Witchfire initially debuted on the Epic Games Store for PC (check out our review) before eventually launching on Steam Early Access. Version 1.0 will arrive next year alongside the full story, but there’s at least one more update before that, which introduces the final region.

In the meantime, the latest update, The Reckoning, is now live, improving melee combat and adding the Morgenstern, Buckler and Katar as alternatives to the ol’ one-two punch. World Corruption is also new, introducing an element of “pushback” from the world, alongside Surges, which provide temporary bonuses and boost your abilities.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s even a shooting range to test out various weapons. Check out the full notes here for more details.

"We do have things to fix, to update, to make better. But now we know that the core of Witchfire is solid and a great foundation for the future."

Congratulations on Witchfire’s early access launch. How has the initial response from players been, and how is the development team feeling about what lies ahead for the project?

We don’t have any experience with Early Access, so we didn’t really know what to expect. For example, we weren’t sure if the 8-20 hours of play we thought the initial release offered was enough. Also, we did test the game and the testers liked it, but would actual gamers like it as well? What if it’s good, but not good enough to be fire?

Luckily, players do like the game, they often spend fifty, sixty hours with it. Some people have over three hundred hours of playtime, and we’re talking the initial Early Access release here. Our Discord blew up and we already have four thousand people over there, this early in the timeline.

This is all, of course, incredibly motivating. We do have things to fix, to update, to make better. But now we know that the core of Witchfire is solid and a great foundation for the future.

Witchfire’s development cycle has been long and eventful, with the game having gone from being a post-apocalyptic sci-fi survival experience to a dark fantasy shooter. At this point, with the game having hit the early access milestone, how much of that original vision has been retained in what players are experiencing now?

Yes, it started as one thing and morphed into another, but for the last six years it’s the same game, a dark fantasy first person shooter. We only had one revolution during that period. Originally, Witchfire was a series of interconnected arenas. Think Killing Floor and such. But we looked at the world and thought: what if it wasn’t just a background? What if we opened our playspace, made the game semi-open world?

And so we did. This delayed the game but it was absolutely the right decision.

What are some of the biggest ways Witchfire utilizes its dark fantasy setting not just in a narrative sense, but also in terms of the gameplay experience and the mechanics it has on offer?

What “dark” in dark fantasy means is really the horror, the terror. We try to make sure the game delivers in that department. For example, there’s this enemy called The Warden, who is an undead with his creepy lantern, patrolling the world, making sure the graves of his fallen brothers are undisturbed. If he spots you, he calls a group of powerful enemies to take care of you. So either you deal with him quickly, which is very hard to execute, or you hide. These moments when you’re crouching behind a rock and hear that particular hiss and the creaks of his lantern are pure terror.

Witchfire is not a stealth game, so we don’t have many enemies like that, but this is just an example of how serious we are about the scares.

"We knew the times of walking sims were over. These games are one trick ponies and yes, you can do wonderful things with them – like the last well known walking sim, What Remains of Edith Finch – but their shelf life is limited. So we started to look in new directions."

Witchfire is obviously a very different kind of gameplay experience from The Astronauts’ debut title, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Was it a conscious effort to head in a completely different direction with your second project, or was it more of a case of following the team’s passions?

Both.

One, we knew the times of walking sims were over. These games are one trick ponies and yes, you can do wonderful things with them – like the last well known walking sim, What Remains of Edith Finch – but their shelf life is limited. So we started to look in new directions.

Two, well, we’ve done Painkiller and Bulletstorm, literally the core minds behind those games are now in The Astronauts. So it didn’t take long for us to hear the call of a gun.

How a game approaches early access tends to vary from developer to developer, especially when it comes to how deeply feedback from the community is integrated into the improvements and additions being made to the gameplay experience? How would you describe how you’re approaching Witchfire’s early access period and what your biggest goals for the game are before its full launch, whenever that may happen?

