Witchfire News

Preyers,

We’re currently laying down plans for future updates and finalizing the roadmap. It won’t be long before we know exactly what and when we can deliver. In the meantime, Adrian has one more thing to say about Webgrave...



As Spajk just mentioned, we're still working on the road map update, so meanwhile allow me one more reflection on the Webgrave update - and on game-changing updates in general.

If I could turn back time, there's one thing I'd change about Webgrave: how we communicated some of the changes. I thought we did a pretty good job with blog posts and all, but it clearly wasn't enough. Take a look at this, Witchfire Steam reviews since the Webgrave release:



What's happening here is that we saw an abnormal percentage of negative reviews during the first few days of the update. Most of these reviews came from veteran players, people who had already spent some time with the game and enjoyed it. However, some of them did not like the changes we made to the core experience. From their point of view, the way they had made the game their own no longer worked. They had invested in certain builds or strategies - and felt we took that away.

We didn't, really. But we did make them feel like this for a few hours.

I think this post nails it:



Nothing to add, really.

Ultimately, most people do like Stats 2.0 and the Rosary. As I mentioned in the interview with Rogueliker, we've never seen so many players discussing builds before. You can now be more powerful than ever.

But the transition was a bit rough for some.

To be clear, there's no perfectly smooth way to handle major transitions. But we definitely could have prepared everyone better. Usually, we keep things intentionally vague to leave room for discovery and surprise once an update launches. However, in this particular case, we should have clearly explained what was changing and how to deal with it. Maybe with a detailed explainer video, a Twitch or YouTube preview stream - something along those lines.

Someone might say, "What's the problem? Once players get used to the changes or after you address the issues, they'll update their reviews." Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Sure, some people do update their reviews. But many don't. They forget to update them, or even forget they wrote a review in the first place. Sometimes they don't return to the game at all and thus never reconsider their feedback. There are numerous reasons why reviews remain unchanged.

The best strategy to avoid negative reviews after major updates isn't to hope players will adjust once the dust settles. It's to properly prepare them ahead of release.

There's another interesting aspect to all this. Consider this quote from Evil Empire's studio marketing manager, Matthew Houghton:



I don't entirely agree with him, but there's certainly truth in the idea that many players view Early Access titles as merely content-incomplete, rather than something that might be fundamentally reshaped midway through development. From their perspective, the game should simply keep improving and expanding. But from a developer's standpoint, sometimes it's necessary to step back and redesign core elements to benefit the final experience. This is guaranteed to happen at some point.

And when it does, make sure your communication is loud and clear.

And now for something completely different...



Since the Webgrave update dropped, the community has exploded with activity. Thank you for all the posts and threads - we’re over the moon seeing so many of you gravitate back to Witchfire. The sheer number of discussions and hours you’ve poured into the game is astounding. We’re working hard to give you even more reasons to stay and to welcome more players into the preyer ranks.

[h3]Let me tell you a story…[/h3]

We’ve already featured one radio play a while back, and now another joins the pack. This one is not an original creation, but an awesome audio rendition of a short story written by Adrian a few years ago - hearing it in Daniel’s voice brings new layers to the experience.

Just like in the previous weeks, the embed has a mind if its own - please click the link to watch the video/give it a listen on youtube.

Jolly good show.

[h3]The other kind of Velmorne experience[/h3]

Last week I featured a Reddit post in which Key-Post-9750 recounted his moment of realising how mighty his Preyer was. You reacted by upvoting this image to the weekly top of our subreddit, giving many internet points to zbeasley111, so reposting it in the Hermitorium Archives only seemed fair.



[h3]Escape velocity has been achieved[/h3]

Listen, we’re called The Astronauts, but that doesn’t mean you need to break orbit in our games. Still, hats off to redditor FilthmasterRich for pulling off yet another exploit and setting what may be the final Preyer Top Speed Record - the game simply can’t go faster. And so, it seems that Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing still holds the all-time speed crown in unmodded video games.



Click to visit the original reddit thread.

[h3]An immortal enemy is... dead?[/h3]

We’ve seen you melt the toughest bosses in no time, and while those feats are impressive, this is something else entirely. An enemy designed to respawn endlessly was somehow bullied into giving up.

Click to visit the original reddit thread.

How and why - no idea. A moment of silence for the fallen Revenant, affectionately nicknamed Ron. And a slow-clap for Hypnosis Goblin, who somehow sent Ron into the no-respawn zone.

