User:HumanxAnthro/sandbox/Blair Witch videogames

Blair Witch Volume I: Rustin Parr, Blair Witch Volume II: The Legend of Coffin Rock, and Blair Witch Volume III: The Elly Kedward Tale are survival horror action-adventure PC games published by Gathering of Developers in 2000 and based on the film The Blair Witch Project (1999). Rustin Parr was developed by Terminal Reality, The Legend of Coffin Rock by Human Head Studios, and The Elly Kedward Tale by Ritual Entertainment. Each game covers a different part of the mythology of the Blair Witch, but they all involve the player character attempting to defeat the titular antagonist. In doing so, the player talks to townspeople, solves puzzles, attacks enemies, and maneuvers through the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland haunted by the witch.

The first entry covers hermit Rustin Parr's killing of seven kids in his house in the middle of the woods in 1941. It is investigated by a member of US government agency Spookhouse, Elsbeth "Doc" Holliday, as Parr claimed to have done his homicide under the control of a ghost. The second game takes place in 1886 and stars a soldier of the recently ended Civil War, who wakes up wounded in the woods. Following revival by the grandmother of Robin Weaver, who found the soldier, Robin disappears in the woods. The player investigates her disappearance as return for the care of her grandmother, who nicknames him Lazarus after a resurrected Bible figure of the same name.

The directors and producers at Haxan Films, the production company of The Blair Witch Project, was considering a video game adaptation shortly after the film's success. Meanwhile, Gathering of Developers founder Mike Wilson pitched the concept of a Blair Witch video game to Terminal Reality, which used the engine of the developer's previous game Nocturne (1999). Terminal Reality agreed. A project of a trilogy of games commenced following a meeting between Haxan Films, Terminal Reality and Gathering of Developers. As an experiment of efficient and smart game development, Gathering of Developers assigned Terminal Reality, Human Head Studios, and Ritual Entertainment to share resources and ideas with each other and to focus on the lengths of each game being that of a $19.99 title instead of a full-price product. All games utilize an updated version of the Nocturne engine, Rustin Parr featuring characters and the government agency from it.

Upon release, the trilogy garnered a mixed critical response, the first entry being the most well-received.

Gameplay
The Blair Witch games are survival horror and action-adventure in the vein of Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark, involving the player investigating the Blair Witch to defeat her, fighting enemies and solving puzzles in the process (CNN Vol 1 rev) (GamePro Vol 2 rev) (EPDaily Vol 1 rev) (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III) (GSpot Vol II rev) (GamesRadar UK Vol 1 rev) (GameSpy Vol II rev). They all take place in the geographical region of Burkittsville, Maryland, where the player converses with the townspeople for clues and tasks and write them down in a journal, which also includes pictures (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer) (EPDaily Vol III rev). Tasks include picking up an item and going to specific places (EPDaily Vol III rev). The games differ in their proportions of action-adventure and investigation. The first is mostly exploration and talking to the townspeople with a minority action and puzzles, the second containing more action than adventure, and the third mostly action (GSpot Vol 2 rev) (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III) (PC Gamer Vol 2 rev) (PC Gamer Vol I rev).

Blair Witch Volume I: Rustin Parr deals with the hermit Rustin Parr's abduction and murder of seven kids at his home (which became the abandoned house seen in the film), taking place in 1941 (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature) (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer preview). The player is Elsbeth "Doc" Holliday, a mad scientist and investigator, hired by secret US government agency Spookhouse to investigate the murder of the children, which Parr claimed was done under control of a supernatural entity (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview) (PC Zone Blair Witch Volume I review) (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). This is not Spookhouse's first instance of investigating the Blair Witch, as it was previously done so by a worker nicknamed The Stranger without success (GameSpy Vol 1 rev). Following a training level at Spookhouse instructing players on items, weapons and combat, Doc arrives on the day of Parr's arrest (GameSpy Vol 1 rev) (PC Gamer Vol 1 rev). Shortly, the case is complicated Parr and the judge of his trail disappearing and the house mysteriously burning down ("Blair Witch Terminal Reality Hardcore Gaming 101").

