Blacktail Demo (PC) Preview

I enjoy playing games that let you experience cultures and mythologies from a new perspective. Especially if the game shows off a culture or idea that I am not super familiar with. Black Book gave me a taste of Slavic mythology, and now Blacktail is here to introduce me (and others) to the myth of Baba Yaga from a new angle.

In folklore often found in regions such as Russia and other areas that tell Slavic folktales, Baba Yaga is a witch or otherwise deformed/ferocious woman. She is likely (by some sources) the origin of the “Witch of the Woods” archetype and has a house that stands on bird legs. Blacktail is a sort of origin story for Baba Yaga and lets you decide whether the young girl that ultimately grows into this figure is a force for good or for children’s nightmares.

You play as Yaga, a young girl looking for her twin sister Zora. Yaga wears a mask and has magical powers. As such, she has been treated as an outcast, only loved by her sister. The children of the village (including Zora) begin to go missing, and thus Yaga sets off to find Zora. However, she begins to hear this voice in her head and discovers The Hut which gives her ways to enhance her magical powers.

You may choose to play Yaga based on two different morality options. There is the light side, which increases by helping people and doing the right thing. Then there is the darker side, which seems to give you more options to choose the evil route of things. I played the Light Side during the demo since I usually go for a “Lawful Good” alignment in games like this first.

There is a lot of crafting and gathering, as you need to craft arrows and potions on the fly. Additionally, you eventually get access to “The broom” which is a sort of decoy totem that draws enemies to it. I found the combat to be a little bit unwieldy, but it isn’t too hard once you get used to it. The environments are large and gorgeous, even on medium settings since my Laptop is a little older.

The voice acting for Blacktail is very well done, and there are a variety of characters. From talking mushrooms, psychotic ant queens, and more, the world of Blacktail is full of interesting things to see and discover. One problem I had with the progression system, is that a lot of times you have to use ingredients that you may need for survival (such as wood for arrows) in order to unlock certain skills. I can see this getting grindy very quickly, which for a story-driven game like this isn’t exactly ideal.

The demo was only about an hour and a half long, but it took me longer because I wound up getting lost and found several optional things by accident. The map and waypoint system make things a little easier than one might expect, but I missed that there was a button to open a certain door, and assumed I needed to go around instead. It was more my ineptitude that drew it out than anything.

I hope that the morality system is more than just a binary “mild flavor text and occasionally different dialogue” situation. I’d love for there to be a real incentive for replaying and trying both options here. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Blacktail, and I can’t wait to see the full game when it releases (presumably) later this year. Also, I should mention that the black cat is a fast travel point back to your hut, isn’t that cool?

There isn’t a release date listed on Steam yet, but the game seems pretty far along. I do hope that people give some solid feedback to this demo though, it has some great potential. I love a good dark fantasy experience, and Blacktail has some great ideas here, it just needs a little polish.

A Preview demo key for Blacktail was provided by The Parasight for this preview.