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Things you should know about BLACKTAIL

2K View2022-12-16

BLACKTAIL (Reviewed)

Developer: The Parasight

Publisher: Focus Entertainment

Released: Dec 15th, 2022

Price: $29 USD

Blacktail is a story that retells the myths and legends of Baba Yaga from Slavic folklore. You play as Yaga, a 16-year-old girl accused of witchcraft and expelled from her home. Your choices will shape who you become, so be mindful.

Issues surrounding the game

The game feels too dark at times

While the game can look absolutely vibrant and wonderful with it's fantasy colors and vista's, it suffers in a few sections like while entering an underpass, the world around you dims, this could just be the folklore magic at work sure, but it still makes you stop and think about it for a moment.

There are also plenty of times where the game just looks flat out pitch black.

There are currently zero waypoints / fast travel

This could be considered player bias, but I personally do not want to spend an hour running around trying to get to each new location on foot, only to die repetitively trying to get to a location I have already unlocked and have to start from the nearest available checkpoint only to die again an again.

The only way you can travel is by finding a campfire, speaking to a cat and being transported back to Baba Yaga's hut. Once here, you either walk back or teleport back to the previous campfire you recently used to return.

This becomes excruciatingly tedious and a waste of time, the world is vibrant and colorful yes, but that doesn't mean the players playing want to see the same sceneries over and over again. A simply fast travel would make this better.

This is the only major problem surrounding the game in my view.

Exploring the world and combat

The combat becomes repetitive

While running around from location to location, you're going to run into creatures of folklore and animals you can hunt for food or monsters.

You fight them by scavenging for materials to build arrows and using spells that you unlock over time. If you run out of arrows, you need to find more materials.

I find this really stupid, because I don't want to feel restricted half way through a non-boss fight to have to bail and make a run for it because I have run out of arrows and resources in the area to replenish. It just seems overly silly, since there is no real way to pinpoint where the nearest cache of materials are.

Exploring becomes a recurring cycle

The beginning of the game seems interesting, but the more you progress through the game, through the same areas, through the same method then it starts to become boring to go through the same motions with little variation.

The boss fights sort of change things up, but it feels like a walking simulator with a bit of niche combat and scavenging sprinkled in here and there.

Boss fights are interesting but nothing special

I'm sure some of the later bosses may be more challenging and exciting but for the first boss and second boss they didn't really feel all that fun. You dodge, weave, distract, build more resources in your slowed down inventory and kill them with arrows, collect your reward and move onto the next location.

The Story

Probably boring to those who do not appreciate folklore

I don't tend to dabble in the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories across many cultures. I personally do not find these things all that interesting, outside of the occasional Yōkai (妖怪, "strange apparition") of Japanese folklore.

I feel lost, not in a good way. I don't understand these things. I don't understand what the game is trying to convey, it doesn't feel like it's doing anything besides irritating me, while I look around the dark corners of the world around me.

Your choices shape who you become

While playing through this game, you will find many interactions between wildlife and characters. Your decision to interact or murder seem to have a significant change to the story being told. This could be, however, wool over your eyes and may not matter in the end.

Would you recommend this game?

Not in its current state

Unless you're easily impressed by folklore or story / atmospheric games, this game will most likely go over your head due to the many things holding it back.

This is the first game created by Parasight so there is a lot of room for some improvement, but I could not stand playing it very long before becoming disappointed by some of the paths they choose to take when making this game.

This concludes my review of this game, while my opinions may be met with criticism, that's what makes gamers unique, you don't have to like the same things that others do, nor do you have to agree with them.

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- Pawkt

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