Although Blair Witch Volume I: Rustin Parr features action sections of shooting enemies, it is mostly focused on exploration and interviewing the townsfolk of Burkitsville, which Holliday does under the claim of having her niece abducted in a close-by village (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer) (Hardcore Gaming 101 "Terminal Reality: Blair Witch"). Most of the population she interviews are uncooperative, the sheriff suspicious and wanting her out of town. Exceptions are librarian Peter Durant and the deputy, who provide most of the background on the town, its surrounding areas and the associated myths ("Blair Witch Terminal Reality Hardcore Gaming 101"). Testimony from the interviewees is kept in a journal, which also lists gameplay tasks, clue and pictures (Vol 1 IGN rev) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer). The player can interview people and access areas in whatever order they like; for example, Joe Blow provides the location to Parr's house, but talking to him is not required to access it (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). Completing a game only requires the knowledge of some clues, with the option to explore all of them (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview).

Doc traverses several areas with a map, a compass, and other resources that need to be collected (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). Doc Holliday is armed with several weapons and gadgets, such as a gun with a laser sight, a Spectral Proximity Sensor (SPS) that captures the audio of spirits and represents them visually as an oscilloscope, night vision goggles to see enemies, and an Enhanced Charged Radiance (E-CRE) (Hardcore Gaming 101 "Blair Witch Terminal Reality) (AVault Feb 2000 interview) (EP Daily Vol 1 rev). Some of these are improved versions of the same from Nocturne, the batteries in the night-vision googles working longer and the E-CRE having the ability adjust with wavelengths, unlike the other game's CRE (AVault Feb 2000 interview) (EP Daily Vol 1 rev). In the woods, the stick figures are entrances to parallel universes (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview).

Blair Witch Volume II: The Legend of Coffin Rock covers what happened in 1886, when five disemboweled corpses of men of a search party were found roped up at Coffin Rock (GamePro Vol 2 rev) (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). They were part of a mission to rescue a missing girl named Robin Weaver, who was ultimately found alive (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer preview). The game takes place just before the search party looks for Robin (GameSpy Vol II rev). She finds a soldier of the Civil War in the middle of the woods, and brings him to her grandmother's home for hospitality. She disappears in the woods after the soldier is cared for. Her grandmother, naming him Lazarus after a resurrected Bible figure of the same name, asks him to investigate where she may have disappeared, beginning the gameplay (GameZone Vol II rev). He is equipped with a handgun with an auto-targeting feature, a military saber, and a glowing cross of unknown origin, with rabid dogs, ghosts of soldiers and children, walking stick figures, floating human intestines and other creatures as enemies (PC Gamer Vol 2 rev) (GameZone Vol II rev) (GameSpy Vol II rev). Meanwhile, as a result of brain damage inflicted during the war, he has no memory of who he is or where he was before, which is revealed in flashbacks (PC Powerplay preview issue 054) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer preview). These serve as gameplay segments that occur in some areas the player has already explored, the colors being full instead of grey-tinted as in the present (GSpot Vol II rev). The flashbacks show that Lazarus was reassigned as commander of a four-mission team to stop rebels that were stealing food from farms and train tracks in the woods, which was unsuccessful (GSpot Vol II rev) (IGN Vol 2 rev) (GameSpy Vol II rev). The Blair Witch's twana dolls serve as health (GSpot Vol II rev).

Blair Witch Volume III: The Elly Kedward Tale takes place in 1786 in Blair, forty years before Burkittsville was founded on the same site. The titular Elly Kedward was charged with witchcraft following accusations by several children of trying to abduct them in order to suck blood. Following her banishment during the winter, a disappearance of half of the youth population, including the complainants, occurred (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). The player, as witch hunter and former pastor in crisis of faith Jonathan Pyre, investigates and attempts to rid of the Blair Witch (CGM Vol III rev) (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III) (GamePro Jan 2001 preview). Enemies include demons, stick monsters, and zombies (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III) (CGM Vol III rev). Although Pyre is armed with the typical guns and apparatuses for the genre, Volume III is unique from other survival horror titles for the incorporation of spells as a weapon (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III). There are three kinds: the Pagan for witchcraft, Christian Invocation, and Shamanistic Rites (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III). Mentors named Shaman, Pagan and Christian occasionally encounter Pyre to provide him spells, weapons, Christian and pagan artifacts, and riddles (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III). Pyre is also equipped with a journal that lists objectives and a map (CGM Vol III rev).

