The Blair Witch Project (video games)

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 use the Nocturne Engine and were published by Gathering of Developers, although each game was developed by a different team.

"Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr"

Infobox VG
title = Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr


developer = Terminal Reality
publisher = Gathering of Developers
distributor = Take 2
designer =
engine = Nocturne Engine
version =
released = 3 October, 2000 (US release)
genre = Action adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: Mature
USK: 16
platforms = Windows PC
media = CD-ROM
requirements = Pentium II, Windows 95 or newer, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card recommended
input = Keyboard, Mouse, joypadWhile "Volume 1" is intended to take place 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. Elspeth "Doc" Holliday was a minor character in "Nocturne", and several other characters from that game also appear. With the exception of the opening section in the Spookhouse HQ, the game takes place over four "days".

The story takes place in the year 1941. Elspeth "Doc" Holliday, a calm, collected research scientist, is dispatched to the town of Burkittsville by the Spookhouse, an fictional classified government agency charged with investigating paranormal occurrences.

It is reported that during the early 1940s a hermit named Rustin Parr abducted seven children from Burkittsville and, apparently without motive, murdered all but one in his basement. He forced 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. Action sequences occur intermittently in the woods where the legendary Blair Witch is rumored to live, as well as in nightmare sequences in which the inhabitants of the town seem to become Daemites (demonic zombies). The story of Rustin Parr, minus the involvement of Holliday, was described briefly in the first movie, and more fully in the pseudo-documentary "Curse of the Blair Witch", which accompanied the movie DVD.

The main antagonist of the series is not actually 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 game has reference to "Nocturn". Some characters from "Nocturne" appear at the start of the game: Master Khen Rigzin, Coronel Hapscomb, General Biggs, an unnamed secretary, Svetlana Lupescu, and The Stranger. The Stranger reappears later in the game, on the fourth day, as the player's partner. Some enemies from "Nocturne" (the bat creatures, a werewolf) also appear in the beginning of the game, in the training session.

"Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock"

Infobox VG
title = Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock


developer = Human Head Studios
publisher = Gathering of Developers
distributor = Take 2
designer =
engine = Nocturne Engine
version =
released = 25 October, 2000 (US release)
genre = Action adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: Mature
USK: 16
platforms = Windows PC
media = CD-ROM
requirements = Pentium II, Windows 95 or newer, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card recommended
input = Keyboard, mouse, joypadThe second installment of the game is based on a story that was related briefly in the first game and the original movie. It is 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!". Sure enough, his time is not up - a young girl called Robin Weaver finds him and helps him back to the isolated house where she lives with her grandmother, Bess.

While he heals, he has a number of hallucinations and a near-death experience, in which he learns, but does not fully comprehend, that Robin is in danger. When he awakes, it is discovered that he is suffering from amnesia, and cannot remember who he is. The only clue to his past is the uniform he wears. Since he cannot remember his 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 regards this as paranoia, and thinks that Robin has simply gone to play in the woods and is late in returning. Bess is insistent, however, and the soldier reluctantly agrees to help in the search for Robin.

As the game progresses, Lazarus recalls elements of his past, by means of flashback game sequences, which slowly explain how the current events come to be.

Trivia

*The uniform of Lazarus is seen in the first game at Robin Weaver's house, and he is mentioned during that game.
*The character of Peter Durant appears 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 the flashback storyline is set during the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865 (Lazarus mentions that he is a veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg).

"Blair Witch Volume 3: The Elly Kedward Tale"

Infobox VG
title = Blair Witch Volume 3: The Elly Kedward Tale


developer = Ritual Entertainment
publisher = Gathering of Developers
distributor = Take 2
designer =
engine = Nocturne Engine
version =
released = 21 November, 2000 (US release)
genre = Action adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: Mature
USK: 16
platforms = Windows PC
media = CD-ROM
requirements = Pentium II, Windows 95 or newer, 64 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card recommended
input = keyboard, mouse, joypadThe final episode of the trilogy is an original story that was not mentioned in the film, although it was briefly referred to in the first two games. It is basically an origin story, telling of how the Blair Witch legend came to be, set in 1785, in the early days of the Blair Township (later renamed Burkittsville). The story's main character is Jonathan Prye, a former priest who left the clergy due to a crisis of faith. Prye, now a witch-hunter, is called to Blair to investigate events related to the disappearance of a woman called Elly Kedward a few weeks earlier.

Elly Kedward was accused of witchcraft after it was found she had been drawing blood from the local children and performing 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 from the wheelbarrow to which she was tied, and was never seen again.

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 Goodfellow, remaining behind. Father Goodfellow 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: Hirrum Heathtow is a drunk, and Elizabeth Styler is a witch who was arrested when she was found in Elly's house, reciting strange phrases.

The player must guide Prye through his investigation, to discover what happened to the Blair Witch.

Trivia

*The character of Jonathan Prye (voiced by a different actor) appeared briefly in the first game, and gave Doc Holliday his journal. They met in a "dark path", a dark dimension, where "there is no time, only place; past, present and future, all at once". Holliday does not appear in the third game.
*The character of Asgaya Gigagei also appears, much aged, in the first game.
*Despite the title, the character of Elly Kedward does not appear at any time in "The Elly Kedward Tale".

ee also

*Survival horror game