The latest Blair Witch video game has a bit of a give and take relationship with players, and for the most part, that pans out.

In 1994, Heather Donahue looked down at audiences with her nostrils flaring, completely unaware of the impact her night vision found-footage would have on the horror genre. The Blair Witch video game captures the spirit of Heather’s dread, and gives players quite the wild ride about the Black Hills Forest.

It’s a game of survival, with the keyword there being “game.” The titular Witch has to attend to some possessive business, and is seeking out your soul to carry out her evil bidding.

‘Blair Witch’ video game review

Based off of the Artisan Entertainment indie sleeper hit film The Blair Witch Project, the Blair Witch game sends tortured vet Ellis into the woods with a good boy of a police dog, who is aptly named Bullet. Bullet is the only waypoint you’ll be able to take advantage of, as this psychological horror title has no in-game map, and nary a posted sign describing where to go next.

The intent of Blair Witch is to make you feel as lost as possible without making the game unplayable. It’s a frustrating yet rewarding experience, giving players a real taste of what it must feel like to get lost in the woods.

Add in some series standard loss of time and hallucinations, and you have yourself a true blue American horror story. Blair is almost always effective in its horror, save for some silly, and at times glitchy, moments that reveal the fourth wall of it all.

Ellis, much like Donahue and co., is equipped with only a flashlight/camcorder combo. He cannot fight the Witch any more than Charlie Brown could kick that damn football, but at least Bullet is there to help you cope with her horrors.

Blair is touted as a puzzle game, and while that is true, the real puzzle of it all is trying to navigate your way through the Black Hills Forest. With the goal of finding a missing boy, Ellis quickly realizes that the player isn’t going to be much of a help in navigating the samey trees, logs, and boulders of the woods.

The environment is often rainy, but rarely lit. It’s a stressful experience to not know where to go next, but that’s the whole point, isn’t it? While this may not exactly translate well for those that casually pick up Blair Witch as a horror romp, the feeling of “oh, yeah this is the fifth time I’ve seen that boulder formation” captures the spirit of the original 1999 film in true form.

The tapes, the tapes, it’s all about the tapes. Ellis’ camcorder has the ability to… manipulate time, as it is. By rewinding a recording to a certain scene, Ellis is able to manipulate his environment, thus raising a fallen tree, or producing a piece of evidence for Bullet to sniff. It doesn’t take long to get used to this mechanic, and when it comes into play, the time travel of it all works.

Your nerves need to be on edge in order for you to get the full Blair Witch experience. There’s a certain recurring Inside-esque sound effect that had my hair literally on end. Watching Bullet’s hackles rise, I knew that Ellis wasn’t the only one being psychologically tested by the curse of the Blair Witch.

And these woods be cursed, or so say the voiceovers on your handy dandy walkie-talkie. Ellis’ relations to his comrades in the outside world are limited to phone calls and static-y radio conversations, with us hardly getting a glimpse of anyone’s face. It’s a John Doe experience, with Ellis acting as the grieving survivor of some pretty heavy war PTSD.

Heart and fun are both few and far between, but with petting commands for Bullet and Space Invaders on your ancient Nokia-esque cell phone, you will find yourself cracking a rare smile every now and again. You’re able to take these quiet reprieves from the woods’ chaos whenever you like, making this feel like your adventure.

I have to be honest: Playing through the entirety of the game’s five-hour-long runtime in one sitting, I wasn’t so hot on the concept of the battered and bruised Blair Witch property being revisited in the form of a horror video game. It took time to digest, and coming away from the ghosts and ghouls of it all, I realized that the center of the story, Ellis’ struggle to live a normal life after having experienced such intense forms of trauma, breathed life into the first-person perspective game.

Blair still has quite a few bugs to work out, which may find you backtracking toward a new level of insanity. The passion for the Blair Witch project is there, but a few more playtesting sessions would have done this compelling title some good. Otherwise, Blair Witch has it.

‘Blair Witch’ video game review score: