Witchfire is a first person shooter focused on challenge and mastery, it’s accessible and there are many roads to the ultimate victory but you’ll still need to prove your witch-hunting skills if you’re after all of its secrets.

During the 300 years of European witch hunts that started in the 15th century, tens of thousands of women, men and children lost their lives due to superstition, politics and profit.

But that’s our history and our world.

In the world of Witchfire, witches are real.

And you are the punishing hand of the Church.

That’s the core idea behind the game, even if things are not as black-and-white as one might think.

In Witchfire, a deadly war rages between powerful witches and the Church. In this alternate reality, witches are very real and very dangerous— but so is the witch hunter. Armed by Vatican sorcerers, players wield an ungodly array of guns and forbidden magic as they combat dark terrors on behalf of their shadowy benefactors.

Built in the Unreal Engine 4, Witchfire boasts AAA graphics made by an indie team of only nine people. Players explore gorgeous, semi open-world levels, featuring advanced photogrammetry and post-processing that create an immersive and realistic dark fantasy world.

With commentary from The Astronauts co-founder and creative director, Adrian Chmielarz, the video reveals how guns in the game possess forbidden magic only accessible by witch hunters, known as preyers.

In the sneak-peek at gunplay, Chmielarz zeroes in on a powerful firearm uniquely suited to sharp shooters, called Hunger.

“This particular weapon is one for an eagle eyed hunter, because it can only sing if you hit your crits. But when you do hit them, you become a powerful evil killing machine,” said Chmielarz. 

Hunger is a hand-cannon that feeds on critical hits, getting stronger with successful shots. For each critical hit, players are granted powerful bullets that deal additional damage on their next reload. When preyers reach the second level of attunement with Hunger, they are able to magnify the power of successive critical hits: the more critical hits a player scores before a reload, the deadlier the next bullet will be. Hunger’s third and final level of attunement unleashes unholy gunfire capable of incapacitating and obliterating enemies with freezing magic.

Witchfire uses the photogrammetry tech The Astronauts previously used in The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. This tech allows the devs to 3D scan real-life objects – even entire buildings! – and use them as digital assets in our games for unparalleled visual quality, and natural, organic look and feel. The Astronauts believe we can push the tech even further, with new tools, hardware, and all the experience we gathered during the development of their first game and can’t wait to bring you along on the ride.

Witchfire will launch into Early Access (Epic Games Store) in 2023.