Witchfire News

Preyers!

It has been a while - and it’s great to finally type these words again. Before we begin, though, let me manage your expectations: Update 0.9 is very much in development, but we’re not ready to start sharing more details of it just yet, so consider this post a sign of life and a teaser.

We know it’s been a while, and it’s going to be a while longer, because this one is a whopper - an update that lays a lot of groundwork for the arrival of 1.0 later this year.

The Reckoning update was a bit of a trial for us (and, fittingly, a reckoning), and we learned our lesson. What we can announce now is that there will be a closed beta test for selected members of the community. We did it before and it worked like a charm, helping us detect and squash bugs while balancing content, so with how much is changing in 0.9, we want to repeat that process.

When and how the beta will be handled is still up in the air and depends on how the work progresses - the new map is already playable internally and we’ve been frequenting it for a while, but it’s also a very significant chunk of the Witchfire world, so it needs to be done right.

Additionally, as we’re working on the Marshland, we’re boring some new tunnels in older levels, while other places are getting a makeover and major re-modelling; it’s all part of the road towards 1.0. We’re working on several things in parallel, preparing the world of Witchfire for its full reveal, and we hope that you are going to love the results.

It’s all a bit ominous, so let me deploy some pocket sand and woo you with a teaser image from the Marshland:



Both 0.9 and 1.0 are beyond important. Back in December, we celebrated the 500,000 sales milestone, and we’re hugely thankful for your support. The fact that the game has already reached half a million of you while still in Early Access is a testament to its potential - potential we cannot afford to waste, which is why the next milestone is, well, of paramount importance.

Not to mention that 1.0 will be the culmination of almost a decade of work for our team, but for now we’re focused on delivering 0.9.

As mentioned before - both in the roadmap and across our posts - the headliners are a brand new map and support for more languages.

While we are doing our best to keep the cards close to our chest, we know that some of you have already gone down the datamining rabbit hole and seen the new… map. Level. You know what I mean. I can confirm that what you found was genuine - at least at the time. These things change quite dynamically, so it may already be looking different, and besides, it’s one thing to see a bird’s-eye view of a level, and another to explore it from a first-person perspective, so don’t assume you’ve already figured it all out.

Localization is also an ongoing process - we understand that you may be impatient, especially since the mods providing unofficial language packs are fickle beasts, but this is - again - something we need to get right, not quickly. We’re working with world-class translators because we need the game to be localized, not just translated - and there is a huge difference between the two. It’s a complex process that requires a lot of changes in the game (we have to make sure everything works with different character sets, string lengths, and all the language-specific caveats), but we’ll do everything we can to have it ready for the 0.9 launch.

We’re also hoping to reintroduce World Corruption in its full form, and enrich the game with more events and enemies, among other things, but all of that takes time. “Late is temporary, bad is forever” may be hard to attribute, but we stand firmly behind it. And with that, let’s put a lid on this part - not quite an update, yet somehow still one.

[h2]The Importance Of Being Heard[/h2]

Hermitorium Archives are a regular part of these devlogs, but before we move on to them, we have something extra - a behind-the-scenes look at how the sound of Witchfire is created.

We’re super proud of the game’s sound design, and it’s been great seeing your reactions (including a shoutout from Hugo Martin during one of his streams), but it has remained somewhat in the shadows until now, so it’s high time to change that.

You may have noticed that, over the past few updates, we’ve been sneaking more and more vocal sounds for the Witch’s minions. All that work is possible thanks to our collaboration with The Monster Factory, a voice talent agency specializing in extreme vocal techniques. Here, we show you how we begin the creative process of the horrific voices that populate the soundscape of Witchfire, and how they are - albeit a bit disfigured - a labor of love.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mmy0ct_Rj8w

Now you know that there are real people behind the soundbites marking the life (and, more often, death) of enemies. We’re working on more BTS videos, so consider this a taste of what’s to come later.

Oh, and it appears that the next stop is…

[h2]THE HERMITORIUM ARCHIVES[/h2]

As I already mentioned in the intro, it’s been a while - but the Witchfire community remains active, so let’s have a look at a selection of topics and comments created by you.

