XBOX Is Getting Its Very Own BLAIR WITCH Game

A bunch of exciting announcements came out of E3 this weekend (Keanu Reeves starring in Cyberpunk 2077, for instance, or the announcement that George R.R. Martin's teaming up with the Dark Souls crew for a new game called Elden Ring), and here's another one: XBOX One is getting its very own Blair Witch game, from the makers of Layers of Fear and Observer.

No, really - a new Blair Witch game in 2019. There's a trailer and everything!

Announced during Microsoft's E3 panel, Bloober's Blair Witch is (as you've probably already guessed) a survival horror game that'll take players back to the Black Hills Forest of Burkittsville, Maryland. The year is 1996, a young boy has gone missing, and it appears that you and your trusty canine companion, Bullet, have decided to track him down.

There's some classic Blair Witch imagery mixed into this trailer - the creepy trees, the "person standing in a dark corner" gag - but I'm also seeing some stuff that feels new to the Blair Witch mythos. For instance, what the hell is this thing?

Obviously, this isn't the first time Blair Witch has been given the video game treatment, but this version certainly appears to be the sharpest, most immersive take on the property we've seen yet. Speaking as someone who's played both Layers of Fear and its just-released sequel, I feel reasonably confident the folks at Blooper will deliver something that's truly frightening. This team really knows how to craft a good jump scare, and both Layers of Fear titles employ a game mechanic that allows level layouts to change on a dime. I can totally manage that mechanic coming in handy on a Blair Witch game, and look forward to seeing what they do with it.

Blair Witch hits XBOX One and PC on August 30th. Y'all gonna give it a go or what? Sound off below.