BLACKTAIL News

Hi Everyone!
...or maybe I should start with “Good-day, Little Red-Cap”?

I’m Bartosz Kaproń, founder, Creative director, and CEO at THE PARASIGHT. Today is the 2nd birthday of our studio, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself and share some of the ideas that serve as the foundation for our team’s vision.

Once upon a time... in a deep, dark wood... THE PARASIGHT began as an idea. “What if we could breathe new life into folk and fairy tales that, over time, have become legends —and give them a modern twist unlike what’s been seen before?” Two years after our founding, here we are… in a kingdom far, far away. We’ve quietly grown from an idea into a dedicated team in Krakow of more than 20 creative minds as well as working with a bunch of great people around the world. Many of us have been working together for years as we co-created titles like Layers of Fear and Observer together and I have to say throughout my career I’ve never been able to work with a team so excited to bring a story to life.

I grew up on great game series like Final Fantasy and Suikoden , with breaks for Magic:The Gathering with friends from the backyard, - and for some reason ended up as a hardcore Quake 2 and Starcraft player. And I love making games as much as I do playing them—especially true on narrative heavy projects where the story’s themes are reflected throughout.

Myths, legends, and fairy tales are some of the oldest narratives known to humanity. These fairy tales speak to a place and time very long ago. How many of us ever wonder if these places and stories were real? As they have been handed down, they have been changed to fit local histories, a wide variety of religions, government propaganda, and creative retellings by musicians, writers, and storytellers of all kinds. We plan to take the stories we grew up with and challenge players’ expectations by combining classic fables with a surprising blend of aesthetics, designs and narratives. My heart always belongs to details and proportion. This comes back to my background in art, design, and production I suppose, so I want these values to show in everything THE PARASIGHT creates.

You’ve already heard this in our musical taste and seen a little of how we plan to combine realistic and the surreal in-game. Clashing different ideas and styles against each other allow opposites to shine brighter than ever.

Back in June, we announced our first title BLACKTAIL. The teaser opens on many things people already associate with the stories of Baba Yaga—the chicken leg hut, bubbling cauldron, black cat, and more. But also introduces doubt, do we really know the whole story about the person behind the legend?

It was a beautiful day when we caught an idea called BLACKTAIL. We want you to come and dream with us—the choices you make will determine whether this story belongs in a heartwarming collection of fairy tales or a nightmare whispered after dark … or maybe everything was written in the stars anyway?

We have a lot to share about BLACKTAIL and I promise you it’s a treat worth waiting for. You know what they say: Baba Yaga never breaks a promise. Hearts - yes, but never a promise. So keep your eyes on our social channels, Discord, and Steam community hub for early looks at gameplay and lore. I hope you’ll join us for the adventure that lays ahead.

This is not THE END,
Bartosz

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Hey everyone!

We’re working away at some new and nifty things we can show very soon! While we’re all waiting, let’s talk a little about why we’re so focused on the Slavic myths that inspire much of our game!

Where Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology is known around the globe, the myths and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation have slowly been vanishing. Many people can name deities such as Odin, Zeus, and Jupiter from these mythos, few know who Perun, Veles, and Dazhbog are. With exceptions, such as the stories of Baba Yaga, many of our legends have become less recognized fairy tales and bedtime stories that continue to be swept away by modern media and popular culture, even in our region in Europe.

Stories are deeply connected to Slavic culture, language, and now… our games! We believe there is a massive amount of potential, hidden deep beneath the well-worn surface of our legends for inspiring new stories. We’ve seen this in how these stories have preserved over hundreds of years, some passed down from parent to child, others adapted into more Christian rites. With THE PARASIGHT, our goal is to create games based on folk and fairy tales you may never have heard at home or taught in school. We want to give them a modern twist while reviving interest in the originals.



BLACKTAIL draws on all kinds of Slavic myth. From water spirits and shades such as the Rusalka and Vodnik, to the enigmatic Bobok, ambiguous gnome-like Krasnal and deceptive Ognik, up to fearsome basilisks and dragons, our stories are filled with dark, mysterious creatures. While some of these beings are benign (as long as they are not provoked or slighted) many monsters from our stories haunt dark woods and secluded ponds, just waiting for unwary travelers. We’re sure that fans of The Witcher series will know of many of the creatures you’ll see in BLACKTAIL and we plan to dig even deeper into the legends these beings come from to bring you interesting characters, immersive settings, and monstrous challenges.

Watch out for more on monsters in the months to come! Got any favorite stories? Share them below and let us know what you like most about Slavic settings and folklore!