To me, the only point to Early Access it to work with the players. Otherwise it’s just a cash grab pretending to be something else. So we treat this cooperation seriously. We launched a Witchfire-dedicated Discord, with special channels to report bugs or post suggestions and ideas. We monitor these daily and prepare reports and put select ones into our Asana tracker. And then we work on them and put them into the game.

To give you an idea how it all impacts Witchfire… Originally, we thought that our updates should be all about the new content, and tweaks to the old one. Thanks to the feedback we now understand that some players want to keep playing the original content but in an expanded version. So we’re making the new content, of course, but we are also putting significant resources into adding layers to the stuff we already have.

Roughly how long do you intend to keep Witchfire in early access? What sort of cadence of updates and additions to the game are you looking to maintain during this period?

Our first update will take more time than anticipated, and will probably be released in January. We might have it ready in December but to be honest that is a really bad time to release an update, so we’d rather wait until the new year, I think.

To make sure we have the right velocity, we’re hiring more Astronauts. We’ve identified our weak points and now understand how to grow the studio efficiently. When we released the initial version, there was twelve of us, today we’re fifteen, and most likely we will be seventeen before the end of the year. And this will continue until we can make the game as quickly as we like. I estimate it’s at least a year until the final version, but if it’s more – game developers are notoriously bad at such estimations, so it might be more – it’s not much more.

"Our first update will take more time than anticipated, and will probably be released in January. We might have it ready in December but to be honest that is a really bad time to release an update, so we’d rather wait until the new year, I think."

Witchfire has been described as a roguelite for people who hate roguelites. Can you elaborate on that? How has that core philosophy shaped the game in areas like progression, randomization, and difficulty?

I always liked the idea of roguelikes but I hated playing them. I know, I know, you lose everything on death but you do learn something, right? Well, right or wrong, this was not enough for me.

I discovered many more people had the same issue and that’s why roguelites were invented. Basically, they are roguelikes but with some layer of persistence, right? Not all is lost when you kick the bucket.

We took it one step further …for a specific reason. I like the intrinsic motivation model in which autonomy and competence are the sine qua non elements. Now, looking at roguelites, when you die and the world re-rolls, the only way to show off your competence is to prove your mastery of the systems. But you cannot show the mastery of the world, because, as I mentioned it, with your death it has changed.

But what if it didn’t? What if it did only when you succeed, instead of when you fail?

And so one example solution that we have is that the world stays almost the same – with some exceptions, to make things a bit surprising – until you level up. So if you fail, you can take on that challenge again, knowing exactly what enemies will be waiting for you where.

The funny thing about this approach is that we kept going that direction and …we arrived at almost being a Soulslike. And since we also have strong extraction elements, we just stopped calling Witchfire a roguelite altogether. We’re now saying it’s its own unique mix of Soulsikes, extraction shooters and roguelites… which it really is.

Now that Witchfire has hit early access, roughly how long from now will it be coming to other platforms?

Simply not sure. There’s many ways to go about it but for now we’re focusing on the first update. I am not avoiding the answer – which I probably should, anyway – but I honestly don’t know myself yet. All I know we want to the game on other platforms, obviously.

METRO EXODUS

The Metro series has always prided itself on pushing the envelope with its visuals, and Metro Exodus certainly didn’t disappoint on that front either. From how spectacularly it realizes all of its many post-apocalyptic environments to how thoroughly it immerses players in its world with its diegetic and detail-oriented aesthetic, Metro Exodus is still one of the best-looking games out there, over four years on from its launch.

DOOM ETERNAL

There aren’t a lot of studios out there who can boast an equal level mastery over both game design and technology as convincingly as id Software can, and DOOM Eternal is a perfect example of that. Not only are its hellish battle arenas a veritable attack on the senses in the best way possible, the game also excels at making every combat encounter feel breathtakingly explosive in a way that very few of its peers are capable of.

