Blacktail Review

The Parasight is a small indie game development team started in 2019 that makes games based on fairy tales, and so far it’s off to a great start. Its first title, Blacktail, is a survival RPG set in a beautiful, creepy, and alive forest based on the Slavic tale of the Baba Yaga.

For those who aren’t familiar, there are many interpretations of the story, but in some Baba Yaga is believed to be a witch who lives in the woods. Sometimes the ones who seek her are rewarded with help, and sometimes they are devoured. Respect, love, preparedness, and a pure heart were said to be the keys to a successful interaction with Baba Yaga. Blacktail plays to this piece of the lore perfectly with its good and evil paths throughout the story.

The game opens with a little background on the main character, a young mask-wearing girl named Yaga, and then asks if the player will choose the path of light or the path of darkness. After selecting, Yaga wakes in the middle of the woods with nothing but broken memories. The only thing Yaga does remember is that she was with her friends and sister, and she needs to find them. There are two voices heard as Yaga first opens her eyes, one is a young girl and another is referred to only as “The Voice” for the rest of the game. The Voice is a woman who comes off as annoyed and belittling to Yaga, yet helps her along the way anyway. The voice doesn’t seem to belong to anything or anyone physically following Yaga, but coming from within somehow.

Within the first few steps in the forest, Yaga collects and equips her bow, the main weapon for the remainder of the adventure. The bow initially comes with one type of arrow but more are discovered and able to be crafted by the end. There are three types of shots available with the bow – quick, long, and power. As one expects with a bow, it’s as simple as taking aim and choosing a target. But this isn’t the only thing Yaga has at her disposal.

On her arm, Yaga has a wood-like gauntlet that…

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