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Hey everyone!

Exciting news! BLACKTAIL has hit its Alpha milestone!

What does this mean? Essentially, our dev team can now play the main storyline from end to end and many of BLACKTAIL’s main gameplay features are now in place. This creates the foundation that we’ll be continuing to build on, but there’s still a long road to travel. From here, we’ll be polishing and tuning content we want to keep, and adding new art, quests, characters, monsters, music (have you heard the first tracks we’ve recently shared?), and everything else that makes a game. There’s lots to keep the team busy as we work towards Beta.



BLACKTAIL is a full-fledged action-adventure game, so throughout development we’ll be constantly testing our archery combat, both in regular skirmishes and in big boss fights. We’ll be tweaking things like abilities, draw times, arrow range, hitmaps, and everything else to achieve the “easy to learn, hard to master” level of combat gameplay we’re aiming for.

We’re looking forward to sharing more about the game in the near future! What are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments, on Discord, and on social media!

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Hey everyone!

We’ve hinted before about contrast and duality being core themes in BLACKTAIL. Dark and light, past and present, myth and reality; these are the foundation of the design choices we’ve made (and are continuing to make) while developing this game. The music is no exception!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
To help the soundtrack reflect these themes, we’ve teamed up with our longtime composer partner Arkadiusz Reikowski on the project. He’s famous for his beautifully sinister work on games such as The Medium (alongside Akira Yamoka), Layers Of Fear 2 (for which his work was nominated for Best Original Score - Video Game in the Hollywood Music In Media Awards), and Blair Witch. We feel his expertise will bring an element of darkness to our musical vision for BLACKTAIL.

“BLACKTAIL is a unique production and a great challenge for me musically, but also a tremendous pleasure to work on. In BLACKTAIL, I’m using a combination of dreamlike, Slavic themes, and modern motifs that are unheard of, which allows us to create something truly unique, something that has not been previously seen in the video game industry. The effect will be more than worth the wait!” - says Arkadiusz Reikowski.

Arkadiusz will be working with, among others, the Zazula Vocal Group, Bartosz Pałyga, and CZELUSC Collective on the BLACKTAIL soundtrack.

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The first example of this partnership was teased in the announcement trailer (that BASS DROP!), but you’ll really be able to hear what we’re going for in the link above for the Summer season theme music remix (more on Seasons in the future!). Take a listen and let us know what you think! We hope you like it, as we’ll have plenty more for the game’s final release.

Got a question? Let us know in the comments, ask us on social media, or join our Discord! We’ll answer if we can, but if we can’t, we’ll hold on to your question for down the road.

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Hey everyone!

The announcement trailer gave you all a taste of BLACKTAIL and we’re sure you’re hungry to learn more! As we now have your curiosity, we’d love to tell you a bit more about the game! Let’s start with our vision of this unique world.



The best folk tales take elements from the world around us and make them larger than life. To capture this story of Baba Yaga, we’re combining fairytale and reality into a surrealist dreamlike experience that drops players into a colorful, but deeply sinister region filled with forests, caves, hills, mountains, and more to explore.

As Yaga, you’ll discover all kinds of new locations throughout with new challenges and enemies to match. Don't be deceived by the painted fairytale elements, these woods are still quite dangerous! Deadly enemies such as the wasps and gnomes, seen in the announcement trailer, lurk around every bend.



To build the world of BLACKTAIL, we’re pushing the boundaries of Unreal Engine 4 by mixing top-notch realistic visual assets created by our team of talented 3D artists with dreamlike, magical effects so that standout elements such as constellations, rivers, waterfalls, clouds, and the sun wrap the player in that not-quite-real storybook feel.

Blending realistic assets with fairy-tale graphical elements also reflects the greater theme of duality in BLACKTAIL; clashing genres, good and evil, Slavic legends told through modern storytelling, and old folklore characters like Baba Yaga clash with original, twisted creatures.

Now, BLACKTAIL isn’t all gorgeously rendered 3D. As you explore, you’ll unlock special 2.5D minigames that reveal character moments, story, and more. Our first example of this is the flaming goat .gif on the main store page. We have more exciting things to show about the use of 2.5D in the game, but that’s best saved for a later post!



In the coming months we’ll continue to share more and more elements of the world, the gameplay, and the characters of BLACKTAIL. Follow our social media channels and stay tuned!

Got a question? Let us know in the comments, ask us on social media, or join our Discord! We’ll answer if we can, but if we can’t, we’ll hold on to your question for down the road.

Follow BLACKTAIL Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook

Join our Official Discord server