Official Review PlayStation 5 Updated

Review cover BLACKTAIL (PlayStation 5)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): December 15, 2022
  • Publisher: Focus Entertainment
  • Developer: Parasight
  • Genres: Action Adventure, Role-Playing
  • Also For: Computer

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
What if in an adventure game, you couldn't kill and steal everything in sight without consequences? Blacktail's morality system lets you choose between being the villain or the hero in a retelling of a traditional folktale.

Blacktail promises a unique gaming experience from its story, visual style, and how you approach the game. This is the type of game where if you are hooked within the first 15 minutes, it will be a wild ride throughout the entire experience. Based on Slavic folklore, the developer Parasight promises a morally-driven adventure where you will think twice instead of recklessly stampeding through your environment.

Blacktail puts you in the shoes of a girl named Yaga, a teenage outcast of her village that wears a strange mask. Having no mother with addition of an outlandish appearance, the villagers are very judgemental and harsh on Yaga with only her sister Zora to rely on. The game starts with Yaga waking in the middle of a forest with Zora seemingly missing and the mystery of some of Yaga's memory gone. Driven by the need of finding her sister, Yaga is accompanied by a mysterious female voice that knows her while Yaga seems to have forgotten where she knows the voice from. 

You are given the opportunity to decide your morality from the very start of the game with a choice defining whether you will be evil or good. However, this does not mean you are stuck with that path for the rest of the game. Most actions that you make Yaga do actively affect the side of morality she is on. These moral choices vary from dialogue options to stealing honey from some bees. You will actively learn what is allowed in this world and what is deemed immoral by trial and error. While hunting deer does not affect your morality, it is quickly discovered that killing birds will drift your morality to be eviler. That does not mean that there won't be any action if you still want to have good morality as there is plenty of monsters that you are allowed to kill.

My first reaction to the world and characters of Blacktail was that it was similar in style and personality to the world from Alice in Wonderland. Everything from the characters to the environment has that weird dream fantasy feel. Yaga runs into a wild variety of characters such as huge talking mushrooms, intelligent rocks, and a talking cat that teleports you across the map. While Yaga differs from Alice as she is a local to this strange world, she also gives off the sense that she doesn't understand it much more than the player. When Yaga interacts with some of the extreme personalities, she gives off the impression that even she is roleplaying in this world. I quite enjoyed this as it allowed me to learn about this strange world along with Yaga despite her being already born in it. 

Trying to be evil in this game was a little more difficult than I expected as I intentionally picked evil moral dialogue paths and choices throughout my journey. Darker moral choices in this game usually make obtaining resources a lot easier and more efficient. Arrows for example require bird feathers in order to be crafted. While they can be found somewhat frequently by just looking around the environment, it is a lot easier to just kill birds and loot their corpses. You trick bees into giving you honey and then proceed to steal their entire hive. In addition, there is an evil ant queen that wants to take over the land and you can choose to help her by either giving advice or even resources. Despite actively encouraging the ant queen and not being afraid to steal honey from bees, I found it not that inconvenient to make or even accidentally choose good moral choices. This resulted in me actually being in the borderline good morality which blocked me from certain evil choices and abilities, and even abilities that require a pure good morality. 

The visual art style of this game is what gives it a unique look while also making the story more immersive. The Alice in Wonderland feel allows the completely nonsensical characters and designs to feel believable. The environments can be very gorgeous with beautifully designed locations that could be taken from an art book. Despite the vibrant colors, the character designs in addition to the great soundtrack can make Blacktail give off an unsettling feel. Choosing a darker path will actively change the color palette of the environment to a more monochromatic and darker tone. With also some creepy voices that will follow you and a couple of jumpscares, Blacktail can quickly become a chilling experience. 

While given a beta version of the game to review, the performance was very much playable but spotty in some areas. The initial load times when getting into a save could last up to a couple of minutes at times despite an SSD and a powerful CPU. Some stuttering was rare but did occur during my playthrough. While Steam Deck verified, the performance was pretty unremarkable with a lot of initial freezes and frame drops on Valve's new handheld. I needed to lock the framerate to 30 fps on the lowest setting and turn on V-Sync to prevent major tearing but that resulted in a noticeable input delay. Fortunately after release, Blacktail was given an update that seems to have majorly improved load time performance and even gave better performance and stability to the Steam Deck. I have played a few hours of Blacktail after this update and can confirm that performance has definitely greatly improved.

