Witchfire Is almost one yr outdated, and although quite a bit has modified because it first hit Early Entry on the Epic Video games Retailer, it stays one of the crucial fascinating style mash-ups you possibly can play right now. The sport’s newest replace – which is reside now – additional cements its standing as one of the crucial distinctive shooters within the area.
Forward of right now’s launch, I performed a number of hours of a construct of the sport working this newest replace. Dubbed The Wailing Tower, it’s Witchfire’s greatest ever since its launch final yr. The primary addition right here is the sport’s first new space, which has fairly a distinct vibe to the prevailing map.
I’m an enormous fan of Witchfire; so I used to be excited to get my palms on what The Astronauts advised me could be a serious replace. This was, in truth, an correct description. Most of my time with the construct was spent within the new space – the eponymous Wailing Tower, however the systemic and mechanical modifications right here have an effect on the whole thing of the sport.
I used to be a bit of disenchanted by the brand new map, nonetheless. Although it does have distinct narrative theme from the remaining, it retains the sport’s autumnal aesthetic and considerably muted color tones. That is amongst my favorite seems to be in video games, so this shouldn’t be thought of a grievance, however I did go in anticipating one thing, nicely… a bit of totally different.
The brand new space has a few fascinating fights, together with one massive one – as you’ve come to count on from Witchfire. And, like all of the others, it additionally hides some secrets and techniques (although I didn’t appear to seek out many in comparison with the unique, launch map). Maybe I wasn’t fairly perceptive sufficient, or maybe The Astronauts has gotten higher at hiding them. After enjoying over a dozen hours of the unique map, I form of started to see the patterns, however I’ve but to get the identical feeling from The Wailing Tower.
Outdoors of all the brand new content material – together with new enemies, weapons, abilities and so forth – the replace’s different main addition comes within the type of a large rebalance and overhaul to the in-run circulation. This so-called Arcana 2.0 touches each second of the in-run energy development. I performed the launch construct final yr, and checked in on Witchfire a number of instances since, and the distinction is straight away clear. Now, the sport feels a lot, a lot better.
I initially began off with a brand new character, as a result of I keep in mind how brutal the early recreation was at launch. These early hours have been made extra welcoming, which was a bit of stunning to see. The problem is definitely nonetheless there, however the transition from calm to chaos is smoother. Specifically, Witchfire is now extra wanting to equip you with highly effective spells and unlock passives early and shortly.
Whereas I prevented fights I knew might finish my run within the launch construct, this new circulation actively encourages you to hunt out the problem. Plenty of the random encounters have been lessened, too, which was a serious contributor to problem initially.
I wouldn’t name Witchfire simple now, however the problem was clearly front-loaded again then. This newest construct spreads it out a bit of extra evenly, and the broader array of choices at your disposal merely means you could have extra methods of fixing issues. I by no means actually bumped into conditions the place I used to be pressured to extract as a result of I merely exhausted all obtainable choices. Earlier than, that was a key a part of the loop. The cadence of the entire thing is simply higher now.
The place all of the modifications actually get fascinating, nonetheless, is within the late recreation. On the one hand, the smoother preliminary curve means you’ll get there far faster, however it additionally means there’s a aspect of the sport you could not count on to see when you’re fully new to it. Your homebase now has extra rooms to unlock, and there’s an NPC you possibly can commerce with. This successfully creates one thing of an economic system in Witchfire, which is a function it actually wanted.
The developer offered some high-level character saves throughout this preview window, which actually made me respect a distinct aspect of Witchfire. Taking part in with a stage 80+ character is an act of juggling highly effective choices to outlive towards highly effective enemies, which creates its personal challenges, and so they’re fairly totally different from that preliminary struggle for survival. More cash, extra issues and so forth.
Greater than something, although, returning to Witchfire jogged my memory why I find it irresistible, and highlighted simply how underrated it’s amongst shooter followers. Maybe that’s a aspect impact of being an Epic Video games Retailer unique (although not for lengthy). Retailer preferences apart, Witchfire’s profitable marriage of roguelites, extraction video games, RPGs and shooters is sort of one thing to be maintain. In order for you the joys of extraction video games with the surprises and scares of roguelites, and the satisfying fight of nice shooters, there’s actually no different recreation that does it higher.