Become the Baba Yaga in the open-world horror-adventure Blacktail

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

The Baba Yaga is a creature of Slavic folklore, often appearing as a twisted crone and generally (but not always) portrayed as deeply wicked in nature: In one tale, cited in Wikipedia, Baba Yaga helped a man find his missing bride, but she has a wider and more well-established reputation for things like, say, stealing and eating children, or—in a slightly more modern take—killing three men with a pencil.

In Blacktail, an upcoming game in development at new studio The Parasight, players will have the opportunity to become the Baba Yaga—not the cool John Wick kind, but the deformed Eastern European version—in yet another twist on the tale. This one is actually an origin story that follows the adventures of a timid young woman named Yaga, who is exiled from her village for practicing witchcraft. Following the guidance of a dark voice, she takes up a bow and wields mystical powers to establish the myth of the infamous Baba Yaga.

But the nature of that myth is in Yaga's hands. Rather than kidnapping children and boiling them in her cauldron, she'll hunt down "living memories" through the woods, reincarnated as wicked spirits who can help her unlock the mysteries of your past and future. But not without a cost: She'll be forced to make difficult choices that will lead her to become either a benevolent guardian of the woods, or the more infamous creature of nightmares.

There will be more to do than simply recalling Yaga's past life. She'll craft arrows and potions, hunt game for food, harvest herbs, and uncover hidden treasures and snippets of Slavic legends. Side quests will enable Yaga to further define herself and the world around her, as her alliances, beliefs, and skills change based on the path she follows and the actions she takes.

It's an ambitious but certainly interesting concept, and while Blacktail is Parasight's first game, it's not the first go-round for the members of the team, many of whom are veterans of Layers of Fear and The Medium developer Bloober Team. It's set to come out this winter on Steam, and you can find more about what's cooking at blacktail.game.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Moroi trailer still
Romanian folklore, David Lynch, and heavy metal come together in a dark fantasy hack-and-slash action game 'with an even darker sense of humor'
A stylized drawing of a horned demon with a skull for a face and glowing eyes peering over a forest cabin.
Bloober Team’s new horror label just unveiled an isometric survival horror game straight out of a comic book: ‘Avoid the Horned Man at all costs’
The Blood of Dawnwalker's antagonist vampire, Brencis, looking at the game's protagonist, Coen.
The Blood of Dawnwalker's creative director explains how the RPG's narrative sandbox works: 'the core of it is maximising players' freedom'
The Blood of Dawnwalker's antagonist vampire, Brencis, looking at the game's protagonist, Coen.
The new game from The Witcher 3's director revives the best tradition of Morrowind by letting you kill off 'really important NPCs'
The new action-RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker's protagonist, Coen, holding a sword and staring directly at the reader.
The Witcher 3's director explains why he had to leave CDPR to make his dream vampire RPG: 'We had crazy ideas'
Coen in The Blood of Dawnwalker cinematic, but lightened a bit so you can actually see the man
The new RPG from Rebel Wolves, a studio founded by Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs, asks a bold question: What if Geralt was a vampire?
Latest in Action
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The First Berserker: Khazan review - Blade Phantom
How to claim The First Berserker: Khazan pre-order bonus and deluxe edition DLC
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again