September 23, 2024 (Steam Early Access)
Witchfire attracted my attention quite a long time ago – not only with its unusual combination of genre mechanics and dense dark fantasy surroundings, but also with the track record of its developers: here is the cult Painkiller, and the explosive Bulletstorm, and the mind-blowing The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. It is not surprising that Witchfire looks and plays like a natural continuation of all three iconic projects: excellent shooting combined with magical abilities and high mobility of the hero are intertwined with a vague narrative and riddles with very unobvious solutions. Alas, you won’t be able to completely immerse yourself in the world of Witchfire right now – the early version offers only three locations for expeditions, less than half of what awaits at release. But even they are more than enough to enthusiastically embark on a dangerous adventure over and over again in search of new secrets, treasures and, quite possibly, certain death…
Now in Witchfire there are only hints of a full-fledged plot, but the developers promise to qualitatively reveal the story for release
⇡#Witches Flame
The game cycle of Witchfire is in many ways reminiscent of other action roguelikes: there is a safe location where you can and should purchase upgrades, build to your liking, level up and advance overall progress; and there are forays where you have to fight to test the power of your arsenal, accuracy and swiftness of reflexes. However, the expeditions themselves are executed in a non-trivial way: instead of the classic forks between locations separated from each other, in Witchfire players are thrown into a random location in one large zone, throughout which different points of interest are scattered. Players will have to set their own priorities and explore the location in the way that seems right.
You can, for example, clear all points with enemies, gaining more advantages for a specific raid (more on them later), and then try to defeat the Witch’s familiar, the harsh boss of the location. Or, organize a race to places where different values are hidden, which will come in handy for overall progress. Another good option: make a quick foray to collect some witchfire (in the original Witchfire) – a local resource that allows you to pump up the hero’s power. Whatever you choose, you should be on your guard during each outing, because rash actions most often lead to death, and also to the loss of accumulated flames and all valuables in the player’s pockets (except for gold). You can try to return the valuables on your next outing – just find the place of death and take your property. But you still need to get there safely, and preferably quickly, because the more time passes, the more enemies flood the location!
If you succeed in the ritual, you will receive a valuable reward.
However, if you properly prepare for meeting the dangers of this world, then the chances of returning from a foray safely will be much higher. First of all, you should pay attention to the general strengthening of the character. For a certain amount of flame (with each upgrade the price of the next one increases) you can increase one characteristic, which will strengthen a specific aspect of the hero. Let’s say “vitality” increases the number of health points; “stamina” is responsible for the endurance indicator and the speed of its recovery, as well as the length of the jerk; and, say, “witchcraft” will increase the hunters’ skills associated with the use of various spells.
The enchantments themselves can be purchased for gold, and you can also invest hard cash in expanding your arsenal. You won’t be able to buy anything specific from Witchfire, but you can place up to two “orders” in the research section. There are several categories to choose from: enchantments, weapons, valuable resources for improvements, or, say, powerful pieces of equipment like a ring that leaves a bomb behind the hunter after a dash, or a medallion that causes a lightning strike on enemies with low health. Orders will be ready after a certain time (which will only take place when the hunter is on a mission), and the speed of production depends on the value of the category. But the most impatient (like me) can always speed up the process for an additional fee. However, I won’t hide that this is money down the drain – after all, time flies on forays.
The level of gnosis is responsible for both the amount of potential loot and the danger of forays. To increase it, you must fulfill several conditions, such as defeating the boss
⇡#Hunter or prey
As I already mentioned, there is something to do in each run, but any sortie target will invariably be separated from the players by a crowd of bloodthirsty servants of the Witch. In Witchfire, any adversary poses a mortal threat – be it half-decayed zombies, well-aimed undead with muskets, nimble archers, or heavy knights bringing artillery to a shootout. Elite enemies, in principle, pose an extreme threat and will easily give a light to even a thoroughly pumped up hero. So, checking out at least a couple of places where you can get combat upgrades is not a bad idea. Once there, all you have to do is defeat all the enemies in this zone – and one arcana unit is in your pocket. And with it you can purchase one of two (or three, if you have the necessary consumables) abilities, which will greatly simplify the hunter’s life.
The palette of abilities, as well as the number of possible combinations, is impressive: there are standard increases in health or stamina (and therefore running, jumping and dodging); and there are increases in the power of spells – percentage or adding certain effects to spells; but there are more interesting options. For example, when reloading an almost empty magazine, the next one may receive a random elemental effect, another enhancement will add lethality to the last bullet in the clip or drum, and with the third there will be a chance that the bullet fired into the “milk” will return to the barrel. And with some skills you can completely forget about reloading – one, for example, replenishes the magazine for killing enemies, another for each slide, a third for dodging.
This galleon is not only a spectacular element of the location, but also the harbinger of the hunter’s death!
Keeping your magazines endlessly loaded is a great idea, because the main skill of a hunter remains accurate shooting from a variety of guns. And how amazingly everything related to firearms is implemented in Witchfire! The most pleasant recoil, rich sounds of shots, spectacular animations of shots and hits – the legacy of Painkiller and Bulletstorm is felt to the fullest. Moreover, each of the weapons feels truly unique – even guns within the same category, say, sniper rifles or shotguns, fire differently and you need to get used to each, each is important to study and feel. And I haven’t yet mentioned that each barrel also has its own special feature with three levels of improvements.
Each unit of the arsenal has its own surprises in store – it is enough to treat a certain number of witch minions with lead, and the first “mysterium” will open, a kind of step in the true power of the trunk. The Basilisk sniper rifle, for example, has the ability to fry enemies after a critical shot just by aiming the sight at them; the Echo shotgun fires shot with delayed detonation, which also sets it on fire; the Midas automatic rifle will deal fire damage when it gets hot enough from firing; and the Hangfire revolver leaves an explosive “surprise” with each hit on an adversary (or even a wall or other element of the environment), which will work when reloading. At the second level, the damage from explosions will increase depending on the number of enemies hit, and at the third it will also shower everyone with fire.
Boom, head!
And then there are demonic weapons, which do not have “mysterium” levels, but they are already powerful enough – just look at the Falling Star hand grenade launcher, which shoots homing cannonballs, or the Vulture crossbow, whose shells, after hitting the first target, go in search of new prey . With such an arsenal, crowds of enemies are no longer scary, and local bosses will cause much less problems – as long as there is enough ammunition. But as long as there are cartridges, an unforgettable shooter extravaganza is guaranteed.
***
Witchfire is still about a year away from release, but it can seriously captivate you now – thanks to the amazingly responsive and incredibly tactile shooting, the addictive gameplay loop and the intriguing storyline. And also – a co-op mode just suggests itself here, at least optional, but now this is an exclusively solo adventure (and, most likely, it will remain so). Can’t wait to see what happens on release. In the meantime, one more outing!
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