Blair Witch VR
- August 12, 2021
- Bloober Team SA
Get on SteamBlair Witch VR is a psychological horror game that transports players into the cursed Black Hills Forest. As a detective, you'll unravel the mystery of a missing boy while experiencing the supernatural forces and eerie encounters that plague the area. With the added immersion of virtual reality, Blair Witch VR delivers a chilling and intense adventure.
PC
Virtual Reality
Windows
PlayStation
PlayStation VR
Reviews
- The game offers an immersive VR experience with great atmosphere and sound design, making it one of the best VR horror games for fans of the genre.
- Interacting with the dog companion, Bullet, adds a unique and enjoyable element to the gameplay, enhancing the emotional connection and immersion.
- The story is engaging and well-crafted, with multiple endings that encourage exploration and replayability.
- Performance issues are prevalent, with many players experiencing poor graphics, blurriness, and frame rate drops even on high-end hardware.
- The game is heavily reliant on walking simulator mechanics, with limited gameplay and repetitive elements that can detract from the overall experience.
- Cutscenes are pre-recorded and not in VR, which disappoints players looking for a fully immersive experience.
- story78 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its creepy atmosphere and engaging narrative, while others criticize it for being repetitive and confusing. Many appreciate the character development and immersive elements, but some find the mechanics, such as the camcorder usage, detract from the overall experience. Overall, the story is seen as a decent but genre-standard offering that may appeal to fans of narrative-driven games.
“Loved the story, loved the atmosphere, loved how it kept me guessing.”
“The deliberate pace lets the plot developments stick with you and gives you time to really take in the surroundings and events, which I appreciated.”
“The game follows a new story where you and your dog go to join a search party looking for a boy lost in the Black Hills Forest.”
“The plot is terrible, so bad that it makes the entire game unenjoyable because the story drives the entire game, but the story is just god awful.”
“The exact same dialogue is repeated over and over and over for some excuse for plot development.”
“The actual plot I found very confusing, not necessarily in the details of what happens but in the why of it all.”
- optimization54 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 41 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many users reporting severe performance issues across various hardware setups, including high-end GPUs like the RTX 4090 and 2070 Super. Players have noted that the game often requires significant graphical settings reductions to achieve playable performance, resulting in blurry visuals and stuttering, particularly in VR. While some users experienced satisfactory performance on specific setups, the general consensus is that the game is poorly optimized and in need of significant patches to address these issues.
“Looks amazing in VR, very well optimized, runs perfectly.”
“I just finished the game and it took me around 4 hours to beat. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to play a decent VR campaign, especially since it's been so long since we had anything out there. It ran perfectly on my Valve Index with very little to no bugs; also, performance for me was fine, nothing that made this game feel unplayable.”
“If the many performance issues were to be worked out, this is easily something I could recommend to someone looking for a short horror game to play through or fans of the Blair Witch franchise.”
“Add to that terrible performance on an RTX 4090, don't buy this broken game.”
“It's poorly optimized and the performance was awful unless I turned the resolution down until I felt like I was playing on a PS2 again.”
“Clearly not designed with VR in mind, the game both runs and looks terrible on my 2060 Super GPU; optimization clearly wasn't a priority when developing this.”
- graphics46 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the detailed visuals and atmospheric lighting, while others criticize the performance issues and dated graphics, particularly on VR platforms. Many players noted that the visuals can be underwhelming and blurry, especially when settings are lowered for performance, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, some found the graphics sufficient for immersion, especially in the context of the game's creepy atmosphere.
“Everything is perfect and high quality: gameplay, story, atmosphere, actors, graphics, sounds and voices... I deeply liked everything and was amazed by the light effects in a dark environment (and I kept it quite dark).”
“It boasts great graphics, a creepy and captivating story, and an overall good experience, especially if you have too much social life in your life, because you won't be meeting anyone in these woods.”
“Beautifully detailed in both the visuals and the audio (the occasional sound of tiny rocks falling down cliffs, twigs snapping, just enough to make you think something's moving in the dark).”
“The visuals, as I already said, are piss poor and made me want to laugh at myself for spending money on this game.”