Origins
Adrenaline Vault's David Laprad summarized the birth of the Blair Witch video games as two small independent companies, which had an extremely successful 1999 in their respective industries, coming together (AVault Nov 2 99 interview Dan Myrick). Haxan Films produced The Blair Witch Project (1999), which follows a group of three film students who go into the woods to produce a documentary on the legend of the titular Blair Witch (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). Filmed at around $30,000, it garnered more than $150 million, providing it recognition as the first "independent mega-hit"; its horror style also differed from sequels and films with explosions and special effects that dominated the industry at the time (PC Powerplay preview Issue 054) (AVault Nov 2 99 interview Dan Myrick) (The Blair Witch Trail AVault Feb 2000 feature). At the same time, Gathering of Developers published the Terminal Reality-developed Nocturne (1999), which made advancements in cloth simulation, real-time lighting, and shadows and "reminded us that the smaller interactive screen could be more absorbing and jarring than what we experience in an unlit movie theater", explained Laprad (The Blair Witch Trail AVault Feb 2000 feature).

As of January 2000, a TV special, comic book and announcements of sequels were part of the Blair Witch franchise ("The Blairs Are Coming" Jan 2000). Early in the film's contemporaneous popularity, the producers and directors at Haxan Films, who were fans of several video game genres including sports, racing, and RPG, pondered about producing a video game; since The Blair Witch Project was made as simply a scary movie to be fun to watch, they thought a video game would match that ethos. They searched for several potential developers (AVault Nov 2 99 interview Dan Myrick). Meanwhile, Terminal Reality viewed the film upon release and enjoyed it, but were not initially convinced a video game adaptation would work. This was until Gathering of Developers founder Mike Wilson pitched Terminal Reality the idea of a trilogy of Blair Witch video games. The developers realized the engine for Nocturne was suitable with the atmospheric horror of The Blair Witch Project (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview).

In November 1999, Wilson and two Terminal Reality staff, producer Jeff Mills and public relations manager Jeff Smith, went to the Florida-based Haxan Films to pitch the idea, showcasing the Nocturne engine in the process (AVault Nov 2 99 interview Dan Myrick, Avault Feb 2000 interview) Haxan was amazed by the engine, "so far beyond anything we had seen before", and found the potential to created a new story line that was associated with the film and contributed to the Blair Witch mythology. The independent film company also shared Gathering of Developers' "cutting-edge mindset" in deviating from a "huge, beaucratic, corporate structure", and, explained Mills, the amount of detail in the Blair Witch myth also matched that of the variety and detail in Nocturne's story. Thus, the project commenced (AVault Nov 2 99 interview Dan Myrick).

On October 28, 1999, at a launch party for Nocturne in New Orleans, Myrick announced a game based on the Blair Witch mythology that would use the engine and a late 2000 release date (AVault Nov 2 99 interview Dan Myrick) (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). Gathering of Developers announced the same online on October 29. The "Spookhouse" website, a day later, stated Terminal Reality was developing a Nocturne mission pack based on the Blair Witch myth, which was publicly claimed false by Wilson, who said it would be a trilogy of standalone games. Terminal Reality's Mark Randel further clarified the games would not be based on the movie plot: "What I can tell you is that TRI will NEVER ever do something that is stupid. Nobody in their right mind would make a game about college students running around in a forest from a witch. While it made for a great movie, it would make a boring game."

On December 9, 1999, Human Head Studios revealed themselves to be developers of the second game, stating it "will focus on gameplay first and foremost, and we have some scarey goodness cooked up that will most definitely make it one hell of an experience". It was also revealed that Third Law Interactive and Ritual Entertainment were considered for the final installment. On January 26, 2000, Ritual's Mark Dochterman confirmed the company as developer of the third game, revealing production would start in February. The early 2000 press reported that the first entry was named  The Blair Witch Project: The Nocturne Chronicles: Rustin Parr and Blair Witch: The Nocturne Chronicles--Volume 1 ("The Blairs Are Coming" Jan 2000) (AVault Feb 2000 interview.

