"Rustin Parr" tells a supernatural tale about ancient demons and dark history.
Doctor Elspeth Holliday is sent by "Spookhouse", a secret government agency that deals with the supernatural, to investigate Parr's claims about a witch who told him to murder the children, and to find out if there is anything unnatural about the woods surrounding the town. The name "Elspeth Holliday" may be familiar to anyone who played the game "Nocturne", which is a sort of prequel to "Rustin Parr", back in 1999. As the story begins, Holliday arrives in Burkittsville a few days after Parr's trial and soon starts to unravel the dark history of the town and the surrounding forest. Throughout the game, Holliday is exposed to more and more legends and folklore about the forest, even some that were not covered in the movie.
"Rustin Parr" is composed of two main types of gameplay: investigation and combat. While inside the town limits, Holliday will refuse to carry weapons, and the gameplay mostly consists of talking to the town's people and gathering clues about recent events and local legends. Once Holliday leaves to town and enters the forest, she is forced to protect her life by fighting off all kinds of monstrosities. There are four types of weapons in the game: a sort of cattle prod (and other melee weapons), a standard pistol, a rifle with a silencer, and finally a solar gun, which creates a powerful beam of light (it's the only weapons that can harm specters). The combat itself is pretty simple. Every gun has a laser sight, and an auto-aim option that can be turned on and off (for extra challenge). Each monster can take about 2-4 shots from the rifle, and 6-8 shots from the pistol.
Speaking of monsters, "Rustin Parr" has them all. From zombies to demon dogs, and even the occasional specter, the woods outside Burkittsville are filled with all kinds of supernatural beings, waiting to devour anyone who is foolish enough to wonder the woods after dark, alone.
As Holliday travels through the forest, she will get to visit some locations mentioned (and seen) in the movie. Amongst said locations are Coffin Rock and Rustin Parr's residence (a place where the player gets to see a little homage to the movie).
The graphics in "Rustin Parr" are pretty much what one comes to expect from a game build on the "Nocturne" engine. Lots of shadows and overall darkness, coats and other clothing flapping in the wind and character faces look like someone ran them over with a truck. Yes, the character faces are pretty awful up close; the mouth hardly ever moves when they talk, and they never seem to blink. Monsters look better then most of the human characters, but tend to repeat themselves quite often. There are about four types of common enemies, but each type has a distinct look to it. All zombies look the same, and every demon-dog you encounter looks exactly like the one you killed five seconds ago.
Another flaw of the "Nocturne" engine is evident with the camera angles. Those who played old-school survival horror games, like the "Resident Evil" series, are probably already used to the fixed camera angles and the constant shifting from one scene to the other, but "Rustin Parr" takes the broken camera problem to a whole new level. The training mission at the beginning of the game can be a deal-breaker for anyone who can't stomach the frustrating combat and dodgy camera.
The sound is the best atmosphere-creating element in the game. Yes, the woods are dark and confusing to navigate, giving you the feeling that the path keeps changing under your feet (which actually happens at certain points), but the background music and sound effects are what really adds the extra scare factor. The voice acting in the game is superb; every character sounds just the way it should, down to the tone of voice and range of emotions.
In conclusion, "Blair Witch: Rustin Parr" is a fun and scary game, with maybe a bit too much action sequences for its own good. The investigation portion of the game, with great puzzles and decent storytelling, makes the game a worthwhile, if a bit short, experience.