HUNT: SHOWDOWN

Crytek is no stranger to developing visually spectacular first person shooters, but Hunt: Showdown in particular deserves a special mention. The game boasts all the technical polish and obsessive attention to detail that you’d expect from a Crytek joint, but on top of that, it’s also uplifted by some of the strongest art design we’ve ever seen in a shooter, allowing its dark fantasy horror world to come to life in spectacular fashion.

RAINBOW SIX SIEGE

Rainbow Six Siege might be nearly a decade old, but that just makes its technical accomplishments that much more impressive. From the destructibility and dynamics of its environments to the impressive coat of polish that encases every inch of the experience, there’s so much about this game that can still easily be described as best-in-class, several years on from its initial release.

CYBERPUNK 2077

Even when Cyberpunk 2077 was as broken as it famously was in the immediate aftermath of its launch, it was still easy to see how impressive it was on a visual level. Now, with three years of updates and improvements under its belt, it’s nothing short of a graphical masterpiece. No matter where you are in Night City, it’s hard not to be taken aback by how gorgeous it looks and the painstaking attention to detail it exhibits on a consistent basis.

WITCHFIRE

Witchfire launched in early access earlier this year after years of anticipation, and instantly impressed the masses in more ways than one- its visuals being chief among them. The dark fantasy aesthetic of the setting alone is enough to elevate Witchfire’s visuals in and of itself, and the fact that the game has the technical chops to be able to properly back its artistic ambitions only makes it that much more an impressive graphical ride.

HALF-LIFE: ALYX

VR may not have managed to permeate the gaming mainstream the way many had hoped it would, but in Half-Life: Alyx, we do have at least one major game that truly demonstrates just what a AAA VR megaton can look like. Not only does the game look excellent on a consistent basis, it’s also crammed full of a level of interactivity and attention to detail that you would think would have necessitated some technical sacrifices in a virtual reality game. That Half-Life: Alyx so confidently has its cake and eats it too probably doesn’t get enough credit.

BATTLEFIELD 5

For all the problems DICE’s games have launched with over the years, one area that the studio is pretty much always guaranteed to excel in is the visuals. Take Battlefield 5, for instance- a game that divided fans upon release, but in spite of its issues, stands as one of the best-looking shooters you’ll ever play. From the snow-encased Norvik to the war-torn ruins of Devastation to the wide, open spaces of Panzerstorm, every map in Battlefield 5 is gorgeous to behold.

STARFIELD

It’s fair to say that Starfield has plenty of rough edges on the visual and technical fronts, but for all of its many typical Bethesda flaws, it’s still a game that’s capable of taking your breath away with its graphics. Whether you’re looking at the futuristic city of New Atlantis stretching out in front of you or standing on a desolate planet and watching the sun rise over the horizon, from time to time, Starfield showcases just how incredible it can look when it isn’t being bogged down by technical issues.

WOLFENSTEIN 2: THE NEW COLOSSUS

It’s hard to believe that Wolfenstein 2 is over six years old at this point, because even it certainly doesn’t look its age. Though perhaps not as much of a visual stunner as something like DOOM Eternal, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is still a gorgeous game. From the detailed character models to the explosive and gleefully violent combat, there’s plenty about this game that still stands out on a technical level.

FAR CRY 6

Ubisoft has got the balance between scope and visual fidelity down to a science by this point, and Far Cry 6 illustrates that point perfectly. You’d expect that a game as massive and sprawling as this one would have to make significant cutbacks in the graphics department, but that most certainly isn’t the case here. The level of detail and fidelity that Yara’s many biomes boast is partly why exploring Far Cry 6’s enormous map is as engaging as it is.

GTFO

You don’t need a massive budget of dozens of millions to make a visually impressive shooter, as evidenced so convincingly by GTFO. Made by indie Swedish studio 10 Chambers, the co-op horror shooter flexes its technical muscles almost constantly, immersing you in is terrifying reality that much more. GTFO’s impressive visuals alone making it worth checking out, even if its uncompromising approach to difficulty might turn some people off- though of course, for many that’s exactly what makes the game as good as it is.

RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE

The Resident Evil franchise has always been associated with cutting edge visuals, especially in its RE Engine era, and Village, like all of its siblings, demonstrates the series’ graphical mastery every step of the way. Whether it’s the varied and horrific environments of the titular village and the areas surrounding it or the many monstrosities you clash horns with throughout the experience, there’s no shortage of things in Resident Evil Village to remind you of just how impressive a AAA flagship Capcom release can look.

DESTINY 2

As a game that’s over six years old, Destiny 2 maybe doesn’t have the wow factor that many of the other games on this list do, but the fact that it is still comfortably earns itself a spot here is testament to just how good it looks. On a technical level, the looter shooter is one of many fine examples of Bungie’s mastery and knowhow, but it’s with its stellar art design that the game really cements itself in your memory.

DEATHLOOP

Arkane Studios’ games have never really been leaders of the pack with their graphical ambitions, but even though Deathloop isn’t the most technically impressive game you’ll ever play, it’s hard not to be impressed by how good it looks. A lot of that is obviously down to its unique art style and aesthetic, but the game is no slouch on a technical front either. The end product is one that looks significantly better than you’d expect from an Arkane game.

In a recent interview with GamingBolt, when asked that very question, The Astronauts’ co-founder and creative director Adrian Chmielarz said that heading in a completely different direction with Witchfire was a conscious effort on the studio’s part, because it felt that “the times of walking sims were over”. Chmielarz said that though the genre is capable of delivering “wonderful” experiences, their “limited” shelf life encouraged the studio to “look in new directions.”

“We knew the times of walking sims were over,” Chmielarz said. “These games are one trick ponies and yes, you can do wonderful things with them – like the last well known walking sim, What Remains of Edith Finch – but their shelf life is limited. So we started to look in new directions.”

In addition to that, Chmielarz added that, given the fact that the development team’s core members had previously worked on the likes of Bulletstorm and Painkiller, wanting to return to the first-person shooter genre was just as much of a factor in the change in direction.

“We’ve done Painkiller and Bulletstorm, literally the core minds behind those games are now in The Astronauts. So it didn’t take long for us to hear the call of a gun,” he said.

In our review of Witchfire’s early access release, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “Witchfire is a game rife with potential that will hopefully be realized throughout its stint in early access. It has an addictive gameplay loop that makes you attempt at least ‘one more run’ thanks to its fast-paced melding of first-person gunplay and magic. The only real downside right now is the relative lack of content.” Read the full review through here.

Witchfire is currently available on PC, exclusively via the Epic Games Store. It will remain in early access for “about a year”, during which The Astronauts plans to release several updates.

These allow for choosing different stat distributions (like more Stamina at the cost of Metanoia) and more than one available weapon, including some “never seen before” options. New enemy types are being added, with The Village hosting one codenamed druid. These half-men/half-trees crawl around slowly but deal a lot of damage.

Finally, the first Calamity is coming, though a redesign is planned for the entire system. “It won’t be a revolution. We need to give the witch some agency, too. But you will have much more to say about when and why the Calamity happens,” said Chmielarz. Other “game-wide changes” are included, and plans include redesigning the tutorial area, though the developer wants to see how this update performs.

Witchfire is available for PC via the Epic Games Store. Check out our early access review here.

The studio plans for Witchfire to feature 6 distinct maps by the time it ends its early access period, only three of which have been named so far: Irongate Castle, Scarlet Coast, and Witch Mountain. The first two are already present in the game, with 3 more unnamed maps and Witch Mountain slated for release down the line.

Of these maps, Witch Mountain is the most likely to be the first new map to be added to the game. The map will feature its own gameplay rule, with the studio describing it as a big raid level. The studio also plans for the game to feature at least 6 bosses, 46 enemy types, 31 weapons, 24 magical items, 20 spells, and an unspecified number of new traps, events calamities and NPCs.