Staff
Haxan Films was involved in the writing to keep the story consistent with the Blair Witch mythology, while providing the developers much creative freedom; it hired an anonymous "keeper of the mythology" to have the stories and characters created by the developers incorporated in the myth (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview) (AVault Feb 2000 interview) (AVault Feb 2000 Actual feature) (Dave Halsted of Human Head interview April 2000). Additionally, Haxan contributed programming with the same technology knowledge they used to code the websites that promoted the film (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). William Haskins, a former worker at iON Storm, helped with the screenwriting for all three teams and wrote all of the manuals AVault Feb 2000 actual feature).

Due to increased technological standards and the concurrent development of other projects, Human Head and Ritual create a second team of new staff apiece. Human Head, whose primary staff was also working on the Wisconsin company's first game Rune (2000), had its other team include new and long-time workers in the industry, consisting of a project lead, two designers, two programmers, an audio engineer, and two modelers and animators (AVault Feature Feb 2000 actual feature) (Human Head Aug 2000 interview GameSpy). Ritual's other project at the time was Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 (2000) ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer preview). Its second team primarily focused on the modeling and animation, to adapt to higher polygons and more realistic animations the developer was not accommodated with, although work in those aspects was still done by the primary team (AVault Feature Feb 2000 actual feature).

Production of Blair Witch Volume I: Rustin Parr was led by Mills. He wrote the screenplay with Joe Wampole, Peter Besson, and William Haskins, which contained dialog edited by Paul Eckstein. Mills also programmed alongside Dunn and lead programmer Randell, scripted with Clint Biggs, and modeled the sets with Mike Porter, Den Johnson and Chris DeSimone. Wampole drew the characters with DeSimone and Nathan Reinhard and designed the levels, while Kyle Richards worked on the music and sound effects. Allen and Matt Bogue, and Rob Minn are credited as additional programmers, Rick Felice additional artist. A group led by Brett Evan Russell and including Tatum Tippett, Ally Kates, Brad Jones, and Tim Ttschler beta-tested.

The production and game design of Blair Witch Volume II: The Legend of Coffin Rock was led by Human Head's business leader Tim Gerritsen, who also wrote the dialog. Beginning his video game career as a designer, he had recently, before the Blair Witch, been in positions of marketing and selling Human Head's products. He admitted to appreciating returning to the development process as it kept his creativity sharp, but also admitted it was extremely tough to handle the development and marketing of The Legend of Coffin Rock and Rune (GameSpy interview Human Head August 2000). Programming was primarily handled by Matt Sweeney. Due to having no technical documentation of the Nocturne engine to reference, he admitted to "staying awake for days on end" reading books about mathematics and programming C++ and C and "several months of examining lines and lines of code" of the engine, stressing him out (Human Head Aug 2000 interview GameSpy). David Gulisano and Brett Hawkins handled modeling, textures, and animation, Gulisano handling the majority of the animation and Hawkins most of the skinning/modeling (Human Head Aug 2000 interview GameSpy). Both worked on the concept art with Greg Marshall, while Brian Frank and Eli Quinn textured the environments. Level designers were Rowan Atalla, Mike Flynn, and Jean Paul LeBreton. Flynn analogized the level-creating process as directing the choreography and photography of an interactive film, particularly noting that "placing all the cameras in each level takes a lot of tweaking and time" (GameSpy Human Head Mike Flynn Aug 2000 interview).

At Ritual, managing Blair Witch Volume III: The Elly Kedward Tale was Jon Galloway, who was also art director and game designer, and leading the programming was Steven Peeler. Chris Stockman was also game designer, as well as scripted with Reid Kimball, and Eric Fowler programmed artificial intelligence. In terms of artwork, concept art was drawn by Kevin Steele, characters were done by Beau Anderson, game interface by Robert Atkins, and 3D art Pete Hayes, with Ben "Goos" Fator animating and modeling the characters, and Travell McEntyre and Ritual's Mike Porter modeling the settings. Finally, the audio, both the sound effects and music, was primarily handled by Zak Belica.

