One of the more surprising game announcements to come from E3 2019 was the reveal of a Blair Witch horror game.
Developed by Bloober Team, the folks behind classic horror title Layers of Fear, the game was announced with a short trailer that definitely gave us the goosebumps.
Delving into more detail about Blair Witch in an interview with Bloody-Disgusting, developers Barbara Kciuck and Maciej Glomb spilled the beans on what we can expect from the upcoming horror.
Firstly, the duo confirmed that the game will – somewhat surprisingly – include combat.
It’s the first time that Bloober has included combat in one of its games, and it’s not something we’d expect. The Blair Witch movies don’t really contain any notable examples of the protagonists fighting back against the threat in the woods, and a lot of the horror element comes from being defenceless.
“We are convinced that to create a truly horrifying horror experience in a video game you have to make the players feel vulnerable.
“When introducing new encounter mechanics we don’t really want to change that. What we want to do is to diversify gameplay mechanics,” said Kciuk.
“We already experimented with chase and stealth sequences and with Blair Witch we want to try yet another type of combat in which you will be finally able to defend yourself. Having said that we try to design it in such a way that it still feels as you’re a pray not a hunter.”
When asked about the time-loops shown in the Blair Witch reveal trailer, Kciuk explained: “Traveling through time and escaping the consequences of our mistakes by erasing them altogether seems like a particularly enticing vision.
“And that’s exactly what authors of unnerving stories are looking for – alluring concepts which they can then twist horribly. Did you want to get rid of some small misstep from the past? Oops! You just made it all much worse. And now you must live with all of the horrible things you did and more.
“As the reveal trailer suggested, Bloober Team’s Blair Witch will also feature time loops. However, without spoiling anything, let me just say that they are not the Groundhog Day-style loops. They are not there to help you make your situation better in the end. Blair Witch uses them for much more sinister reasons.”
As a fan of horror games, this one’s definitely on my list.
Blair Witch will be released on Xbox One and PC on August 30.
Featured Image Credit: Bloober Team