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Witchfire - Coming to Steam Early Access 20 Sept 2024 (Dark Fantasy RPG Shooter)

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Witchfire_banner_logo.png










A year ago, before the premiere of Witchfire Early Access, we wrote this FAQ. With all the changes since then, it’s time for an updated one. Here it is:

What is Witchfire?

Witchfire is a dark fantasy RPG first-person shooter.

It’s dark fantasy because of its world and visuals—a universe where witch hunts make sense because witches are real, evil, and powerful. It tells the story of a preyer—an undead witch hunter—on a mission to find an artifact that could change the course of the war between the Church and the witches.

It’s an RPG due to the multiple gameplay layers that let players customize their builds and express themselves through their character. The world is fantastic but grounded, and its history and characters play a vital role in the story.

It’s a first-person shooter because, while you have access to spells and magical items, firearms are your main source of damage, all viewed through a first-person perspective.


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Is the game hard? Are there difficulty modes?

There are no difficulty modes; it’s the same challenge for everyone.

However, the heart of Witchfire is that there are many paths to victory. This is where the RPG elements shine. Whether you’re a close-combat expert, a no-scope sniping god, or a spellcasting sorcerer, the game lets you play your way. You can win with raw skill, but you can also win with strategy. Witchfire offers freedom in how you approach your mission.

I’ve heard Witchfire is a roguelite, a soulslike, or an extraction game. Is that no longer true?

While we’ve mentioned that Witchfire incorporates elements from roguelites, soulslikes, and extraction games, this doesn’t communicate what the game is about. It’s confusing at best, misleading at worst. For example, if someone described Bloodborne as “an action RPG with elements of roguelites and extraction games,” it might be accurate but unhelpful.

With how Witchfire has evolved over the past year, we’ve dropped those labels. Witchfire is its own game now.

Why Early Access?

Witchfire felt like a perfect fit for Early Access, and it’s proven to be just that. Player feedback has significantly shaped the game since its launch in September 2023 and continues to do so. It’s really as simple as that.

We gather player feedback through:

When will Early Access end, and when will the final game be released?

We plan to release the final game in late 2025.

How much content is in the game right now?

There are three regions in the game out of a planned six. Each region is an open-level area, similar to a district in an open-world game. To give you an idea of scale, two of the regions are each larger than the entire area of our first game, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

The game also offers a variety of weapons, spells, and items, providing dozens of hours of gameplay. It’s not uncommon to see players clocking in a few hundred hours. For more details on the current and future content, check out the Witchfire roadmap.

How stable is the game? How customizable is it?

A French gaming magazine, NoFrag, described Witchfire as:

[…] the best Early Access game of 2023, with polish and optimization that surpasses the vast majority of titles in their final version. And that’s without counting the incredible gunfeel, the precise and fluid movement, or the feeling of power when chaining headshots.
We do take pride in keeping the game as bug-free as possible and offering extensive customization options. Whether it’s widescreen support, controller sensitivity adjustments, customizable controls, crosshair placement, FoV slider, or graphics presets for all types of PCs (including Steam Deck), it’s already in the game.

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Should I play during Early Access or wait for the final release?

We see four main reasons to jump in during Early Access:

  1. You enjoy watching a game evolve with each update.

  2. You’re interested in game design or want to help shape Witchfire‘s development.

  3. You want to support indie developers. We are a small team (we started as a team of twelve and have grown to nineteen) and this helps.

  4. Why not? We don’t plan to change the price for the final release, so you can enjoy the game now, then either restart or continue when the final version launches.

What platforms is the game available on?

You can play Witchfire on Steam and Epic Games Store.

We’re aware of the demand for a console release and are interested in that ourselves. However, we can’t provide any details yet, as we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep. Stay tuned!

Are Epic Games Store save games compatible with the Steam version?

Yes. Both versions use the same save folder on your PC:
\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Witchfire\Saved\SaveGames

Just be cautious not to overwrite new saves with old cloud saves when switching between versions.

What languages does Witchfire support?

For now, the game is in English only. Since the game is in Early Access and constantly changing, it’s nearly impossible for our small team to maintain multiple languages.

However, as we near the final release, we will add more languages, of course. Including our own. We’ll share the full list of all supported languages once it’s ready.

Will there be co-op?

For now, and possibly forever, Witchfire is a single-player game. There’s a slight chance we might experiment with co-op in the future, but please do not count on it. The game was designed for a single-player experience, where you can take your time, consult the map, and plan your moves. We’re not sure co-op would preserve that vibe, and there are significant technical challenges as well.

