, including the “Youth Award” as best foreign film at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival). Now, the years have passed inexorably, and net of a sequel (rather horrible) and a remake (fortunately passable), the series has now decided to return to none other than the world of video games with a subjective horror capable of tracing the atmosphere of the original film which has become a small cult of the genre it belongs to.
The Dark Forest
The plot of the game - simple and functional - is an excellent excuse to kick off a new horror linked to the Blair witch, almost slavishly tracing the aesthetics and some visual ideas seen in the first film of '99: Ellis is a detective with various alcohol problems, so much so that his romantic relationship is now at an end. With almost nothing left to lose, the man goes to the forest to help search for a missing child. At his side will be the trusted one Bullet, a dog that represents more than just a companion in adventures. Initially armed with only a video camera and a walkie talkie, Ellis will soon be engulfed in a mystery that seems to haunt the forest of Black Hills. The night never seems to come to an end, while all around strange objects popped out of nowhere and supernatural presence will be the prelude to something even more atrocious and terrifying.
Released last summer for Xbox One and PC, the cinematic horror-inspired title touches now PS4 and it does so with an almost perfect conversion of the original title, capable of giving a (slight) qualitative boost to the product released only a few months ago. First, it's best to say it right away: Bloober Team had promised some tweaks to the technical sector, to better adapt it to the Sony platform, and so it was: a higher detail (also with regard to textures and polygonal models), the absence of slowdowns and a significantly better fluidity than the "old ”Edition mean that the game can be enjoyed too many problems from the graphic side. Nothing shocking, mind you, but it is still a rather welcome finishing job. But that's not all: the PlayStation 4 version of Blair Witch also brings the Good Boy Pack, an additional content dedicated to the faithful dog Bullet, true co-star of Ellis' adventure in the dark woods surrounding Burkittsville. These, if the player asks him, can in fact bring us objects otherwise impossible to recover, in addition to identifying enemies and dangers of various kinds. But not only that: the dog will often and willingly act as a "psychological support", avoiding the protagonist from going completely crazy.
A not-so-scary Witch
This will allow the protagonist to interact with the animal in significantly different ways, expanding (and not a little) the possibilities of making him perform contextual actions. For the rest, the gameplay follows that of exploratory survival horror framed with a first-person view: exploring every corner of the forest, recovering clues and objects, solving (small) environmental puzzles, will allow you to reach the end credits in less than 10 hours of intense gameplay. A little bit, although a never invasive narrative, alternating with the various stages of gameplay inside the forest, will flow rather pleasantly and bringing the tension to at least sufficient levels, in perfect Blair Witch style. It's just a pity that the whole adventure never shines for who knows what you find original and scary scenery, limiting ourselves to a simple coming and going through the wooded locations that we will be called to explore together with our faithful four-legged friend (a little more variety even in this sense would certainly not have spoiled).
