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BLACKTAIL - Demo Developer Playthrough



Hi everyone!

We've put together a Developer Walkthrough to celebrate the launch of our BLACKTAIL demo as part of Steam Next Fest! The pre-recorded footage with our Dev Team commentary starts here on Steam at 10 PM CET / 1 PM PST today (Feb 21st).

BLACKTAIL demo is available NOW and will only be playable until 28th Feb, so download it today!

We hope you enjoy the unsettling and surreal world we’re crafting in BLACKTAIL! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, Steam Community Hub, and our Discord!

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Initiation Rites - BLACKTAIL Gets A Steam Next Fest Demo!

Hi everyone!

Steam Next Fest is coming soon and we’re excited to share that a demo with two hours of BLACKTAIL gameplay will be included in the event! This is the first time outside of a select group of media and content creators that the public will have hands-on time with BLACKTAIL on PC and we can’t wait to hear what you think!

Fair warning! We only plan to have this demo available Feb 21 - 28 for Steam Next Fest, so download it today!

Before we get to the demo though, we want to announce that Adam “Nergal” Darski, frontman of extreme metal band Behemoth, joins the fest. Watch the Steam demo teaser to learn more.

Click to watch the video on our Twitter

Now back to the demo! Not too long ago, first impressions for BLACKTAIL were shared on sites like IGN, Screen Rant, and Gaming Trend, and by content creators like SplattercatGaming who all got to try an early version of this demo. And they loved it!

We’ve improved and extended the BLACKTAIL Steam demo to feature a feast of new content for witches seeking to explore the dark and mysterious woods. We’ve added new areas, skills, fights, and more to give you all more than two hours of dark, surreal adventure to explore.

This demo also showcases new skills and combat abilities like the new Hocus melee attack, for example, which will add either the Leech (health drain) or Sunlight (stun) based on whether Yaga is on the path to evil or good. Likewise, a new Broom area-of-effect ability will focus on damage or crowd-control depending on Yaga’s choices.

Demo players can also explore the in-game almanac, new inventory system, Morality Tags and Log, and a brand new Easter egg mini-game. We’ve also scattered collectibles throughout the forest—see if you can find all the toads and Boboks!

We hope you enjoy the unsettling and surreal world we’re crafting in BLACKTAIL! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, Steam Community Hub, and our Discord!

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The Skills a Witch Needs to Get Ahead

Hi everyone!

We’ve shared quite a bit about the inspirations and history behind BLACKTAIL, but now let’s talk gameplay—namely the skills you’ll need to survive in the woods! Yaga, being a peasant girl, already knows quite a bit about hunting, trapping, starting fires, and the like, so the skills you’ll be focused on collecting fall more in Combat and Witchcraft categories.



As you explore BLACKTAIL, you’ll discover all kinds of materials to hoard. Some, like feathers, herbs, and branches are common, but you’ll be using them frequently to craft arrows and other on-the-go items. Others, such as Spider’s Eyes are found far less frequently or are dropped by monsters roaming the woods. Even rarer items, such as teeth, can be discovered in hidden chests or in the lairs of very dangerous creatures.

Finding the items to unlock new skills is just half the battle. You’ll also have to scour the world of BLACKTAIL for Lost Pages of the Hut’s book to discover recipes for the cauldron that allow you to craft elixirs and potions that expand your skills. Fair warning, these pages will be difficult to find and will often require feats of daring-do.

In BLACKTAIL, your trusty bow goes a long way while on the outskirts of the forest but it alone won’t be enough once you start braving the deeper, darker woods. Combat oriented abilities range between passive upgrades that allow you to draw your bow faster, do more damage, and create special arrows. Active abilities will let you dash, deflect projectiles, and huff, puff, and blow enemies away.

Well-trained witches can hex areas, buffing themselves and damaging or disabling surrounding foes. And what’s a witch without a potion or two? You’ll also be able to brew up concoctions that heal, cure poison, sharpen the senses, and more.



Sharp eyed fans may have noticed the small animal glyphs beside certain skills. We’ll have more to share about those soon, but in the meantime we’ll just say that they’re connected to the artfully-crafted 2.5D narrative episodes scattered throughout the world.

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Which Witch is Which - IGN and Other Major Media Preview BLACKTAIL



Hi everyone!

We promised a look at gameplay, and we’ve delivered!

Media got hands-on with an early version of BLACKTAIL for the world’s first previews of our upcoming action-adventure game! Spoiler, they loved their time with the game AND IGN called BLACKTAIL “consistently disquieting”, so it sounds like we’re exactly on track to where we want to be as we create this surreal world.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

"Even if I was on my best behavior though, nothing could save me from the downright creepiness of Blacktail’s otherworldly wilds. Filled with strange noises everywhere I turned, ghostly apparitions appearing and disappearing before me, and giant rabbit skull thingies all over the place, there was pretty much no point in time where I felt at ease.”

~IGN


Head on over to IGN take to read the preview article

"The core gameplay is entertaining enough and services the real pull of the project so far: its fantastic and atmospheric game world. Should this setting continue to play centre stage in the final release, then Blacktail could be a very intriguing game indeed."

~Screen Rant


Read the full article over at Screen Rant

“I’ve only scratched the surface of what this game has to offer so far. But its setting – a sometimes enchanting, sometimes terrifying forest flaked in sunlight that’s as beautiful as it is mysterious – gets its claws into you right away.”

~GameSpew


Get GameSpew’s take in their preview article

Those are just a few of the previews we’ve seen so far! We can’t wait for everyone to try BLACKTAIL on PC in the near future. Stay tuned!

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Gameplay Reinked - BLACKTAIL's New Steam Page



Sharp-eyed fans will notice some exciting developments on the BLACKTAIL Steam page!

Over the last few months, we’ve been head-down working on the game and not sharing a whole lot of what the team’s been creating. That’s about to change! If you haven’t already, head on over to the BLACKTAIL page to check out new feature descriptions, a whole new batch of gameplay gifs, and screenshots hinting at enemies and skills. Go check it out!

Back? That is one malicious mushroom! And what’s up with that eerie totem? Could it be related to that time freeze arrow shot? Will it do other things? Find out more in future community posts!

Of everything we’ve added to the page, what has caught your eye? Let us know and watch out for more gameplay reveals later this month! Keep an eye on your favorite gaming sites and influencers—they might have something BLACKTAIL related for you REALLY soon!

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