What if I have more questions or requests?

Here are some useful links:

  • The best place to ask questions, post suggestions, and chat with the devs and other players is our Discord.
  • For news and updates, follow us on X/Twitter.
  • We also try to stay active on the game’s Steam forum.
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Pejo

Gold Member
I've had this on the wishlist for a while now. Hexen/Heretic were some of my favorite boomer shooters back in the day, and this gives me similar thematic vibes. I hope they do a demo or something because with their descriptions and word salad it's hard to tell exactly what you're in for. Kind of like a medieval Bioshock maybe?
 

Branded

Member
Says September 23 for me
Oops, how do I change the thread title?

I've had this on the wishlist for a while now. Hexen/Heretic were some of my favorite boomer shooters back in the day, and this gives me similar thematic vibes. I hope they do a demo or something because with their descriptions and word salad it's hard to tell exactly what you're in for. Kind of like a medieval Bioshock maybe?
Isn't it mostly a looter shooter with heavy RPG mechanics? Basically a singleplayer Destinylite (also in gunplay?).

Managed to hold off the EGS release for many moons now, 'cause I just can't be bothered investing in another launcher, so I'm very excited for Monday.
 

Branded

Member
A game that has been in early access since 10 years ago, and for 2? years on Epic and now still on early access on Steam? Lmao, ok. Ill pass.
gabe-newell-time.gif


And to be fair it's a very small team that's probably changed a bit over the years as well. Besides, Early Access and 1.0 releases are so nebulous anyway. I get it from a content point of view as the game might literally still be incomplete but usually there's tons of updates that (need to) happen after the full release because of player feedback, technical issues or further content updates.

Personally, I don't mind if I have to wait 10 months or 10 years on a game as my backlog is massive anyway heh.
 

The Cockatrice

I'm retarded?
gabe-newell-time.gif


And to be fair it's a very small team that's probably changed a bit over the years as well. Besides, Early Access and 1.0 releases are so nebulous anyway. I get it from a content point of view as the game might literally still be incomplete but usually there's tons of updates that (need to) happen after the full release because of player feedback, technical issues or further content updates.

Personally, I don't mind if I have to wait 10 months or 10 years on a game as my backlog is massive anyway heh.

I call it development hell. It was supposed to be a Painkiller type of shooter, then after many years in the dark they went with lul, roguelike. They chased trends, probably restarted the whole game from scratch and now they're scrapping by. I get it, indie life is tough and it may end up as a great game, but until then, I have 0 hopes for it.
 

Branded

Member
I call it development hell. It was supposed to be a Painkiller type of shooter, then after many years in the dark they went with lul, roguelike. They chased trends, probably restarted the whole game from scratch and now they're scrapping by. I get it, indie life is tough and it may end up as a great game, but until then, I have 0 hopes for it.
Fair enough.
 

Pop

Member
This game and Greedfall II both being early access single player games is a little weird to me

Game looks very interesting though
 

Bulletzen72

Member
A game that has been in early access since 10 years ago, and for 2? years on Epic and now still on early access on Steam? Lmao, ok. Ill pass.
Team of 19, Early Access on Epic for 1 year and they have made a ton of content and improvements between then and now. After playing it for the past year I have full confidence in this game.
 

Mortisfacio

Member
I've got the game wishlisted, but I'm waiting on steam reviews to buy. Looks good, but has that "this will be a dud" look to it that I can't escape the feeling of.
 

ChoosableOne

ChoosableAll
I bought it last year but refunded it shortly after. I don't quite remember why I didn't like it, but I got bored pretty quickly. If it starts getting really good reviews after full release, I might give it another chance. I loved the roguelike FPS concept in Void Bastards, but I just couldn't warm up to this game.
 

phant0m

Member
is this the game from former Painkiller people? that I think was originally shown early in the PS4's lifecycle?

yeesh.
 
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Thought the price tag was a little high, but I guess if I love the game, then fair enough. I've been playing it for about an hour and seems grand.
No tutorial that I noticed, had to open keyboard controls to see how to use items and melee etc, but it is early access. Brightness seems a little weird, maybe that's just me - Edit: I had HDR on and turning it off made it look a lot better. Graphically it's OK too, so far nothing, including scenery, has had an impact. The first area outside the hub feels somewhat bland, and the enemies aren't really exciting either. Gun play feels fine, but I haven't tried any spells yet.

It feels like another early access game, Soul Slinger, but so far, it's not as fun. Soul Slinger has small maps / arenas vs. this which is an open level about the size of 3 zones in Soul Slinger. Definitely prefer the gunplay and feel of Soul Slinger too as of this moment.

