Witchfire is a vastly different approach to the medieval dark fantasy model, hanging up the typical sword and spell tropes for a fast-paced first-person shooter experience. Developed by The Astronauts, the team behind The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, it’s set to come to early access sometime in early 2023. Before players can get their hands on it, Nvidia has revealed more rapid-fire 4K gameplay footage of Witchfire, giving a taste of what’s to come for those with the hardware to match it.
The footage is extremely brief, only showing a measly 40 seconds. Although short, the trailer does a good job of showing Witchfire’s dark fantasy setting while highlighting the speed and ferocity of the weapons with extremely smooth gunplay that many would expect from modern shooters. A handful of equally powerful spells exist to augment a player’s arsenal further, freezing or stunning enemies before unleashing a clip full of ammunition. It’s as if someone pulled the modern Doom gameplay and put it in a Dark Souls setting with a roguelite twist.
Related: What is the release date of Witchfire?
The gameplay and visuals of Witchfire are stunning. The brief trailer did confirm that when Witchfire launches later this year, it will come with AI-enhanced DLSS 3 support from Nvidia, and the superbly sharp magical details of the title are on full display.
It became a highly anticipated game after it was announced in 2017. Since the initial announcement, it’s only appeared a handful of times over the past few years, most notably during the Summer Game Fest 2022. Shortly after, The Astronauts confirmed that the game’s early access would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store. The team originally planned to release early access in Q4 of 2022, but dissatisfaction with the current product resulted in a pushback to 2023.
The main reason for this was that the team changed the core experience of Witchfire, upgrading the combat exploration from an arena style to a semi-open world experience. The Astronauts detailed this in a blog post in October, which is a massive change to undertake for a game like this. It takes a bit more time to continue cooking these heavy ingredients.
We still do not have a definitive timeline for Witchfire, but the announcement for the game’s early access is likely on the way. For those keen to jump into the game, ensure you have an Epic Games account. Witchfire will be arriving on other consoles in the future, but it will be an Epic Games exclusive for its early access and become available on other platforms when it officially launches.
