The Blair Witch Project (video games)
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The Blair Witch video games are a trilogy of action adventure games for Windows-based PCs based on the backstory of the movie The Blair Witch Project. All three games made use of the Nocturne Engine and were published by Gathering of Developers, although each of the three games was developed by a different team.
Contents |
| Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Terminal Reality |
| Publisher | Gathering of Developers |
| Distributor | Take 2 |
| Engine | Nocturne Engine |
| Released | 3 October 2000 (US release) |
| Genre | Action adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Ratings | ESRB: Mature USK: 16 |
| Platform(s) | Windows PC |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Pentium II, Windows 95 or newer, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card recommended |
| Input methods | Keyboard, Mouse, joypad |
While the game is intended to be based within the fictional universe of the Blair Witch Project, the game is technically also a sequel to Nocturne the game for which the trilogy's engine was originally developed. Volume 1 incorporates elements from both stories. They even share some of the same characters like Elspeth "Doc" Holliday.
The story takes place in the year 1941. The central character is Elspeth "Doc" Holliday, a research scientist who briefly appeared in the game's prequel. A calm, collected individual, she is dispatched by the Spookhouse, an allegedly classified government agency charged with investigating paranormal occurrences, to the town of Burkittsville.
It was reported that during the early 1940s a hermit by the name of Rustin Parr abducted seven children from Burkittsville and, apparently without motive, murdered all but one in his basement. He forces the surviving child, Kyle Brody, to stand in a corner and listen to the screams of the children being tortured and killed. Afterwards Rustin Parr left his house in the forest, walked into town, and said to a local shopkeeper, "I'm finally finished."
The player must guide Holliday through her investigations, to see if there is any truth to Parr's claims that he was under the influence of otherworldly forces when he committed the murders. The investigation includes conversing with inhabitants of the town and analysing clues left behind. Action sequences come intermittently in the woods where the legendary Blair Witch is rumored to live, as well as in nightmare sequences where the inhabitants of the town seem to have become daemites.
The story of Rustin Parr, minus the involvement of Holliday, was briefly covered in the first movie.
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- With the exception of the beginning in the Spookhouse HQ, the game is divided in 4 days.
- Some character's from Nocturne appear at the start of the game (Master Khen Rigzin, Coronel Hapscomb, General Biggs, an unnamed secretary, Svetlana Lupescu, Stranger and a new Doc Holliday assistant, Justine). Stranger later appears in the game in the Fourth day, as your partner.
- Some enemies from Nocturne (the bat creatures, a werewolf) appear in the beginning of the game, at the Training room.
- The Daemites (that appear in the night of the first day of what is really a nightmare) later appear in the BloodRayne game.
- The main antagonist of the series, it's not exactly the Blair Witch, but a demon called Hecaitomix. It's explained through the game and the series that this demon controlled and possessed others, like Elly Kedward and (through Kyle Brody) influenced Rustin Parr.
- The final scene of the first movie appears in the third day, but in a different overview. The final scene of the film takes place inside Parr's house. This scene also shows what probably (according to the game) happened with Heather and Mike and influences the idea of the cast being taken back in time more clearly.
- The character of Asgaya Gigagei also appears more younger as a shaman in the third game, The Elly Kedward Tale.
| Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Human Head Studios |
| Publisher | Gathering of Developers |
| Distributor | Take 2 |
| Engine | Nocturne Engine |
| Released | 25 October 2000 (US release) |
| Genre | Action adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Ratings | ESRB: Mature USK: 16 |
| Platform(s) | Windows PC |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Pentium II, Windows 95 or newer, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card recommended |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse, joypad |
The second installment of the game surrounds a story that was explained briefly in the first game and the original movie. It tells the tale of a Union soldier during the American Civil War who is mortally wounded in battle and left for dead. As he slips into unconsciousness, he hears a mysterious voice say, "Your time is not up yet, soldier. I have need of you yet!". Surely enough, his time is not up - a young girl by the name of Robin Weaver finds him and helps him back to the isolated house where she resides with her grandmother, Bess.
While he heals, he has a number of hallucinations and a near-death experience, where he learns, but does not fully comprehend, that Robin is in danger. When he awakes, it emerges that he is suffering from amnesia, and cannot remember who he is. The only clue to his history is the uniform that he wears. With no name, Robin's grandmother, a devout Christian, temporarily names him Lazarus.
Robin's grandmother, with the soldier now in her debt, informs him that Robin has disappeared into the woods and begs him to find her. She is convinced that "the woods have her". The soldier perceives this as paranoia and believes that she has simply gone to play in the woods and is late back. Bess is insistent however, and the soldier agrees reluctantly to assist in the search for Robin.
As time progresses in the game, Lazarus recalls elements of his past which slowly explain how the events come to be.
- The uniform of Lazarus is seen in the first game, at Robin Weaver's house and he is mentioned some times in the game.
- The character of Peter Durant appear in the first game as an old librarian. In the second game, he is younger and tells Lazarus some of the Blair Witch legend.
- The main story takes place in Burkittsville in the year 1886, but during the flashback storyline the setting is during American Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865 as Lazarus mentioned that he was a veteran of Gettysburg. Some suspect that he went into a time travel by Robin Weavers grandmother.
| Blair Witch Volume 3: The Elly Kedward Tale | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Ritual Entertainment |
| Publisher | Gathering of Developers |
| Distributor | Take 2 |
| Engine | Nocturne Engine |
| Released | 21 November 2000 (US release) |
| Genre | Action adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Ratings | ESRB: Mature USK: 16 |
| Platform(s) | Windows PC |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Pentium II, Windows 95 or newer, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card recommended |
| Input methods | keyboard, mouse, joypad |
The final episode of the trilogy was an original story that was not covered in the film, although it was briefly mentioned in the original two games. It is fundamentally an "in the beginning" telling of how the Blair Witch legend came to be. Set in the early days of the Blair Township (Burkittsville) in the year 1785, the story centres around Jonathan Prye, a witch-hunter. Prye, a former priest who left the clergy due to a crisis of faith, is called to Blair to investigate the events related to the disappearance of a woman called Elly Kedward a few weeks earlier.
Elly Kedward stood accused of witchcraft when it was found she had been drawing blood from the local children and committing pagan rituals. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to be banished from the town. The locals tied her to a wheelbarrow, dragged her into the nearby woods and left her to freeze to death.
Kedward disappeared and was never seen again, leaving behind only the wheelbarrow to which she was tied. A few days later, children from the township began to disappear, and the population began to flee out of fear - with only the local magistrate, Jonah, and the township's chaplain, Father Hale Goodfelow, remaining behind. Father Goodfelow is convinced that an evil supernatural force is at work - Jonah, a skeptic, refuses to believe this.
There are also two people who are locked in a jail in the town, one is a drunk, Hirrum, and the other, Elizabeth Styler, is a witch who was arrested when she was found in Elly's house, saying strange phrases.
The player must guide Prye through his investigation to establish what happened to the Blair Witch.
- The character of Jonathan Prye appeared briefly in the first game, but voiced by another actor, and gives Doc Holliday his journal. They meet each other in a "dark path", a dark dimension, where "there is no time, only place; past, present and future, all at once". it is unknown why Doc does not appear in the third game, to signify that happenstance.
- The character of Asgaya Gigagei also appears in the first game, but with some differences. There, he is an old man who lives in the center of the forest and also help Doc Holliday (the protagonist of the first game) in her mission.
- Despite the title, Elly Kedward does not appear any time in the game.