The aesthetics and general ambience are absolutely inspired here. A true feast for the senses. Also really enjoyed Jesse as a protagonist. She has a ton of personality/charm. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about the rest.

The combat here doesn't feel too far off from what Quantum Break was working with. It's much more fluid this time around which goes a long way but the performance gets in the way. The game really struggled on my PS4 Pro and with combat being so hectic and often difficult it got to be a lot after a bit. The checkpoint system didn't help things, some difficulty settings or just general options could've been nice.

As it is, I feel the same way as I have with previous Remedy titles I've played. Okay to good but not great gameplay with some missteps. The surroundings were otherwise so nice here that I'm able to look past it a bit more than usual. This could've really been a big time favorite if the game felt as good to play as it otherwise did to consume.

Next time I teach a writing class I'm going to use this as an example of why it's important to hire an editor.

It's clearly stitched together from a large team working independently of each other. Which isn't necessarily bad. Unfortunately the writing is weak, especially in the common route, and the protagonist is hard to sympathize with. He views women as puzzles to be solved and takes an overly logical approach to every relationship. Hisao follows Neil Degrasse Tyson on Twitter, I bet. That said there are some neat moments in the relationship stuff and a lot of other little things I wish more visual novels would pick up on.

I will cut myself off here before I launch into an essay about its origins on 4chan with regard to both the roommate character and the questionably Japanese setting. If someone else wants to write that essay, I will gladly read it.

The existence of this game is baffling to me. Blair Witch is an odd license to use for anything at this point let alone a video game. The last film was from a few years back and it didn't exactly excel from a critical or commercial standpoint, before that it's been an even longer period since the second film and the first attempts at a Blair Witch game (a trilogy of PC games). Add in the fact that the license itself feels like a bit of an afterthought here (this feels like it could be any first person horror title with Blair Witch elements thrown in at the last second) and it's an odd experience. Having said that, I was pretty excited for this game as a fan of the first two films and the general concept behind the series.

What we ended up with is pretty standard first person horror fare. My biggest issues came from the disastrous performance and glitchiness of the game. The game was in a choppy state at nearly all times which hurt not only the fun factor but also the general mood and atmosphere. Add in glitches like Bullet (our trusty canine companion) flat out disappearing to not be found again, getting softlocked by picking up an item until quitting and reloading, and wonky enemy behavior among other things for a pretty rough experience.

It wasn't all bad, thankfully. The atmosphere at times is pretty great. I'm a pretty seasoned horror veteran but walking through the woods in the dark was definitely spooky at times and it captured the feeling of what doing the same in real life would be like. I'd also like to praise the last chapter or so which is where the Blair Witch feeling was well and truly nailed. If the whole game was on that level this could've been a favorite of mine even with the performance troubles.

Overall this was a bit disappointing for sure. I'd recommend it for big fans of the license or fans of first person horror under the condition of them going in with well adjusted expectations. I played through this over a few days on Game Pass and that's how I'd suggest those who are curious do as well.