Witchfire

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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

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.

Gameplay[edit]

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[edit]

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 also 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[edit]

  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.

External links[edit]

  • Official website of The Astronauts, including a weekly-updated Witchfire development blog