[h3]Peak Internet[/h3]

Thanks to the magic of mods, we recently saw a Haaaaaaangfire appear in-game - you know, a Hangfire which really wanted to be a musket:





And I am not gonna lie, it made me smile, it even sparked the classic “oh you guys” head tilt. But that was just a warm-up, a mere prelude to something much, much greater.

A submeowchine gun - the Catweaver - made an unofficial appearance in the game.

Click to display the post on our website and watch the video.

No notes.

[h3]Post-webgrave talk with the Rogueliker.[/h3]

Before we go, there’s one more thing I wanted to share: we recently did a written interview with The Rogueliker, where Adrian talked about some of the design ideas behind Witchfire. He touched on the challenges, the uniqueness of Velmorne, Stats 2.0, Rosary builds, and what’s next on the road to 1.0. If you’d like to dive deeper, you can read the full interview here:

The Witchfire Interview: The Astronauts on crafting a challenge built around autonomy and the unknown

Anyway, that’s it for now.

We’ll be back soon - until then, keep shooting and stay awesome!

Velmorne has been on the map selection screen for almost a month now - after opening the city gates, we listened, tweaked, and patched. The final (final-we-are-done-for-real) patch dropped yesterday, and it appears that support for Webgrave has now been concluded. This means there will be no more patches for a while. But that doesn’t mean we’re disappearing off the radar - we’re just switching from support mode to development mode, working on future content for the game. An updated roadmap is currently in the works, and we plan to share it with you in a few days - stay tuned!

Before that happens, Adrian has a few words he wanted to say:

Today, we're having a big team meeting to discuss the next steps. We can smell 1.0 in the air, but there's still some work to do – like, you know, the story. We'll share the updated roadmap soon -- next week, probably -- but for now, let me wrap up the Webgrave update with some additional data. This time, let's dive into the juicy subject of refunds.

You wouldn't know it, but one thing that caused me a few sleepless nights was Witchfire's above-average refund ratio. It felt like living in a bizarre world: on one hand, the game was selling very well and had a high and rising user score of 92%; on the other, we had this unexpectedly high refund rate. This ratio was even more puzzling since typically, the higher the user score, the lower the refunds.

Of course, Early Access games usually see a higher refund rate because they're unfinished, and many people buy them just to sample the experience. Still, we knew something was off. We knew we had a good game, but we weren't fully connecting with some players.

After analyzing feedback, we identified three key areas that needed attention.

One, explaining the features. To us, everything seems obvious. I mean, how can Stamina not be obvious? It's not like we invented the concept. The same goes for spells, dashing, weapon swapping, witchfire as a resource, HP that doesn't auto-regenerate -- and countless other details. Yet, data from players and our playtests clearly showed we got this wrong. Yes, these concepts might be familiar individually, but Witchfire combines them in such a unique way that it simply demands a proper tutorial.

Two, the story. Many players are happy with just the atmosphere and gameplay; they either don't need a story or can wait for it. But others want a clear goal from the start, they need to understand the stakes and feel emotionally engaged. As someone who's never made a game without a story, loves immersive sims and narrative-driven games, and dabbles in writing, I understand that need perfectly.

Three, the difficulty. The game is simply too challenging for some players. Reasons vary: some feel overwhelmed, others don't want to adapt, and some ignore the tutorials entirely. Whatever the reason, our second most common refund justification is the game's difficulty.

Here's what we've decided to do about these issues:

For the tutorial, that was a no-brainer. We knew it was long overdue. So we've invested significantly in creating a proper tutorial, including a new map and a special Game Handbook feature. I'm happy to report that this has worked remarkably well: we've cut our excess refunds in half.

For the story, well, that's coming soon. We already have bits of it in the game, along with plenty of lore -- but that's nothing compared to what we ultimately envision for Witchfire.

Regarding difficulty, we've decided not to change anything from a top-level design perspective. We understand this means Witchfire will never appeal to everyone, and we're okay with that. We hope players will come to see there's more than one way to beat the game, whether through manual skills, strategic thinking, or clever exploits. But we don't plan on adding difficulty levels or reducing the overall challenge. Witchfire was never designed to be punishing; to us, it's "normal difficult" -- but we firmly believe a proper challenge is essential for a satisfying experience.

To sum it up: the tutorial and Game Handbook feature have been successful, the story is coming next, but we're standing firm on not adding difficulty levels.

