''Blacktail'' is a 2022

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

developed by Polish studio The Parasight and published by

Focus Entertainment Focus Entertainment (formerly Focus Home Interactive) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris, France. Founded in 1996, Focus has published and distributed original titles such as ''Sherlock Holmes'', ''TrackMania'', '' Run ...

. It was released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...

, and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...

on December 15, 2022. In the game, players take control of a girl named Yaga, as she attempts to hunt down memories of her past that have come to life as spirits. The game received generally positive reviews on release.

Gameplay

''Blacktail'' is a first-person shooter with elements of

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

games. Players control a girl named Yaga (a younger incarnation of

Baba Yaga In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga, also spelled Baba Jaga (from Polish), is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. In fairy tales Baba Yaga flies around in a ...

), who was exiled from her village on accusations of witchcraft. Yaga must hunt down memories of her past that have come to life as spirits, while searching for her missing sister. Yaga has no melee weapons, but can shoot using her bow, dash away from enemies, or pull them around using a broom. She can also

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

a number of useful potions and different types of ammunition using resources found in the forest, the main level of the game. Aside from completing the main story, players may also participate in a number of

side quests A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, Party (role-playing games), party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in Role-playing video games, role- ...

that reward Yaga with Lost Pages, items that can be spent to improve her combat abilities. A "morality system" feature, affected by Yaga's inclinations towards good or evil, determines the power of a number of her capabilities, as well as limiting how she can interact with

non-player characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

(NPCs). Players can alter Yaga's inclination by performing "good" tasks such as saving birds, or "evil" tasks like shooting animals. The state of Yaga's morality system also affects the ending of the game.

Reception

According to the

review aggregate A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, ''Blacktail'' received "generally favorable reviews". ''

Shacknews ''Shacknews'' (originally Quakeholio, then ShugaShack) is a website that hosts news, features, editorial content and forums relating to computer games and Video game console, console games. It is currently owned by a company called Gamerhub Cont ...

'' enjoyed the story, artstyle, mythology, and archery-based combat, while mentioning that that the saving system could be simplified. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' France rated the game a 9/10, praising the game world and story as "rich". The reviewer also linked the

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

elements, but found the AI-controlled enemies to be too easy. ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

'' Poland liked the level designs and "unusual" story and setting, but said that the gameplay could feel repetitive and the PC version had many technical issues.

References

External links

*{{official, https://blacktail.game/ 2022 video games Action-adventure games Baba Yaga First-person shooters Focus Entertainment games PlayStation 5 games Single-player video games Video games about witchcraft Video games based on Slavic mythology Video games developed in Poland Windows games Xbox Series X and Series S games