Production
The goal was to make each volume work as a single game while motivating the player to experience the entire trilogy; clues and myths revealed in the final two volumes are introduced in the first (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). This overlapping of details necessitated close communication about them between the developers (AVault Feb 2000 interview) (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). "People who just purchase our game will still have a blast, but those who get all three will become part of a far-reaching narrative that provides a new interpretation on a lot of the mythology behind Blair Witch", described Human Head business leader Tim Gerritsen (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). The Elly Kedward myth was decided from the beginning of development to conclude the trilogy, because it tied together all of the plot points (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). Additionally, Gathering of Developers intended the games to be of equal length, each not as long as a full-price PC game but not as short as a mini-game (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). From Wilson's perspective, this led to a manageable scope for each developer to handle and an expansion of the potential customer base to non-PC-gaming fans of The Blair Witch Project, as the games were priced at under $30 instead of the full-price $50 (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature).

The decade of Rustin Parr's story was the same as in Nocturne, meaning his respective volume required the least amount of new assets to be created, thus the first to begin production. Mills wrote its design document in three weeks starting in December 1999 with contributions by Joe Wampole and others, before production started in the first week of January 2000 (AVault Feb 2000 interview). This was Mills' first project to complete the design document before production. It also took much less time than Nocturne's document, which was written in seven months (AVault Feb 2000 interview). Halsted announced the completion of most the characters and story for the second game in an April 2000 interview (Dave Halsted April 5, 2000 interview GameSpy). The third game was the last to begin development, character and story writing beginning on February 1, 2000 (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature).

Producing the three volumes involved the developers sharing resources, such as technology, design ideas, artwork and assets, with each other, which was Gathering of Developers' experiment of increasing the efficiency and smart-decision-making of game development; this occurred during a market context of declining game prices and rising development costs (AVault Feb 2000 feature) (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature) (AVault Feb 2000 actual feature). Because all games utilized the Nocturne engine, the trilogy was the first instance of Terminal Reality licensing their tech to other companies (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). The process differed from the development of other PC games in that each company did not have to purchase any technology offered by another, reducing costs (AVault actual feature Feb 2000).

The most commonly shared assets were some maps, as all of the games are set in the same geographical area, and basic objects such as chairs and plain wall textures, decreasing the time to build them. Most of the focus was spent on more-detailed maps, items and objects unique to the setting of a game (AVault actual feature Feb 2000). Sweeney stated that the other "artsy" members of the staff was programming-savvy enough to understand and use the Nocturne engine, which decreased the workload (GameSpy Matt Sweeney interview Aug 2000). Human Head level designer Dave Halsted confirmed the team picked up the engine fast (Dave Halsted April 2000 GameSpy interview).

Updates were made to the engine, one of them being the inclusion of multiple sets in a single mission file, as opposed to one set per mission in Nocturne. Even though each Blair Witch game is shorter than Nocturne, this advancement allowed for the inclusion of more sets at greater scales. Rustin Parr has only three mission files as opposed to Nocturne's 30, leading to far less loading times (AVault Feb 2000 interview). The engine allowed for up to 60,000 polygons and unlimited map textures in a single level (Human Head Mike Flynn GameSpy interview). A depthful animation, gesturing and lip-synching system was added, which was especially useful for interactive characters (who simply stood in Nocturne) (AVault Feb 2000 interview). Leaves animation was improved for them to fall to the ground and encounter the characters' feet, and clipping of cloth was less common (GameSpy Vol I rev). Other improvements included more cinematic visuals, such as by the increase of switches in camera angles, easier controls, particularly the 180-degree spin, and better camera angles (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). Mills bragged, "We have produced an engine that more closely rivals the visual quality of a motion picture than any previous computer application." (AVault Feb 2000 interview). There were still many similarities, such as the lighting shadows of pre-rendered 3D objects being modeled rendered in real-time (IGN Vol 1 rev).

The hardware requirements for all of these aspects could only run on personal computers, so the games could not be ported to consoles (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview). However, the engine was streamlined to work on less powerful PCs, such as a 64MB computer with a RIVA TNT (GameSpy Vol I rev).

Volume III features less detail in the character modeling and rejects the animation of facial features in the previous two titles (CGM Vol III rev).

