MicrosoftFor an entire generation of kids who were definitely too young to watch it, Blair Witch was one of the most terrifying horror movies of all time. Beyond being properly scary, it managed to kick start an entirely genre of “found footage” films.
Today, Microsoft has announced a first-person Blair Witch video game for Xbox One and PC, and it looks every bit as pants-wettingly horrifying as the 1999 movie on which it’s based. Check out the trailer below:
Based on the brief look we got at Blair Witch, it seems like the new game will be a psychological horror experience in a similar vein to Outlast. Players will be forced to explore the forest in which the Witch is said to live armed with nothing more than a camcorder and a dog.
Here’s the official description from developer Bloober Team:
Blair Witch is a first-person, story-driven psychological horror game based on the cinematic lore of Blair Witch. It’s 1996. A young boy disappears in the Black Hills Forest near Burkittsville, Maryland. As Ellis, a former police officer with a troubled past, you join the search. What starts as an ordinary investigation soon turns into an endless nightmare as you confront your fears and the Blair Witch, a mysterious force that haunts the woods…
Whether or not we manage to survive the gauntlet of horrors waiting in the forest and rescue the kid depends on our own skill and never, I guess. The film of course famously ends with a… less than happy ending, so I’m not entirely sure we’ll be seeing the happiest conclusion regardless.
One would imagine that Ellis’ “troubled past” will play a key part in the nightmarish hallucinations and visitations that come at the player during their journey. My money’s on him having killed a kid or something. Ooh, dark and gritty.
Blair Witch is launching on Game Pass on the decidely un-spooky date of August 30. Please, please, let the dog make it out of the game okay. I’m begging you Microsoft.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.