[h3]The (un)popularity Contest[/h3]



What is your most hated enemy? - Reddit

Marshland is going to be a home to some new enemies, so this ranking may get a shake-up, especially since you’re telling us which ones you find most annoying or hardest to beat. How that balance will shift is another matter, but we’re grateful for the insight - while that may sound a bit sinister, don’t worry. Our goal is to make a game that is hard, but fair, so we’re not going to weaponize your feedback in a dumb way.

[h3]She Really Just Wants a Hug[/h3]



This chick just about gave me a heart attack - Reddit

One of the newer additions to the enemy roster is clearly making an impression. The humble Townswoman has been a menace since she appeared in Velmorne, and that one corridor in the Velmorne Vault is definitely haunting some of you - I know that it haunts me.

[h3]Walking Sim?[/h3]



Holy sh*t Same devs that made The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - Reddit

It’s funny - and a bit comforting - to see that some of you can clearly spot the studio’s DNA. The praise is appreciated, but I’m featuring this because it’s great to see you picking up on those patterns. And yes, there have been accusations that Witchfire is a walking sim - I’d still like to see one that can make you…

[h3]Fight of/for Your Life[/h3]



Just an intense moment in Witchfire - Reddit

34 seconds of fantastic gameplay - Assassins Calamity, taking damage twice, Master Sentinel looming just out of frame… No notes. Clips like this show how intense things can get, and how Preyers can handle themselves in those situations.

[h3]A Bit of a Helping Hand[/h3]



Need help starting out - Reddit

There are many yardsticks by which one can gauge a community, but I am overjoyed when the “git gud” mentality starts fading and support takes its place. It’s been a month since this thread was created, there is a lot of helpful advice in it, and I hope that OP was able to take a deeper dive into the game, enjoying their time in the Witchfire world. Thanks to everyone who stepped in to help.

[h3]It’s All in the Details[/h3]



Reloading a chambered weapon still triggers a cocking animation - Reddit

Let’s be blunt: it’s a bug. It should not be this way, and our weapon designer (you can read more about his approach here) is well aware of it - to the point that he spent a month trying to wrap his head around fixing it, but to no avail. That’s not to say it’s not fixable - it very much is - but we’re a small team and other things take priority, at least for now. Perhaps one day a patch will address this issue, and each reload will no longer be marked with a curse word being uttered somewhere in the south of Poland.

[h3]Bootleg[/h3]



[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1roe23a/bless_all_the_things/[]Bless all the things - Reddit/url]

This is unofficial, bootleg - or possibly leaked - merchandise, and if it starts appearing more often, we will take legal action.

The audacity…

It’s a joke, obviously - but we’re not sure whether to be impressed or slightly concerned that some of you are spotting Witchfire connections in your surroundings. Also… why would anyone have a flask of holy water at hand...?

Wish You Were Here



Scarlet Coast Premium Estates may just become the subject of a collab between us and some sort of city builder in the future - thanks for the idea.

That’s it for now - we should be back with more information about what's coming to Witchfire in a not too distant future, so stay tuned. We know you’d like to hear more, and all will be revealed when the time comes.

Cheers!

[h2]HOTFIX 0.8.6 (68388)[/h2][p](2026.01.20)[/p][p]A small but meaningful hotfix as a response to the reports.[/p]

• [p]Fixed player falling through the world at various stages of Wailing Tower.[/p]
• [p]Damage taken from reaching max Madness cannot kill the player anymore.[/p]
• [p]Added missing witchfire gains bonus to the Corrupt Stimulant.[/p]
• [p]Updated crash info text to include mention of mods and a reminder to disable them.[/p]

[h2]HOTFIX 0.8.5 (68373)[/h2][p](2026.01.16)[/p][p]Since we’re now shifting our focus to 0.9 and new content, we’re releasing one more patch to make sure the current version is in good shape and as bug-free as possible.[/p]