Although frightening visual characters are encountered in the end of each volume, the developers intended for the horror to reflect that of The Blair Witch Project, which was unseen, difficult to locate and in the noises in the woods the students heard. To create a similar experience, horror characters were signified via shadows (PC Zone Christmass 2000 Ritual interview), and the audio was in surround sound and included a background sound engine also programmed by Terminal Reality (IGN interview April 2000 Terminal interview).

For Ritual, the biggest challenge was the spell mechanic, particularly the interface intuitiveness and ensure the particles of the three types of spells looked different (PC Zone Christmas 2000 Volume III preview).

Volume III was completed on November 14, 2000.

Release
The initial plan was a period starting in August where a product would be released once a month until November 1, 2000 (IGN Terminal Reality April 2000 interview). Gigex release a demo of Volume I on August 25, 2000 ("The Blair Witch Episode 1: Rustin Parr 1941 Demo" IGN) and FilePlanet and The Adrenaline Vault published a demo of Volume II on October 19 ("Blair Witch2 Demo" Shacknews Oct 19, 2000), On June 12, 2000, FGN Online published a comment from Smith that the cycle would start in September and the games would sell $19.99 a piece. He also claimed, "we'll be doing some cool things online to market the game, much in the same way the original movie did."

Starting February 1, 2000, screenshots, previews and interviews were published by websites such as InciteGames,   Well-Rounded, Daily Radar, eUniverse, VGames.il, Adrenaline Vault, GameSpot, Riva3D, and IGN. Several previews praised the engine's rendering of the visuals (PC Powerplay Issue 054 preview). Eurogamer reasoned "The Nocturne engine looks just as good today as it did six months ago, and the settings are suitably spooky and atmospheric, with plenty of raging storms, Blair Witch imagery, and dark and sinister woodlands." ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer preview). PC Zone highlighted the "flitting shadows, great use of lighting and a rather tasty cloth modelling technique on the main protagonist" (PC Zone Volume III preview Xmas 2000).

The Blair Witch titles were produced, promoted and released in a year when episodic gaming was "one of the big industry buzz-words at the moment" ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer preview). Eurogamer, in June 2000, foresaw that the credits of three experienced developers, the Nocturne engine, and the Blair Witch license would help the games' sales ("Blair Witch Project" Eurogamer feature). Mills predicted the first volume's connection with Nocturne would result in commercial success (AVault Feb 2000 interview), while Smith was concerned the overwhelming amount of spoofs of the film's story of kids wandering around in the woods may deter customers (Terminal Reality April 2000 interview). PC Zone suspected that the third volume would gain the most mainstream attention, as it was almost entirely an action horror title (PC Zone Xmas 2000 preview Volume III).

Volume III was released on November 18, 2000. Volume II's street date coincided with the start of the theatrical run of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000).

Reception
The Blair Witch trilogy garnered mixed reviews from professional critics upon release, Volume I the most well-received. Critics felt they were more like interactive movies than actual video games, with a vast majority of the experience being cutscenes and exposition and its gameplay consisting of only running, shooting, talking to people, triggering the right events, and a small number of very easy puzzles and combat sequences (GameZone Vol II rev) (GSpot Vol 2 rev) (IGN Vol 2 rev) (IGN Vol 1 rev) (GamePro Vol II rev) (GameSpy Vol II rev). The inclusion of a list of tasks, argued EPDaily Vol III rev), made the game predictable, reducing the fear factor. The games were also noted for short length, attributed to an extremely effective auto-aim feature, the excessive supply of health, the low difficulty of gameplay segments, and the ability to save anytime (GameZone Vol II rev) (GSpot Vol 2 rev) (GameSpy Vol 2 rev). Even GameSpy Vol 2 rev, who was enthusiastic about Nocturne and the first Blair Witch game, thought Volume II "ends before it really begins, as the potential for a fantastically unnerving gaming experience is cut way too short." PC Gamer Vol 1 rev found it exceptional for a $19.99 product. GameSpy Vol I claimed that, even on maximum difficulty, the only purpose would be "an exercise in seeing how much ammo you can save" if the player already knew the story. However, he acknowledged that the game's short length was suitable given the $19.99 price, especially given full-price titles like Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 and Star Trek: Elite Force (2000).