“Terrible graphics for a supposedly decent title; if you can get past the jaggy, scuffed forest, the game is just a boring dog chasing simulator.”
“The blurry, dated dark graphics take away 4 points, so 6/10.”
- gameplay44 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally well-received for its interesting mechanics and immersive VR elements, particularly the interaction with the dog companion and the video camera mechanic. However, it suffers from a lack of depth and replay value, with some players noting issues like poor hand collision and limited arm movement that detract from immersion. Overall, while the game offers a visually appealing experience and a solid story, it falls short of being a standout title in the VR genre.
“Voice work was excellent, story was good, VR mechanics were well implemented, and the dog was very well programmed, feeling like a real companion in the dark.”
“Once you work out the mechanics, it is a fun game and a little bit scarier than most would admit.”
“It's extensive, in-depth, and has lots of background elements from the main character being foreshadowed into the gameplay.”
“The game was a beautiful and enjoyable experience, but there wasn't really much 'gameplay' or replay value in my opinion.”
“I literally guessed what the exact ending of this game would be after playing for 5 minutes, but alas, I had to trudge through 3 more hours of nonsensical, non-intuitive, poor gameplay with extremely poor, repeated dialogue, levels, and interactions that gave no reasonable clue as to how to complete them.”
“I was hoping for maybe 10 hours of gameplay, but in reality it’s about 4 hours for casual play, and that’s not even looking for every collectible.”
- atmosphere30 mentions
- 73 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its chilling and immersive qualities, enhanced by high-quality graphics, sound design, and a sense of isolation that effectively builds tension. While many players appreciate the atmospheric storytelling and gradual increase in spookiness, some note that certain sections can feel overly drawn out, diminishing the overall impact. Overall, the atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the horror experience.
“I didn't expect this to be one of the best looking and most atmospheric VR games that I've played.”
“Loved the story, loved the atmosphere, loved how it kept me guessing.”
“Beautiful horror atmosphere that is sadly broken most times with a jump scare.”
“Instead of relying on jump scares (there's a couple), it leaned on atmosphere, suggested events, audio design, and a sense of isolation to generate the fear factor.”
“Chilling atmosphere.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs such as screen shake, missing cinematics, and inconsistent animations. Additionally, there are significant graphical issues, including texture glitches, geometry holes, and poor level of detail, which detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game suffers from a lack of polish and stability, impacting immersion and enjoyment.
“Other problems include horrible screen shake (never do that in VR), in-game cinematics just not showing up, buggy animations and shaders (each eye rendering different things), holes in geometry everywhere in the environment, boring/cheesy monsters and scares, and horrible audio loops (dog barking and whines).”
“It's buggy, graphics could be better, the last chapter overstays its welcome by a lot and the LOD distance is the worst I've seen in VR.”
“There were also some weird shimmery texture glitches on the ground and rocks (similar visual problems in Fallout 4 VR), some object pop-in as well, but the overall details were nice.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively prolonged, particularly in the cabin level, where the initially engaging atmosphere becomes tedious over time. While the experience has its strengths, the repetitive nature of grinding detracts from the overall enjoyment, leading some to feel it overstays its welcome.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“When it comes to pros and cons, the biggest strength of this game is simultaneously its biggest flaw, which is the cabin level. It's scary, the atmosphere is on point, but it drags on and on to the point where the scare factor wears out and it becomes tedious. This is the best example of something that is good but completely overstays its welcome. That aside, the overall experience is one I will personally recommend.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music and sound effects in the game are highly praised for their quality, with particular acclaim for the soundtrack, especially the track "Into the Woods." Overall, the audio experience is considered well-produced and enhances the gameplay.
“The music and sound effects are really well produced.”
“+ Good soundtrack (Into the Woods is such a good track).”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its beauty and enjoyable experience, but many users feel it lacks significant gameplay elements and replay value, limiting the incentive to play again.
“The game was a beautiful and enjoyable experience, but there wasn't really much gameplay or replay value in my opinion.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by the family's shared experiences, particularly the amusing moments when players become so frightened that they freeze in place, leading to laughter among the group. This blend of humor and horror creates a fun atmosphere, even for those stepping outside their usual gaming preferences.
