A wicked sinner doesn’t get redemption handed to him, he has to earn it the hard way. Transformed into a preyer, an undead assassin sustained by witchfire flowing through his veins, the only path to salvation runs straight through the Witch of the Black Sea and the army she’s built to protect her.
Witchfire is a single-player RPG shooter from The Astronauts, the studio founded by the creative minds behind Painkiller and Bulletstorm. Embarking on perilous expeditions into vast, immersive biomes, scavenging weapons and resources, and deciding whether to extract safely or push further against the witch’s Familiars, you’ll build out an arsenal of spells, weapons, and artifacts through a deep roguelite progression system called Arcana.
What Makes It Different?
- Embark on expeditions through vast, immersive biomes under constant threat
- Choose whether to extract safely with your loot or risk it all against a Familiar
- Build your preyer with a wide selection of distinctive weapons, spells, and artifacts
- Grow stronger through the Arcana roguelite progression system
- Return to the battlefield for a one-time chance to reclaim lost gear after death
- Investigate crashed ships and fragments of lore to piece together the wider story
- Customize your base of operations, the Hermitory, as your personal sanctuary
Loot It or Lose It
Every expedition into the witch’s land comes down to a genuine risk-reward decision. Scavenging valuable resources and heading back to safety keeps a run’s gains locked in, but confronting one of the witch’s Familiars instead opens up new areas, powerful items, and upgrades unavailable any other way.
Dying mid-expedition doesn’t end things cleanly either, since a single return trip to the battlefield offers one last chance to reclaim whatever was lost, or the option to attack again with a fresh plan. That constant tension between playing it safe and pushing your luck shapes the pace of every run, and knowing when to cut your losses is as much a skill as aiming down the sights.
Soulslike Combat, Roguelite Growth
Skill and knowledge are essential for success against the Witch of the Black Sea and her witchfire-fueled army, and Witchfire leans hard into soulslike combat that demands precise positioning and pattern recognition. Layered on top of that is the Arcana system, which strengthens a preyer and their arsenal with every completed encounter. Back at the Hermitory, a wide selection of distinctive weapons, spells, and artifacts means there are countless ways to build a character and take the fight to the witch, so two players can approach the same biome with completely different toolkits. It’s also still growing, with the developers working toward a complete story for the 1.0 release.
How Long Does a Run Take?
A single successful expedition or run generally takes between 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how deeply you engage with the game’s extraction-style loops and progression systems. Main story and primary objectives take an average of 11 to 22 hours to overcome the steep learning curve, explore the core maps, and defeat the main available bosses.
Players who dedicate time to unlocking and upgrading various weapons, spells, and items spend an average of 33 hours on main plus extra content, while a completionist run, maxing out the meta progression systems, upgrading all gear, and unlocking all difficulty variants, ranges between 43 and 60 or more hours.
Controller Support
Witchfire features Full Controller Support for Xbox Controllers.
Good If You Like…
If you enjoyed SULFUR, Deformed, or Golden Light, Witchfire’s mix of first-person combat and roguelite risk and reward should be well worth a look. Its slower, souls-like pacing and extraction-based tension give it a more deliberate rhythm than most arcade-style FPS roguelikes, so it’s worth knowing going in that this one leans methodical.