The Blair Witch trilogy was noted as having the same qualities and problems as the game the engine was based on, Nocturne, specifically in terms of controls, camera, enemy pathing, visuals, and proneness to crash (CGM Vol III rev) (Blair Witch Vol 1 IGN rev) (PC Gamer Vol 1 rev). [PC Gamer Vol 1 rev] highlighted the use of shadows and visual cues "to deliver some of the juiciest scares ever seen in gaming". IGN Vol 1 rev called the shadows in the lighting as "eerie and excellent" as Nocturne, especially in the woods, and noted the auto-aiming as improved, but reported issues with enemy paths still there: "I was caught in horrible loops three or four times in the space of an hour, with a zombie chomping on my character, but never releasing her." As IGN Vol. 2 rev summarized Volume II, "It's rushed, it's un-tuned, and it's buggy enough to have you staring blank-faced at the fact that this is a finished product." GameSpy Vol II rev reported collision detection problems and the player constantly getting stuck in bushes and trees. PC Gamer Vol 1 rev positively covered alterations to the engine, such as a better frame rate and the addition of face movement animations.

Irritation was expressed at the high hardware requirements. EPDaily Vol I rev claimed the Pentium II 233 minimum was for the game simply to run, not to run well, which especially applied when multiple enemies were generated at a time. The only glitch he reported was a brief flash in between screen changes. GameSpy Vol I rev revealed only one instance of slowdown when playing with a GeForce and 256MB, near the end when seven high-polygon characters encircle with the camera close on them.

Some reviewers still found the angles as disadvantaged to the player character during combat as in Nocturne (PC Gamer Vol 1 rev) (EPDaily Vol 1 rev). GamesRadar Vol 1 rev dismissed the angles as "idiotic", still being unable to predict the position of a character in the next angle when she goes offscreen, leading to constant deaths by zombies. IGN Vol 1 rev still found the instances of camera angle changes as "seemingly random". A testimony by PC Gamer Vol 2 rev was the angle changing while he backed up the player character to prepare for an attack. The main problem, according to him, was that the action sequences were executed in the Nocturne engine, primarily focused on realistic, cinematic graphics. However, improvements were cited. Game Spy Vol I praised the migration from Nocturne's angles that were close to The Stranger's face, to overhead views and a wider distance of points that switch the angle. This made it easier to see the distance between enemies and the player character. IGN Vol 1 rev also noted the increased amount of spaces where the character can go past a foe and position herself to shoot. GameZone Vol II rev reported trees blocking the view being more prevalent in Volume II than Volume I. IGN Vol 1 rev and EPDaily Vol 1 rev advised running away from an group of enemies until the character was at an advantaged viewpoint, which also led to less waste of bullets.

IGN Vol 1 rev and PC Gamer Vol 1 rev lambasted the maze sections in the woods as a "shameless", artificial method of increasing game length, especially when the player has to backtrack in the same areas to retrieve an item.

The controls were frequently dismissed as cumbersome. GamesRadar UK Vol 1 rev argued alterations to the Nocturne control were marginal and not enough for it to feel like anything besides "radio control". Criticisms mostly focused on positioning the player character, such as spinning, and how ineffective the controls were during combat, where getting killed by enemies was constant as a result ( GamesRadar UK Vol 1 rev) (GamePro Vol II rev) (AllGame Vol I rev). GSpot Vol 2 complained that simultaneous use of the mouse and keyboard for movement was required, complicated by the inability to rotate the camera. IGN Vol 1 rev had much struggle in aiming the gun when using a full-on keyboard control, recommending to use the mouse to steer. IGN Vol 2 rev appreciated Volume II's strafe control as quicker than other survival horror games, but disliked the removal of the quick turn button, which required all turning to be done with the mouse.

The writing was well-received (GameSpy Vol 1 rev). CNN Vol 1 rev and EPDaily Vol 1 rev respected how the story added to the mythology while staying faithful to it. GamePro Vol II rev recommended it would work for fans wanting to learn more about the mythology. IGN Vol 1 rev suggested Volume I did a "pretty good job at unraveling the storyline", praising its ability to create a full original story out of a few snippets of a myth, and found it superior to The Blair Witch Project. GSpot Vol 2 rev favorably described Volume II's story as well-structured, fast-paced and engaging, and the presentation of it distinctive. GameSpy Vol I called it "thoroughly engrossing" with an "interesting" method of revealing details. CNN Vol 1 rev also admitted to being engaged. More negatively, PC Gamer Vol 2 rev called the conclusion "so cliched and terrible that it'll make you want to find the writers and tie their eviscerated bodies to Coffin Rock".