I found the core gameplay to be solid but I would not consider it the main selling point of the game. The main weapon you will be using is a bow and a variety of arrows. Shooting the bow doesn't take much practice as it's almost a hitscan with not much of a drop. A heavier arrow like the honey-tipped arrow has less accuracy but it slows enemies in a small area. On the harder difficulty, this game would be almost impossible with just the bow, which is why Yaga has some magic abilities and a dash. These work best when used in conjunction with the bow. A common move I would do is pushing or stunning an enemy and then shooting their face as they are stunned. 

On the higher difficulty, I actually found Blacktail to be pretty difficult at times with me losing encounters pretty often. At first, it was the small learning curve of the movement and making the best use of my abilities. But soon, it quickly started to feel like my character was underpowered against the encounters the game was throwing at me. While nothing impossible, I definitely had to keep myself on my toes almost at all times. There is a skill tree that allows for abilities and perks to be unlocked and upgraded but most are blocked off until you get far enough in the story. Once I unlocked the magic arrow and upgraded my regular arrow damage, killing enemies was less of a hassle. Up until then, I would be constantly stressing about having enough resources to craft arrows and keeping an eye out for berries in the area that could heal me. I got the impression that the game actively wanted me to avoid enemies and run away as opposed to clearing out an area which could be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. 

Blacktail takes breaks from the regular gameplay in the form of puzzles, riddles, sidescrollers, boss fights, and long cutscenes. It seems that every action-adventure game now has sidescrolling sections but it isn't a complaint here. The sidescrolling parts are more for storytelling and don't take too long. Every few missions there are flashbacks in the form of narrated hand-drawn art pages that give Yaga her backstory. The boss fights can be simple but also entertaining given the crazy situations it starts from. For example, there is a boss that you need to feed a bunch of honey to in order to make him explode, or else he'll kill you. In fact, he wanted you to feed him the honey. I would say the biggest and best distraction that Blacktail has from the main gameplay is just exploring. The world created here has plenty to see and wander into. It almost feels like you are missing out on key aspects of the game if you only go toward the objective. 

Blacktail is a game tailored for gamers that are looking for something new, eccentric, and even just weird. While anyone can pick up and enjoy this game, the people who are hooked after the first 20 minutes are the ones who will truly love this game. There isn't a masterclass in polish but what is here is a truly unique gaming experience. Morality systems have been done before but what makes Blacktail special is that it isn't a human world that we are familiar with. The story, characters, and art style are very charming with even some moments that are unforgettable. While I wish there was a demo for people to try to see if this is for them, for $30 I could easily recommend this game for even just the unique experience. 

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Great Art Direction
  • Immersive Sound Design
  • Moody Sound Track
  • Creative Morality System
  • Unique World
  • Charming Characters
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Movement Can Feel Stiff During Combat
  • Limited Inventory Can Be Frustrating
  • Gray Morality isn't Rewarded
  • No Aim Assist On Controllers
7
Gameplay
While the core gameplay can be spiced up by combining your various arrows with some magic hexes, it is not the strongest portion of Blacktail. Learning of the story and exploring the world is the most enjoyable part of the gameplay.
9
Presentation
The developers knocked it out of the park with the art direction and design of the world. Every part of the world feels intentional compared to most open world games. The visuals can falter when the baked lighting can't hold up in specific areas.
8
Lasting Appeal
Blacktail will have you wanting to restart your save in the first hour of gameplay. Having different moralities affect the world and the choices you can make, and the abilities you can have. While being a story-driven game, it could be a drag to restart after finishing, but seeing how different moral actions affect the world is more than enough reason to keep coming back.
8.5
out of 10

Overall

There is almost everything to love in Blacktail with a unique premise and beautiful world. Despite some flaws in performance and gameplay, I would very much recommend giving this game a try even for those that are just slightly interested.
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Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): December 15, 2022
  • Publisher: Focus Entertainment
  • Developer: Parasight
  • Genres: Action Adventure, Role-Playing
  • Also For: Computer
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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