Hoping once I get the hang Witchfires mechanics and progress it will leave a better impression after more time.

Edit - Looking at those screenshot, my game definitely doesn't look like that. Wonder what's wrong or what settings I'm missing. Will fiddle about and edit later.
 
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Branded

Member
Thought the price tag was a little high, but I guess if I love the game, then fair enough. I've been playing it for about an hour and seems grand.
No tutorial that I noticed, had to open keyboard controls to see how to use items and melee etc, but it is early access. Brightness seems a little weird, maybe that's just me. Graphically it's OK too, so far nothing, including scenery, has had an impact. First area outside of the hub feels somewhat bland, and the enemies aren't really exciting either. Gunplay feels fine, but I haven't tried any spells yet.

It feels like another early access game, Soul Slinger, but so far, it's not as fun. Soul Slinger has small maps / arenas vs. this which is an open level about the size of 3 zones in Soul Slinger. Definitely prefer the gunplay and feel of Soul Slinger too as of this moment.

Hoping once I get the hang Witchfires mechanics and progress it will leave a better impression after more time.

Edit - Looking at those screenshot, my game definitely doesn't look like that. Wonder what's wrong or what settings I'm missing. Will fiddle about and edit later.
There's a tutorial at the start once you walk out of the cave (on the left).

I also enjoy Soulslinger but imo they aren't even in the same ballpark in terms of production and polish. Both are great games but I do think Soulslinger got a bit repetitive after a while (will get back to it once they release 1.0 though).
 
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There's a tutorial at the start once you walk out of the cave (on the left).

I also enjoy Soulslinger but imo they aren't even in the same ballpark in terms of production and polish. Both are great games but I do think Soulslinger got a bit repetitive after a while (will get back to it once they release 1.0 though).

I had a wee run about the main hub but didn't pay too much attention as a lot seemed to locked, and I didn't have anything to upgrade etc Might pop into now though, cheers!
 

Barakov

Member
The impressions I've heard from some people were kinda iffy. But that's when it first launched on EGS. It'll be interesting to see if it's gotten better.
 

drotahorror

Member
I wish there was some scaling for the HUD.

Cool game and looking forward to playing more, runs 100+fps on my 6700k 3060ti, ultra setting with high shadows, 1080p.

I read their whole philosophy thing about optimization and they weren't kidding.
 
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Bry0

Member
I remember reading about something a developer said where they wanted the revolvers to feel like they do in destiny. Is that true?
 

ClosBSAS

Member
Lol ya, egs didn't work out for you right? Got that fat paycheck only to return to steam...lets see if steam gives you love, maybe next time, you'll think twice before leaving.
 

Bulletzen72

Member
Lol ya, egs didn't work out for you right? Got that fat paycheck only to return to steam...lets see if steam gives you love, maybe next time, you'll think twice before leaving.
LOL! WTF are you talking about? At the time they were a team of 12. The EGS deal gave them the money to expand the team to 19 and update the game with new content and features. Why wouldn't they take that help to make the game that they want to make? It was a boost and it helped them to improve the product to a more advanced state than it was when it first arrived at EGS. The fucking nonsense that people post just because they don't want a different game launcher is laughable. Now it is on your (assumed) game client of choice. What the fuck is it to you that it was on EGM before hand? Jesus!
 
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Branded

Member
Man... this is the first time in years that I've gotten my ass kicked in a singleplayer FPS title. And I love it!

Usually I play things like boomer shooters at the highest difficulty as they're far too easy otherwise (and still are most of the time) but this is on an entirely different level! Granted, it has to do with many limitations imposed upon the player such as movement abilities being tied to stamina and reloading a weapon having to take multiple seconds to complete but I'm all for it. It's a Soulslike in all the best ways.
 

Jinzo Prime

Member
yea this is far and away the best FPS on PC since the Doom reboots. Can't believe how little talk there is about this game. It's like Painkiller + Dark Souls ; just incredible
Its a new IP, and the studio doesn't have a huge reputation. If this was in an established universe it would be talked about more, unfortunately.
 

Branded

Member
Its a new IP, and the studio doesn't have a huge reputation. If this was in an established universe it would be talked about more, unfortunately.
The devs have just posted their first post-launch devlog and apparently the reception has been a success, not in the least of which due to word of mouth from more notable streamers/youtubers.

But yeah it's still criminally underappreciated though. Hopefully the 1.0 release will do even better for them (as has been the case with many other titles recently).
 
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