GameSpy Vol I rev celebrated the Nocturne engine as still superior to others visually, noting the dynamic lighting, anti-aliasing, high polygon count and "pre-rendered" look of the actually-real-time backgrounds. As he opined on the settings, "the town of Burkittsville supports a variety of gorgeous areas, and the woods aren't anything to sniff at, either." The addition of a map and compass was praised as not only easing traversal, but allowing for full exploration of the "vast, eerie, and creature-filled woods". He also appreciated the addition of face movement, although noted problems such as the limited number of expressions, poor matching to the audio, and the dependence on altering of the textures for mouth movements rather than polygons. Stated EPDaily Vol 1 rev, "you'll explore the house and surrounding woods with some of the most oppressively atmospheric graphics the PC has ever seen." Claimed IGN Vol 1 rev, "The town is rendered in the fantastic detail that made Nocturne shine, something apparent the minute you check out the dimly lit diner, or the motel office." He also enthusiastically said that the enemies were "full of incredible animation and life". GamePro Vol II rev suggested The Legend of Coffin Rock had a little less "disturbing" faces and more "control" in the cloth simulation than the previous entry. However, PC Gamer Vol 2 rev, while describing the woods' appearance as "impressive", also criticized their repetitiveness. He complained multiple screens consisted of the "same six monsters [...] trees and darkness". He also complained they were so dark players had to squint their eyes to notice enemies.

GSpot Vol 2 rev and GameSpy Vol II rev praised the choice of blue and grey in the color scheme. GSpot Vol. 2 rev also appreciated the detail in the character design, such as Lazarus' billowy paints and loose tunic. However, he criticized the game's graphics as generally "plain, and in some cases, blocky and pixelated".

With Volume I declared one of the scariest PC games of 2000 by AllGame, the games were acclaimed for their horror, and the visuals and ambience's contribution to it. Critics expressed their spine tingling and skin crawling, and recommended to play the games in the dark at a high volume for full effect (GamePro Vol II rev) (EPDaily Vol 1 rev)(GameZone Vol II rev) (AllGame Vol 1 rev) (GamesRadar Vol 1 rev). Explained IGN Vol 1 rev, "The darkness and creepiness of the forest is handled like no other game, and the frights, while in no way comparable to your average horror shocker on the big screen, are still pretty successful." As GamesRadar Vol 1 rev explained, "BW1 turns up the scary noises and the spooky atmosphere so that you're absolutely expecting monsters to come and get you, then it keeps you waiting, builds the tension, convinces you that maybe nothing's going to happen and then scares the living shit out of you with a monster." PC Gamer Vol 1 rev also analyzed how its decline of instances of monsters appearing since Nocturne made the game scarier. GameSpy Vol 1 admitted to screaming at the first supernatural entity he saw. Stated GameSpy Vol II rev, "When a creature of the night arrives out of nowhere, right next to you, and you hear some freakish noise (like the snapping of twigs or the clattering of stones), you'll be diving for the nearest light-switch just to get a little bit of pride back." Explained GSpot Vol 2 rev, "at first, you'll simply hear the whispering of the wind as Lazarus explores a country road on the outskirts of town. Later on in the game, as you explore the mysterious woods, you'll hear disembodied, sibilant gibberish; faint tappings of stone on stone; and the genuinely creepy alternating laughter and horrified weeping of a small child."

The voice acting divided reviewers. Some opined it was "generally mediocre" (GSpot Vol 2 rev), "iffy" (EPDaily Vol 1 rev), and "could be better" (GamePro Vol II rev), while others found it "excellent" (GameSpy Vol I) and "right on the mark" (IGN Vol 2 rev). GSpot Vol 2 rev, however, found the voice acting poor to the point of distraction from the creepiness of the sound effects.