The game follows former police officer Ellis Lynch as he joins the search in Black Hills Forest for a missing boy.

The game focuses on survival horror mechanics and stealth and is played from a first person perspective, requiring the player to use items such as a camera, cellphone, flashlight or Ellis' dog, Bullet, to track and follow the trail of missing nine-year old Peter Shannon while fending off shadowy creatures.

The player controls former police officer and veteran Ellis Lynch who joins a search party for a missing boy in the Black Hills forest in Burkittsville, Maryland.

The game plays out in a semi-open world, making players explore different parts of the areas which can sometimes lead to abandoned structures, campsites or little crevices that only Bullet can access.

Along the way, they will find items such as wooden dolls, polaroids of missing people, dog tags and psychiatrist notes which are stored in the backpack.

Sometimes, areas can be blocked off by a log or a door and are only accessible by solving a puzzle or by collecting several items that opens or operates for example, a steam donkey.

As an adult, he was encouraged by his colonel father to enlist in the military, however the Gulf War worsened his mental state after witnessing his squad's death and accidentally killing an innocent woman.

After his discharge, he marries a woman named Jess and becomes a police officer, but a PTSD episode causes him to accidentally kill a burglar, Peter's brother Adam.

Ellis and Bullet eventually arrive at a crooked white tree with black vines, and they are attacked by several silhouetted creatures, with the option to scare them off with his flashlight.

He finally confronts the abductor, a disheveled man named Carver, who talks about a mysterious "her" and stresses that Peter must die because it's "her will", as he knocks out Ellis.

After taunting him of Bullet's supposed death, Carver leaves a videotape that Ellis uses to transport to a decrepit house, where he is haunted by a woman's voice and sees visions where he could kill Lanning and Mackinnon.

After Ellis had separated from Jess, he traveled with Bullet to the forest to live in isolation, where he was driven insane by the Blair Witch and became subservient to her instructions to kill.

[2] Building on the foundation of their previous titles, Blair Witch was idealised as a semi open-world game with vast improvements to allow players to explore and fully immerse themselves.

As writer Barbara Kciuk explains: "For us, open spaces are not only a challenge but also an opportunity...a forest setting gives you completely new tools to play with.

[5] For inspiration, the team sought out video games such as Firewatch, Alan Wake and Outlast and films that re-defined the found-footage genre which include REC and Paranormal Activity.

[10][11][12][13] Alex Spencer of PC Gamer called Blair Witch "an interesting horror game that never manages to escape the shadow of its ‘90s inspiration" but criticised it for not developing some of the mechanics further.

[20] Writing for GameSpot, Alessandro Barbosa praised the game's atmosphere and sound design but was critical saying that Blair Witch does not have a complex tale, in addition calling the story twists as predictable.

[19] Jason Faulkner of GameRevolution called Bullet's inclusion as "under-utilised", with his most significant usage being directing the player towards enemies during combat.