The Story

Witch Hunter Extraordinaire

Blair Witch 3: The Elly Kedward Tale casts you as Jonathon Prye, an estranged witch hunter. Prye has lost his faith, and feels he can no longer preach to his flock with a good conscience. He has decided to journey out into the world as a witch hunter, to find proof of not only God's will, but also the Devil's.

With that premise, our hero learns of Blair and the recent happenings surrounding it. Children are beginning to disappear from Blair after the recent exile of a witch and our hero can't stand by and let matters continue on their current course. Prye journeys to Blair, and this is where our story truly begins.

Making some butter for my late night treks into the woods

Dilapidated household

The real McCoy

BW3 begins with a very interesting premise and by and large the story continues at this level of involvement. Very early on you will begin to realize that the Blair Witch, Elly Kedward, actually plays a very minimal part in the storyline.

After the first thirty minutes or so, you'll cease hearing Elly Kedward's name, and you will begin to pursue other storylines provided by the game. As licensed games tend to do, BW3 says very little about the concrete details of the licensed world and tends to deviate and extrapolate into areas that the original artists who made the world wouldn't care about. Though the story comments very little on the established mythos, it is quite interesting, though it'll catch most of us a little off guard.

Beautiful place, no?

Is that fairy dust buzzing around my head?

The opening of the game is a real "hook" in the literary sense; it is extremely interesting and grabs your attention immediately. Though the early dialog with the town folk and first experiences with the demonic menace are exciting, the feeling eventually fades. Towards the end of the game, however, you will be subjected to some outlandishly peculiar travels that put Half-Life's alternate dimension to shame.

The story of Blair Witch 3 is best told through its cutscenes. Much like the previous game in the series, whoever directed the cutscenes obviously has a bit of knowledge of cinematics. The camera stays fixed, and when it does move, it's for a pan to reveal information or to focus on a character who is about to speak.

The characters of BW3 themselves act realistically, they gesture only to emote something of necessity, such as pointing something out or to hand Prye an object. The animations of some characters in BW3 include a ruminating hand on the chin, and the act of pacing. The cutscenes as a whole are cinematic, well paced and fun to watch.

Amen, brother.	This is just out of town, you think they would have moved it by now.
Being a skeptical hero	Check out the hanging witch! Lovely decorum.