The first big update for Witchfire, planned for release in the second half of November, is codenamed GGU. It is set to feature both new content, as well as re-imaginings of content already present in the game’s initial release. There are also changes planned to the core gameplay of Witchfire, including rebalancing to the game’s leveling system, more player control over calamities, and a general shot in the arm to Arcana.

Witchfire was released as an early access title exclusive to the Epic Games Store back in September. For more details, check out our review of its initial release.

Let’s get the most obvious thing out of the way first: Witchfire is an excellent looking game. The title makes use of a photorealistic aesthetic, juxtaposed with inventive and clever monster designs to create what it refers to as a grimdark world. The game makes use of quite a few modern technologies to accomplish this, including the use of photogrammetry technology to make its environments look so good.

The beauty of Witchfire extends to more than just its environments, however. There has been an obvious level of attention spent on minor details, even down to how gorgeous the game’s several antique-looking guns can end up looking in your hands. Even the game’s magic effects manage to straddle the fine line between looking cool but still maintaining general readability of your situation and surroundings.

"The beauty of Witchfire extends to more than just its environments, however."

And really, general readability seems to be the main thing Witchfire has been going for. Enemies are quite easily distinguishable from their surroundings, and the game even gives you helpful indicators for when you’re about to get attacked by an enemy from a direction you can’t see. This means that, despite it being quite easy to get lost in how gorgeous Witchfire can look, you won’t be losing sight of any enemies among the hordes you’ll have to take on.

The more interesting thing to talk about when it comes to Witchfire, however, is its gameplay and general game loop, and how well they actually work together. Right from the outset, it’s obvious that Witchfire is taking quite a bit of inspiration from games set in the Victorian era, which mean that Witchfire can tap into old time-y guns that take ages to load, and have all sorts of fancy engravings on them.

At its core, Witchfire feels like an FPS Soulslike with a gameplay loop similar to extraction shooters like Escape from Tarkov, or more appropriately, the single-player ZERO Sievert. The game has you jumping into different levels, with only 2 being available during launch, with the ultimate goal of eventually killing the two witch familiars in the level. Along the way, however, there are plenty of other enemies to fight, and in the process, loot to find. The primary method of progression comes from the loot, and especially the currency referred to as the eponymous witchfire. This witchfire can then be spent on leveling up, while other loot you find can be used in crafting new weapons and other tools that make subsequent expeditions easier.

When you’re ready to fight some things, you get to start a new expedition. On reaching your level of choice, you can look at the map and pick out whatever targets you might want to take down. Early on, you’re encouraged to stick to smaller fights since you only really have one healing item, relatively low stats, a simple starter weapon, and essentially no magic. Getting into a few fights, finding some loot in chests, and making your way to an exit portal lets you then spend all the resources you found on different things; witchfire can be spent on stats, research can be assigned to let you unlock new weapons and magic, and materials can be used to craft potions.

Armed with your new gear, better stats, and maybe even a magical gun, you can then go back to an expedition to hunt down more challenging enemies. Witchfire’s world is mildly reactive to the player’s actions; an expedition that is going incredibly well for you will mean that the Witch you’re supposed to take down starts taking you more and more seriously. This means that the expedition will now be much more challenging. This, however, also means that the potential for loot is much greater, and you’ll be earning much higher amounts of witchfire.

The general extraction shooter-styled loop is quite simple, but can be incredibly fun and addictive. It’s quite easy to end up in a situation where you’ve just unlocked a fancy new rifle that causes multiple explosions with headshots, its’ 3 am, and you decide that you still have time for “just one more run”. This feeling is further supported thanks to the fact that, while death has quite the consequence—you lose all the loot you found—it’s never a big enough setback to feel truly frustrating.

" Early on, you’re encouraged to stick to smaller fights"

Interestingly, all the progress you make in a level, namely in all the fights you’ve fought, persists between expeditions. This means that players also have no choice but to seek out more challenging fights rather than just grinding out the weakest mobs in an area to amass witchfire. On the other hand, more challenging fights will also essentially disappear once you’ve completed them successfully, unless, of course, the witch decides to send in some reinforcements because of your success in killing her minions.

