Blair Witch series

[Ryzer]

I really wish it was longer though, I completed it only in a few hours.

Better short and good throughout than long and boring.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Indeed. It's bewildering how often horror writers do not comprehend that:
1) scare jumps are not creating fear, it's the anticipation that builds the insecurity
2) unknown is more frightening and cringe lore dumps and tl;dr explanations are taking the mystery away

Like in the original movie.

 

[Konjad]

Completed Volume II.

This one has few and uninteresting characters, the story overall is simple and cliche. There are in fact very few character interactions and no puzzles at all (not that the first one had many, but it had a few and they were fine). The engine is the same, and so are the controls but camera is worse, it is often so close you don't know where you're going, and the graphics seem worse for some reason, as if it was made 1-2 years before the Volume I? Anyway, the worst is that instead of having cool action-adventure horror game like Volume I, the second is more like movie-game hybrid where you watch cutscene for 1-2 minutes, walk and shoot for 1-2 minutes, watch cutscene... it's like a movie in which you shoot monsters yourself.

Overall, while Rustin Parr was great, Coffin Rock is trash. It's very short though, took me less than 3h to finish? Third of that time was me fighting the camera while in the woods. The first game was three times as long, but I'm glad sequel is so short, I don't think I would finish it otherwise. On a positive note, it's not story-wise related to the first game so you can ignore it without feeling you're missing anything.

 

[Konjad]

Completed Volume III.

Gameplay, alike in II, focuses on combat and there are no puzzles. Surprisingly enough, the story and dialogues are even dumber than in the second one (though at least there's one decent twist). It's once again running around and shooting then watching a cutscene (this time they are short, fortunately), then the game ends in 2-3h. Similarily, the graphics seem worse than in the first game, but this time camera is not so zoomed in and annoying, it's more akin to the first Volume. Oh, and also the forest isn't confusing anymore in this part, it's basically a few corridors. Overall, I'd say it's a fairly similar game to Volume II and vastly inferior to Volume I. Subpar and not worth recommendation.

Play Volume I and don't bother with II and III.

 

[Tel Velothi]

Thanks for report Konjad, I was wondering if I should take a trip down a memory line, so I'll pass. But I wonder if you tried Nocturne maybe? And how is that?
Fuck, I love graphics and art style in this game - I mean in Blair Witch Trilogy. Those 90/00 liminal space/orbitcore/weirdcore kind of stuff

 

[Darth Roxor]

Actually, I have a funny memory regarding Part 1.

There's that bit where the priest wants to sacrifice the little girl and you're supposed to whack him over the head with a shovel. IIRC it's impossible for you to have guns at that point, but when I played for the first time, I used a cheat for guns (that gave me a double-barrel from Nocturne that isn't present in this game, funny enough) and sprayed the nigga with lead. There's actually a cutscene there that shows Elspeth in jail, arrested for murder. I'm pretty sure you can't see that cutscene if you don't cheat your way to guns, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Harthwain]

There's actually a cutscene there that shows Elspeth in jail, arrested for murder. I'm pretty sure you can't see that cutscene if you don't cheat your way to guns, but maybe I'm wrong.

It would be cool if the point of that is to get you punished for cheating.

 

[Konjad]

Thanks for report Konjad, I was wondering if I should take a trip down a memory line, so I'll pass. But I wonder if you tried Nocturne maybe? And how is that?
Fuck, I love graphics and art style in this game - I mean in Blair Witch Trilogy. Those 90/00 liminal space/orbitcore/weirdcore kind of stuff

No, I haven't played Nocturne yet.

As for Blair Witch, you should play Volume I. No need to be concerned with II and III's existence, they aren't really related storywise.

 

[Hell Swarm]

How do you run these games on a modern PC?

 

[Konjad]

How do you run these games on a modern PC?

Just download and install these versions:

This version works fine, doors and cutscenes work properly.

 

[Hell Swarm]

How do you run these games on a modern PC?

Just download and install these versions:

This version works fine, doors and cutscenes work properly.

Is there not a better source than blogspot?

 

[Fatberg Slim]

But I wonder if you tried Nocturne maybe? And how is that?

It's been ages since I played this (I remember upgrading my PC in 1999 just to play this and System Shock 2 ) and would be interested in thoughts from someone who played it more recently, but here is what I remember:

- World and atmosphere were good, they introduced a bunch of cool things without feeling the need to overexplain them
- Great graphics for the time, especially the light and flame effects. Animation not so much
- Controls were clunky. You could move and aim independently (and even aim two pistols in different directions) but it was cumbersome and I remember wishing the character could do more (jump, climb, etc)
- Sub-AITD camera angle quality
- Focus of the game was combat, it was tense and involved using some different tactics but the issues mentioned above often got in the way
- Uneven quality of the four episodes (I liked 2 > 1 > 4 > 3 IIRC)
It had its moments but I was disappointed overall, and never played it again or any of the subsequent Blair Witch games. SS2 was great though