And with that, it’s time for the…

[h2]Hermitorium Archives[/h2]
[h4]Rotten fiend appreciation corner[/h4]

Original Thread

Iron Cross may be the fan-favourite (or at least the go-to spell for a very vocal minority), but recently there’s been a surge of appreciation for a companion raised from six feet under. And I have to say, I absolutely love it. I may be guilty of leaving Rotten Fiend on a shelf in the Hermitorium for far too long, and this post made me feel like it’s time to dust the spell off. Especially since it seems there’s a way to make him Extra Buffed™ - so buffed that I’m afraid we’ll need to have another look at balance, because this feels a bit excessive.

Original Thread

A lively performance for someone so dead.

[h4]I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me.[/h4]

There’s a wide range of ways we see you approach gameplay. It usually begins with a lack of confidence: being very careful, counting bullets, using cover, and taking laboured breaths after each encounter filled with projectiles flying around your Preyer’s hat.

Then it gradually evolves into feeling like a god of hellfire - only to level up your gnosis while riding high on another successful expedition, and immediately finding out the difficulty has been bumped up by a considerable margin, so you’re not getting just a slap on the wrist, but rather getting your head kicked in.

Eventually, you get used to what the Witch is serving you. You gain enough experience to know what you can do, when to run, and when to push harder. Key-Post-9750 started a thread asking when that moment was for you - and when you were put in your place.

Thanks for sharing these moments and what lead to them - we want to make you feel things while playing our game, and while synthesizing what lead to these moments may be difficult, the more data we have, the more reliably we can craft opportunities for them to happen.

Original Thread

[h4][Kylo-Ren-MOAR.gif][/h4]

That said, and circling back to what Adrian wrote about the difficulty being too high, there are also plenty of players on the opposite end of the spectrum, daydreaming about scenarios that are… well, borderline concerning.

I mean…

Original Thread

It reminded me of the time I was taking screenshots for the Handbook and… well, I’m impatient. When the console command didn’t work as intended, I hit it again. And again. Until the game froze.

Anit suddenly roared back to life. Literally roared, courtesy of the horde.

[center][/center]
Never have I ever found myself in a situation where the “I’m in danger” meme felt more appropriate.


And why do I get a feeling that it's what some of you would like to have in game?

[h4]Kowalski, Analysis![/h4]

I think this is the first time someone has made a video thoroughly analyzing Witchfire, and it was a blast to watch. It’s always exciting to see players put so much time and creativity into sharing their perspective - thanks for the thoughtful breakdown and fantastic presentation!


The youtube embeds are not working again - please follow the link to [previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h4]This requires no comment[/h4]
[center][/center]
Original Thread

We absolutely love it.

And that’s about it for today - we’ll be back soon with a roadmap outlining the future of the game. Please stay tuned, and in the meantime - go explore, hunt the Witch’s minions, and send their souls screaming back to hell.

Cheers!

Fellow preyers, we’ve prepared one more patch for Webgrave. The changelist is short, but the impact might be big for some of you.

The full patch notes are available on our website, but here’s the gist of what’s new since the last update:

[h2]Patch 0.7.5 (64591)[/h2]

• Velmorne now uses 0.3GB less memory
  
• Ambush Bells optimization
  
• Fixed Ambush Bells objectives not updating properly.
  

That 0.3GB memory reduction may look small, but it can prevent PCs with 16GB RAM or less from dipping into virtual memory – meaning smoother performance.

This patch likely (hopefully) wraps up the Webgrave update cycle. We’re still here and we will still read your feedback, but we're shifting the focus to developing more content for future updates - more info coming soon.

Cheers!

[p]Final patch (fingers crossed) for the Webgrave update! Four patches later, we're moving on to the work on the next update (fingers crossed). Here are the full patch notes: [/p][p][/p][h2]Patch 0.7.4 (64561)[/h2]

• [p]Some heavy Velmorne optimizations and improvements,[/p]
• [p]Fixed Creeper not granting witchfire on death,[/p]
• [p]Slomo Calamity spawns should behave better now,[/p]
• [p]Fixed few minor clipping issues of dynamic items (Velmorne),[/p]
• [p]Optimization of witchfire eyes on enemies,[/p]

[p]NOTE: A few players reported unusual fps drops in Velmorne or other areas. We just found out that latest Windows 11 update, namely KB5063878, might cause this. Sometimes uninstalling it helps, sometimes uninstalling then re-installing it does. But do it only if you have unusual, unexplained drops (which is very rare, FWIW). Here’s how.[/p][p][/p][p]P.S. We will indeed publish an updated road map soon. We're getting closer to 1.0, folks... (fingers crossed ːsteamhappyː)[/p]