• [p]Fixed the bug that caused the Irongate Castle Toll Gate scenario not to trigger.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted the mini boss spawn rolls and logic to function better with and without World Corruption.[/p]
• [p]Lowered the World Corruption event spawn stagger - when increasing the world corruption through the Latent Orb pickup or Corrupt Stimulant, the Rifts and Orb now spawn faster.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that caused the World Corruption system to brick if the Corrupt Stimulant was used within the first 5 seconds of the expedition.[/p]
• [p]Increased the quantity of the World Corruption rifts spawned through its progression[/p]
• [p]Torments now don't start with the World Corruption at its full allowed capacity - they gradually grow to its available cap.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted combat music logic, it now properly turns off when it’s no longer needed.[/p]
• [p]The world corruption music will now play only in sufficiently heavy combat is taking place, and the latent orb quest is active.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the bug that caused invisible frozen weapon meshes remaining after battle to collide with the player, if the frozen enemy in question was killed with a headshot.[/p]
• [p]Fixed debug text about Spider Calamity in adventure log.[/p]
• [p]Minor text fixes in item and event descriptions.[/p]

We thought the first incarnation of World Corruption had one issue. We were wrong. It had two.

The first issue: we broke the fundamental rule of Witchfire, which is: play at your own pace.

The longer you lingered in a region, the more corrupted it became. To “heal” itself, the map tried to push you out or kill you. Some games thrive on this kind of pressure - like Risk of Rain - but it doesn't fit Witchfire. We are about isolation, exploration, planning, and most of all, autonomy. From that angle, World Corruption didn't quite work - even if it did provide some unforgettable action moments.

We reacted quickly, releasing a patch that fixed a lot of World Corruption issues just a few days after the big update. Looking back, I think that patch did not weaken the feature enough… but we've also realized that tweaking numbers isn't the real solution anyway.

Why?

This is where the second issue manifests. It's one thing to make a cool feature; it's another to make a cool feature that you want to replay over and over again. World Corruption, even for those who truly enjoyed it, became exhausting after a while.

That is a red flag for us. We have players who spent hundreds of hours in the “old” Witchfire without burning out. I doubt they would dedicate the same amount of time to the game if we kept World Corruption in its current form.

I don’t have to guess why.

“I like to get on the expedition, conquer the challenges, clean up the level, wrap it all up nicely, and then come back to the Hermitorium to level up,” said Michał, one of The Astronauts.

With the current implementation of World Corruption, that satisfaction is impossible. You can never achieve a clean map. That kind of chaos is fun once in a while, but not always. Not for every single expedition.

I could go on, but the short of it is: World Corruption requires a redesign.

For what it's worth, I've already done it - on paper. I have written a proposal for World Corruption 2.0 that changes it drastically. Hopefully, it will satisfy both the players who enjoy the craziness, and the ones who live by the rule of playing at their own pace.

Here is the plan.

• We said we were done with patches until the next big update. But after returning from the holiday break, we decided to spend one more week on the current build.
  
  So, with today's patch, World Corruption is nerfed hard. Basically, before you pick up the Latent Orb chest, you will barely experience it. There might be a rift or two, maybe a Golem will appear, but these events will be rare - a spice rather than a main ingredient.
  
  However, if you enjoy the World Corruption rush, you now have three specific ways to trigger it:
  
  • Pick up the Latent Orb
  • Do Torments: they now have World Corruption attached to them
    
  • Check The Collector for a cool new item: Corrupt Stimulant
    
• We are now moving on to the next big update for real, and of course, World Corruption 2.0 will be a part of it. I am genuinely excited about this new version, and I hope you will be too.
  

TLDR: World Corruption is nerfed. If you want it, pick up the Latent Orb, do Torments, or buy the Corrupt Stimulant from The Collector. World Corruption 2.0, a completely redesigned version, is coming in the next big update.

I think today’s patch is a good compromise. The “old” Witchfire is back, just with a little friction here and there to keep you awake. But those who want the chaos can easily unleash it. This solution is much closer to our design philosophy.

