Witchfire is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed and published by The Astronauts. The game was released for Windows PC in early access in September 2023.

Witchfire
Developer(s)The Astronauts
Publisher(s)The Astronauts
Director(s)Adrian Chmielarz
EngineUnreal Engine 4[1]
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseSeptember 20, 2023
(early access)
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

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Witchfire is to be an action-oriented, skill-based first-person shooter game with no cutscenes.[2][3] It will also feature elements commonly found in roguelike games.[4]

Development and release

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During the initial development, beginning towards the end of 2015, the game was being designed as a post-apocalyptic, science fiction survival simulator code-named "Astro Project 2", before turning into a dark fantasy first-person shooter.[5] Witchfire was officially revealed at The Game Awards 2017.[6] The Astronauts announced in January 2022 that Witchfire would be released via early access in late 2022.[4] However, in October 2022, it was announced that the early access date has been postponed to early 2023.[7] The game was released for Windows PC through the Epic Games Store on September 20, 2023.[8]

As of 2019, the development team has nine full members with three contributors.[9] The game is unrelated to the director Adrian Chmielarz's earlier Doom-style Painkiller (2004) and was influenced by FromSoftware's Dark Souls and Bungie's Destiny series.[10][11] Its art direction inspirations include works of American landscape painters such as Thomas Hill, Albert Bierstadt, and Frederic Edwin Church.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Over 80 Unreal Engine-powered games featured during 2022 summer gaming events". Unreal Engine. August 15, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  2. ^ "Witchfire – polskie studio rozpala stosy w grze o polowaniu na czarownice". Antyradio.pl (in Polish). 14 December 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  3. ^ "Witchfire PC - wymagania, premiera, opis | MiastoGier.pl". www.miastogier.pl. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  4. ^ a b Wilson, Mike (January 27, 2022). "Dark Roguelite RPG Shooter 'Witchfire' Aims For Q4 2022 Early Access Release". Bloody Disguisting. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  5. ^ "Witchfire - nowa produkcja Adriana Chmielarza miała być symulatorem przetrwania | GRYOnline.pl". GRY-Online.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  6. ^ "Witchfire gets a sick ass reveal trailer". Destructoid. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  7. ^ "How Redesigning One Core Feature of Witchfire Changed the Date to Early 2023". The Astronauts. 2022-10-12.
  8. ^ Kennedy, Victoria (June 8, 2023). "Fantasy FPS Witchfire gets early access launch in September". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  9. ^ "Redesigning Weapons". The Astronauts. 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  10. ^ "Is Witchfire the Next Painkiller?". The Astronauts. 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  11. ^ "The Astronauts - We are the spacefaring types". The Astronauts. 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  12. ^ "Art Direction Note + Wallpapers". The Astronauts. 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
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  • Official website of The Astronauts, including a weekly-updated Witchfire development blog