Ellis and Bullet return to the gaming fold with ‘Blair Witch VR’ developed by Bloober Team and published by Lionsgate Games. Blair Witch VR will put some real fear into the players as they enter the woods in search of a missing local boy, Peter, this time fully immersed in the world of virtual reality.

The game is set in 1996, which is two years after the events of the first Blair Witch movie. Ellis is a veteran and former police officer that suffers from PTSD so the Chief Of Police is hesitant about Ellis helping due to a past breakdown. Thankfully, Bullet is alongside, a former police dog and comfort companion, and armed with a trusty radio linked to the Police, Ellis is off into the dark woods to investigate.

As Ellis and Bullet venture further into the woods, they stumble across some clues that the first search party must have missed? Or so Ellis thought until things start getting weird and distortions start to happen within the woods. Players will need to keep Bullet close by and safe, if Ellis is left alone without Bullet his PTSD will start to show and he will start having panic attacks. There will be choices Ellis will make along the way that will alter how the end of the story plays out so there is replay-ability, it is a great story for the game.

There are new features added for the VR version to make it more immersive for players. Bullet can be petted and given treats, you are able to give him new collars and even change his colour back in the main menu. Also, when tracking down scents you will have to hold the item in front of Bullet so he can get a good sniff and start seeking. Other main features that have been changed and added is the fact the environment has more items that can be interacted with. Be it a key item or just seeing if you can stack items on top of each other to be a balance master. There are also new sounds and jump scares that have been added to enhance the auditory experience. If you are going into VR just after finishing the base Blair Witch you will be surprised with things that didn’t happen before.

Blair Witch VR is used with the move/motion controllers and can be played either seated or standing. In terms of movement, players are able to roam around a room in a cabin at the main menu to try out the styles and pick a preferred method. Locomotion was the default option for getting around but teleport is available and personally, I found that easier to use while playing seated. There is an option for which hand is dominant, this is used for the extra small buttons on the move controller for turning around and ducking in-game.

Overall for the controls and how they felt I was impressed players can grab equipment from their bodies. You will have to look down and stretch an arm out to get exactly what you wanted, this at times resulted in me grabbing the dog whistle around my neck instead of the radio or torch but was an easy fix by just letting go of the item to send it home.

The graphics up close to certain items do look like they are not rendered properly that was my first thought when I was entering the woods, but as it gets darker and you are more on a set path it is fine. There are a few sky box glitches that at first made me think there was lightning in the game but was just trees and dark patches of the sky popping in and out of being there.

The monsters in Blair Witch VR are very spooky. It had been a while since I had played the original version so I did forget what the encounters were but that came flooding right back as I was starting down with a horrifyingly malnourished monster trying to get the light on it to banish it.

The audio and new additions they have added in had me on edge for quite a period of time as the slightest sound had me doing spins to see if anything was sneaking up on me. This definitely makes the VR experience worth the money. In the heat of the moment, I had forgotten that Bullet will growl and whimper if there are any spookies coming close but it was still an experience that pulled me in with how well it was delivered.

Blair Witch VR is a must-get for any horror fans. It has great jump scares and delivers with the tension you would want from dark twisted woods with a witch attached to them. The story is amazing and is alone worth a play if you have not done so before.

Written by: Shane Walsh