Enjoy the current incarnation while it lasts - it’s going to be replaced entirely soon.

Signed,
The Overseer
(known in secular circles as Adrian)



[h2]Interviews[/h2]

You may have seen that the Reckoning Update had a bit of a media buzz surrounding it - various outlets have been interviewing Adrian on subjects related to the game and the overall condition of the industry. Here are a few highlights:

[h3]A different angle:[/h3]

Witchfire, in a way, is a heist game. Like there's the witch, and she set up all these defenses. It's sort of like if you think about trying to rob a bank, there would be patrols, patrolmen, and infrared cameras. So imagine all of that just in a dark fantasy theme.

From DualShockers Interview.

[h3]On replayability:[/h3]

I think a lot of people believe they are replaying these games because the shooting part is fun, which is obviously true, but I think a significant part of the experience is the mood and the world.

From PCGamesN (I).

[h3]On the importance of Early Access:[/h3]

It’s a good example of why Early Access works, because only at that scale are we able to understand what doesn’t work.

From GamingBible.

[h3]On Steam and Steam Deck:[/h3]

Steam is not really a shop. Steam is a community. And so we wanted to make sure that that community is basically served… but what we’ve learned, which was kind of surprising, is that making your game compatible, like Steam Deck Verified, actually makes your game better.

From FRVR.

If you want to read more, interviews are available at these links:
Gaming Bible, The Gamer, Mein MMO (German), IGN Italy (Italian), TechRaptor, eTeknix, PC Games N (II), PC Games N (III), PCGamesN (IV).

(A note from Adrian: The recent wave of interviews covered three topics: Witchfire, the state of the industry - mostly the AAA vs indie dynamic - and AI.

In case you missed the discussion on that last point, here is the short version: Witchfire does not and will not feature a single asset that was not created 100% by a human.

This isn't virtue signaling -- this game started as a project of human passion, and we see value in keeping it that way until the end.)


[h2]Hermitorium Archives[/h2]

Before we begin this episode of Hermitorium Archives, I’d like to take a moment to repeat something I already included in various places - a few words of thanks.

The release of The Reckoning and its aftermath was a textbook example of why having a passionate community matters. Your feedback is and always has been priceless, but the absolute torrent of thoughts and comments we received all around the web once the update dropped was on another level, and it allowed us to course-correct when it turned out that World Corruption had dialled things not just to 11, but all the way to 15.

After we published 0.8.1, the first patch for the update containing a slew of balance changes, Arian released a statement - and one of the (late) comments under it requires addressing, to my mind at least:



It was not for the sake of experimentation. And yes, we really test our games - the last few days before an update drops are usually nothing but playtesting and bugfixing. The thing is, we’re all pretty hardcore - most of us just grit our teeth and soldier on, even if it gets properly hard, so we can sometimes lose perspective and tune the game to our own tastes. Which is fine 99% of the time, but sometimes we miss the mark and make it too hardcore - as was the case with The Reckoning.

To quote Pablo Francisco pretending to be Keanu Reeves: “we went too far”. But we’re still in Early Access, and such blunders should happen during this period, if ever.

That said - as Adrian mentioned it earlier - the latest patch for the game, 0.8.4, which has just dropped, tames World Corruption a bit more. It’s a temporary stop-gap solution for now, while we’re having a rethink. The concept will return - it’s far too potent to be left rotting on the shelf. Or underground. You get the idea.

Anyway, let’s dive in.

[h3]They are doing what to the tornadoes?![/h3]

We knew that these were coming. Hell, we were doing the same thing when we were testing the update prior to release - back then, the tornadoes did not disappear after you made contact with them, so they were much more annoying, but you could also use every single one a few times. Until you found yourself between three of them, but I digress.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1pstmld/unavoidable_tornado_riding/

Anyway, upon seeing this topic, my reaction was a bit different and a meme was born, so I think it’s best to let it do the talking.




[h3]I don’t feel so good, Mr Preyer.[/h3]

There are a couple of things that have to remain constant, and the sport of Dimacher-bashing is definitely one of them. No matter what content is released and how hard we work on bringing new stuff to you, there is always someone who decides it’s time to have a go at one of the familiars. In this issue, we have a new kind of curse - all the ailments at once.