[p]Patch 0.7.3 is now live. The penultimate one for the Webgrave Update. Highlights: [/p]

• [p]Stats 2.2, including detailed info in tooltips,[/p]
• [p]Creeper: a new enemy in Velmorne,[/p]
• [p]10 new Achievements,[/p]
• [p]Each gun now tracks its own kill count,[/p]
• [p]Lots of fixes (FSR, FoV on non-standard screens) and optimizations[/p]

[p]Detailed notes below...[/p][p][/p][p]WEAPONS[/p]

• [p]Hangfire – Increased base damage from 35 to 38[/p]
  • [p]Designer’s note: while it might seem insignificant, it actually gets rid of numerous frustrating breakpoints, where weak minor enemies were left with a sliver of health. These bad breakpoints were unintended, and a result of previously balancing the weapon only around the shoot & detonate loop.[/p]

• [p]Psychopomp – Slowed down firing animation, slightly reduced vertical recoil on subsequent shots, significantly reduced overall horizontal recoil[/p]
  • [p]Designer’s note: this leaves Psychopomp’s performance mostly unaffected, but should significantly improve its gamefeel.[/p]

• [p]Striga – Removed bonus main target damage from Mysterium I[/p]
  • [p]Designer’s note: while we all know Striga needs a nerf, this change is actually implemented because of an unintended interaction. Striga’s fire shockwave was not meant to damage the initial target. Because of that, the intended +25% damage bonus to long range targets ballooned to +52%. Removing the bonus damage brings the balance closer to our original intentions.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed multiplied fire damage from Striga’s shockwave, when firing stakes in the same spot[/p]

• [p]Nemesis – Mysterium III now sets marked enemies on fire for a while.[/p]
  • [p]Designer’s note: While very useful in the right circumstances, Mysterium III did very little in 1v1 duels, which are a significant part of Nemesis usability. Moreover, it was hard to make use of Nemesis fire proficiency when it came to triggering elemental arcana and combos. This addition helps alleviate that problem, and makes damaging marked targets as soon as possible more rewarding – and chasing targets of opportunity is the main intended Nemesis’ “fun factor generator”.[/p]

• [p]Koschei – Reworked Mysterium III. Now it says “Killing 6 enemies before unleashing the swarm increases the number of bone shards launched and decay power”. Visual indicators for charges 4 to 6 have been added.[/p]
  • [p]Fast Reload Arcana now works with the Koschei[/p]

[p]TRAPS[/p]

• [p]Fester (Velmorne)[/p]
  • [p]Lowered health from 60 to 15[/p]
  • [p]Removed spawnpoints too close to the initial starting area[/p]

• [p]Ambush Bells (Velmorne)[/p]
  • [p]Ambush bells can no longer trigger in the initial starting area[/p]

• [p]Exploding barrels[/p]
  • [p]Improved the visibility of barrels overgrown with vines[/p]
  • [p]Exploding barrels now also spawn on the Island of the Damned and Velmorne[/p]

[p]STATS 2.2[/p]

• [p]A new way to display stats to reduce the clutter and overload of 1XX values. All player stats are now displayed in range 0-100. Health and Stamina are the only stats with actual hard values displayed[/p]
• [p]Tooltips over each stat now display more detailed and tangible information about every stat: what parameters a given stat affects, and what are their current boosts[/p]
• [p]In the Ascension Shrine, when you hover any player attribute (Flesh etc.), you can now see which stats are influenced by increasing it. The strength of the influence is marked by the number of diamonds (two diamonds => strong influence, one diamond => weak influence)[/p]
• [p]Changed the Scavenging icon. Drops affected by Scavenging are now marked by cogwheels icon[/p]

[p]STAT VALUES[/p]

• [p]Scavenging – reduced the amount of Healing Elixirs dropped by Antimagic Runes[/p]
• [p]Witchery – Decreased spell recharge below 10 Witchery. Slightly slowed down spell recharge gains under 25 Witchery.[/p]
  • [p]These changes are meant to make early leveling more impactful and further differentiate the starting classes. Max spell cooldown reduction remains the same.[/p]
• [p]Health – Increased health gained per level at low levels (max HP remains the same)[/p]
• [p]Stamina – Increased stamina gained per level at low levels (max SP remains the same)[/p]

