Amazon.com Review
Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock is the second of three budget-priced horror games from Gathering of Developers that revisits the woods around Burkittsville and locations from the popular film. This second outing takes us into the past, back to the Civil War in fact, to tell the tale of the five-man search party that was found massacred at Coffin Rock. The game concerns an amnesiac Union officer who awakens as if from the dead. He is named Lazarus by the young girl and her grandmother who find him and nurse him back to health. But the young girl disappears in the woods and the stranger takes it upon himself to find her. The most interesting thing about Coffin Rock is how it shifts from Lazarus's search for the girl to the recent past where he's in the same area seeking out a party of Confederate raiders. You'll frequently black out after fighting ghosts in the woods and find yourself wearing the blue uniform and leading Union troops into the same woods. It's an eerie effect that works, yet becomes too predictable to ever become truly scary. But it is evocative of Ambrose Bierce's eerie Civil War Short Stories.
Where Coffin Rock falls apart a bit is in its interface. The view shifts as you wander around the beautiful maps, you can't control the camera, and sometimes it stops on an awkward view. This can be terminal when a ghost or wild dog appears and starts tearing at you. It also makes moving around the game a slow affair (even with the "always run" option on). Despite this, the game is extremely short and consists of far more exposition than actual play. Overall, the challenge is only slight and the ending is remarkably disappointing.
Horror games, particularly story-driven thoughtful horror games, are about as rare as can be on the PC. Coffin Rock is a triumph in that regard. It's also probably a must-have for any Blair Witch fanatic. It expands on the myth and tells the Coffin Rock story in a most interesting way. It may not scare you, and it may ultimately disappoint you, but it will get under your skin and entertain you until then. --Bob Andrews
Pros: Good graphics and great atmosphere Excellent sound Strong, unique, and clever storytelling Cons: Clumsy controls Too short Bad ending
Amazon.com Product Description
Those who have seen The Blair Witch Project--the film on which this game is based--will remember the lore of Coffin Rock. Members of a 19th-century search party looking for a missing girl all fall victim to a ritualistic mass murder while the girl they sought returns as mysteriously as she vanished. In this game you'll play an amnesiac Civil War soldier whose connection to the girl draws him into this nightmare of human sacrifice and supernatural horror.
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