It was always in the realm of possibility and it had to happen sooner or later, but it’s still glorious.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1q3gtho/giving_dimacher_every_disease_at_once/

[h3]That’s a DAMAGE TICK.[/h3]

Speaking of Dimacher, the battle with him has been an absolute cornucopia – and it seems that while some people struggle, others have made this skirmish their playground.

FilthMasterRich is one of the few who are often having a whale of a time – you can now use his experience, as he recently provided an important lesson in buildcrafting, showing everyone just how dramatically you can change your experience by mixing up the loadout. In the linked post, we have a full-fledged walkthrough of how to create a build that produces damage ticks capable of bringing almost anybody down, and I bet that includes the iron-clad familiar of the Witch.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1puczya/big_tick_damage_build/

Magnificent job.


[h3]I didn’t see any posters.[/h3]

… And yet, the disco is here. I am going to start a campaign to have something like this in the game as an easter egg.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1ptkobo/what_a_strange_easter_egg/


[h3]Certified nerd-out[/h3]

We don’t really have a gun culture in Poland, save for some rather unwise hunters who regularly confuse people with boars and cause tragedies, so this is quite exotic to us - a person who actually knows what they are talking about, and their analysis of the weapons in the game.

It’s fascinating to see how many details you’re able to find and learn about the genesis of various elements and components. That said, there is one thing we’re painfully aware of and we’ve yet to fix, but it hasn’t been mentioned in the post. Can you guess what we got wrong with one of the bigger weapons?

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1q95xmh/gun_nerd_observations/


[h3]It’s not a walk in the park, it’s a sprint through hell[/h3]

While assessing your feedback, there were numerous times when some of you called the game a walking simulator. The game plays as it usually does in most cases, but we know there are times when something doesn’t go according to plan and the whole map is empty. You can truly have a walking sim in the castle or on the coast, but this…

This is the opposite end of the spectrum. This is what happens when you’re really trying to extract and everything is thrown at you to stop you. The full clip is four minutes of fighting for your life, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1prqi8y/okay_now_that_was_a_tense_escape_sequence/


[h3]Sneaking in (to the Vault)[/h3]

The subject of alternative paths has been mentioned quite a few times in posts on Steam/Reddit/social media, and in our own posts - it’s always a choice and not something accidental.

It was the same when it came to the Velmorne Vault: we discussed the option to bypass the gate and not pay the entry fee, and we decided to leave this loophole open. There is one more hack (which is actually more of a bug that we will eventually fix) connected to the Velmorne Vault gate, but it appears that it hasn’t been discovered yet - which kind of reaffirms my belief in our playerbase and their honesty.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Witchfire/comments/1q8w3om/bypass_a_locked_gnosis_3_gate_in_velmorne/


[h3]Cure worse than the illness[/h3]

Well, the arachnophobia filter was supposed to eliminate spiders, not the fear of the creatures attacking you. Posts such as this one are a great indicator that the job is well done.



That’s it for now - this is likely our final post for a while, as we’re retreating to the depths of the Workshop to work on crafting the next stage of our road towards 1.0.

One more update in Early Access, bumping the version number to 0.9, and then 1.0 in all its glory and content. Including…

Oh, no spoilers, right.

Cheers!

(2026.01.14)

Upon reading more feedback and having a bit of a rethink, we decided to release one more patch for The Reckoning before we return to work on the new update.

[h2]Changes to Weapons and Spells[/h2]

[h3]Midas[/h3]

• Decreased Overheated damage debuff from 50% to 70%.
  
• Tweaks to heat generation: Max heat per bullet in a burst lowered by 15%. Max heat generated per bullet while Heated lowered by 20%.
  

Designer Note: While it should take around the same time to get from 0 to 100 Heat, it should be easier now to stay in the Heated sweet spot with the right trigger discipline.

[h3]All-Seeing Eye:[/h3]