[p]UI[/p]

• [p]Added Consumables tab to the Inventory for the ease of use during expeditions[/p]
• [p]Removed Prophecies tab from the Inventory. Collected Prophecies are now displayed only in the Prophecy Study in the Hermitorium[/p]
• [p]Changed the way Prophecies are displayed in the Prophecy Study. The ones which are equipped are now marked by the yellow color, making it more clear and easier to manage them[/p]
• [p]Removed redundant information about Mysterium from the top bar in the Inspect Screen[/p]
• [p]Every weapon now displays its kill count in the Inspect Screen. You can find it in the top bar, next to the weapon’s name[/p]
• [p]Changed the screenshots used by ‘Combat’ and ‘Calamities’ pages of the Game Handbook[/p]

[p]ENEMIES[/p]

• [p]Creeper added to Velmorne[/p]
• [p]Fixed the bug that caused Rotten Fiend to trigger hit sounds on signs and lamps across Velmorne[/p]
• [p]Fixed the bug that caused Bonsaire the Illuminated to be inactive[/p]
• [p]Fixed the bug that caused the framerate to drop significantly if Calamity was triggered deep in the sewers[/p]
• [p]Rebalanced Gravedigger and Sepulcher attack to have lower Damage over Time, compensated it with an initial damage[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that caused Townswoman to deal damage twice during her teleport attack[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that caused Spinners to trigger footsteps after death[/p]
• [p]Widow melee attack should now deal damage more consistently + added a jump ability to allow here to disengage the player[/p]
• [p]Inactive Dimacher now reacts to damage[/p]
• [p]Fixed the potential Calamity vortex position near Velmorne marketplace[/p]
• [p]Calamity skulls had their health raised to balance things out a bit and make it harder to dispel Calamity by running to the vortex. Its still doable, it just requires more skill now[/p]
• [p]Defender Calamity has been reworked slightly – to improve the pacing the vortex during this calamity now spawns close to the player instead of seed defined position[/p]
• [p]Shieldbearer Calamity has been reworked slightly – to improve its flow on Velmorne and make it more survivable. Shieldbearer’s capture-bubble radius has been doubled[/p]
• [p]Fixed several procedural spawn issues in Velmorne related to enemies spawned by Calamities and Warden. They shouldn’t spawn in the canals while the player is above[/p]
• [p]Castle and Village Boss should now properly mark as complete on the map after killing the boss[/p]
• [p]Fishermen’s area in Scarlet Coast (the one Galley Slave spawns at) has been reintroduced into the arena pool and now can have Manifestation scenario in it[/p]

[p]MISC[/p]

• [p]Lowered the amount of cursed treasures that spawn in Velmorne.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that removed Treasure Chests from the minimap[/p]
• [p]Melee Charge Bead cooldown penalty reduced from -50% to -30%[/p]
• [p]Iron Cross now disables affected enemies’ dash and jump abilities[/p]
• [p]Added weapon switching tutorials after equipping new weapons[/p]
• [p]Added 10 new achievements[/p]
• [p]Misc Velmorne performance optimizations[/p]
• [p]Velmorne minibosses have proper map descriptions[/p]
• [p]FSR crash fixed – FSR1 & 2 reeneabled[/p]
• [p]Sewer grates in Velmorne are added to the map when player finds them[/p]
• [p]Fixed Climbing Gear pickup not disappearing when already have the item[/p]
• [p]Town mirage in sewers no longer requires payment every time[/p]
• [p]Fixed Gnosis book objective and achievement requiring opening mirages – all mirages should now be counted towards those[/p]
• [p]Fixed FOV scaling on non 16:9 displays[/p]
• [p]Fixed Effigy of Plague not affecting enemies[/p]
• [p]Opening Menu screen rework so the preyer always looks proper[/p]

[p]
AUDIO[/p]

• [p]Designed and implemented sounds for the Creeper[/p]
• [p]Applied some minor tweaks to Psychopomp’s shooting sound[/p]
• [p]Tweaked part of the UI sounds that trigger together with the hint, during the Prologue[/p]
• [p]Enriched the soundscape of the Prologue’s first arena, adding more winds, foliage and wildlife (mainly in the surrounding areas)[/p]
• [p]Lowered the loudness of the acid pool in the Prologue’s jumping tutorial section[/p]
• [p]Lowered the loudness of the music that plays in the Witch Mountain’s Labyrinth section[/p]