At the time of publishing, Witchfire has two levels: Scarlet Coast and Irongate Castle. Each of these levels has a witch familiar as its primary boss, which all seems to lead up to an ultimate battle against the witch in what will seemingly end up being the final level: Witch Mountain. The game indicates that there are four more zones that will be released during its early access period, bringing the number of levels up to a total of six.

The premise in Witchfire is quite simple: you’re a witch hunter, known as a Preyer, who has set out to hunt one of the most powerful witches in the land. By the time you got close to her territory, however, you were all out of supplies and witchfire, and were only left with a single gun to your name. Thankfully, your general hub area is shrouded in a fog that prevents the witch from detecting your presence, giving you a place to gather your thoughts and forge new equipment.

"Its’ 3 am, and you decide that you still have time for “just one more run”."

There isn’t much more to the story as it currently stands other than the set up and the descriptions of items and levels. A lot of the current story of the game is left up to the environment, which means that players will have to work quite hard to decipher just what’s going on. This is likely a problem that will get solved the further we get into Witchfire’s time in early access.

Witchfire has a lot of potential, most of which will hopefully be realized throughout its early access period. The game is slated to stay in early access for a year, during which time it will get a host of new levels with new settings, and hopefully, a larger variety of enemies, weapons, and magic for the players to use. As it currently stands, the only real negative thing I can say about Witchfire is that it’s lacking in quantity, while still maintaining a decent level of quality.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Upon arriving at their destination (with two maps available in early access), the Preyer must replenish Witchfire, the source of their power, by slaying enemies. Dying results in loot dropping, though some currency carries over playthroughs. However, survival means the Witch unleashing Calamities, like raising the dead and generating a fog that obscures vision.

As you gain more weapons and powers, the world changes, and stronger enemies emerge to challenge you. Witchfire functions like XP, increasing your stats and unlocking new spells. Interestingly, you require magic to access certain areas and use magic objects.

Witchfire will remain in early access for the next year or so. It will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year before coming to other platforms and eventually consoles.

Director Adrian Chmielarz said it will be for “About a year, maybe a couple of extra months more – but that’s it. We don’t plan on dragging it forever.” An early access roadmap will also be available after launch on the website and store page. Controller support is also promised, and there will be character progression outside of runs, though to what extent remains to be seen.

While the game pauses when entering menus, you can’t quit a run and resume it midway. As for whether co-op will ever happen, Chmielarz stated, “For now and possibly forever, this is a single-player game.”

“There is a very slight chance we will attempt to do co-op, but please do not count on it. Witchfire works very well as a single-player experience, and we’re not sure if we want to risk destroying that feeling. Apart from all the potential technical challenges of co-op, of course.”

As for other post-launch plans, The Astronauts will “be doing everything we can to make it the best game possible”, and updates will stop “only when we are all fully satisfied with the results.”

A new video is coming soon, which will outline the gameplay loop, so stay tuned for that. Witchfire launches into early access on September 20th.

When asked about New Game Plus, he said the team is “leaning towards yes,” though it’s still something to figure out in early access. Two maps will be available, and they’re pretty big. “A single map is more or less the size of the entire world of our previous game, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.” Of course, whether you’ll have to explore the whole map in a single run remains to be seen.

While there is a role-playing element to the game with an inventory, lore, different builds and unlocking powers, not to mention a story, there won’t be many NPCs. As for whether players will need to aim down sights often or can rely on hip-fire, Chmielarz replied, “ADS extends the range of your insta-hit weapons. It does not affect the projectile-based ones like the crossbow.

“But there is no accuracy penalty for shooting from the hip. We figured that if you can headshot the enemy from the hip, good for you. That is hard enough and a proper challenge, so no need for any extra penalties.” He also teased that some weapons after early access is live will “benefit from hip-firing.”

Witchfire’s early access starts on September 20th. A new video will explain the core gameplay loop before release, so stay tuned.