r/Witchfire

Preyers!

A new chapter of Witchfire is upon us - and with it, the return of our old ways. We’re once again posting dev diaries that will lead us toward the launch of a brand new update.

Today, we’re happy to finally reveal that version 0.9 has received its official name: Revelations Update.

There’s a lot to share, as this one’s a proper behemoth. But before we dive into the heavier calibers, we’re starting with a bit of clean-up - namely, a brand new Vault and World Corruption 2.0.

Oh, and there’s also the tiny little thing called localization. Tiny little in the sense that it absolutely isn’t tiny little at all - and one you may actually be able to help us with.

Plus… Your first look at the Witch.

Curious?

You know what to do.

Cheers!

Because this is a singleplayer game, more than being strong, weapons should feel strong, but there are too many weapons that don't feel strong or good to use.

Striga looked so cool when I picked it up, but it absolutely horrendous to use and it also feels like it doesn't do anything. Even with the AoE burn it feels bad against groups.

Ricochet seems cool in practice but it just doesn't feel nearly as good as any of the other auto rifles. The marking seems cool but feels clunky and I don't think it competes.

All seeing eye is fun in theory but it both feels weak and has anti synergy in its kit, dealing AoE damage but also wants people to be full health for the damage. I never see myself picking this over other Bolt actions.

Midas I actually think is really strong as it melts enemies, but it feels like a peashooter, and I think its largely due to audio design.

Nemesis' Mark system feels like it should be stronger than it is, cause the gun itself feels like it deals low damage. It kinda feels okay fully upgraded with the burn but by then if finally feels okay, and not great. Compared to Hunger, which also wants consecutive crits, even if it hits almost twice as hard, it feels weaker.

Martyr, the magnetic shots don't always work, even if aimed only slightly amiss from the target. The ADS shot to mark them feels clunky, you need to drop your dps to do so and doesn't do significant damage. mysteria 3 feels downright detrimental.

Frostbite has a great mechanic, that feels good to use, but its damage feels insanely low. Maybe cause I'm directly comparing it with Hypnosis, but the payoff for perfect reloading feels worse, until you 3 reloads, where it becomes almost impossible to keep that up, where Hypnosis can easily get perfect timings every shot. Frostbite also feels more punishing, as missing it once means 3 reloads that are weaker, where Hypnosis goes back to full power instantly.

I don't have all lategame weapons unlocked cause I'm currently running around the castle upgrading what I have. I find myself avoiding above mentioned weapons (except midas) when I want to beat a boss or go for the Tower cause they just feel useless.

https://preview.redd.it/t3u0hhrh8b2h1.png?width=1067&format=png&auto=webp&s=bbf0b04d6522e487ac190d465d859a2f237cd8f9

6 new achievements have been added, but don't think there's been an update to the game yet. Looks like there might be a 7th Preyer as the achievement is called 'Seven Sins' to unlock them all, and a new boss called the Concelebrant? What do you guys think?

Hey all.

I grabbed this game as it looked interesting and a decent one to sink some grind in to. Really liking it so far and have been playing on the Steam Deck with modified controls.

My issue is... This game is Steam Deck Verified but I do not agree with that sentiment. Even after lowering settings and tweaking with things, this game does not perform up to par of what I would give the Steam Deck green tick to.

It's okay on the first level - until you enter the vault and you chug to 5 FPS going down the stairs. That was the first warning sign.

However, as I've got more levels and mechanics, it's borderline unplayable.

Velmorne is probably the worse offender, it's incredibly low FPS with lots of stutters/freezes.

Any use of flashy/big mechanics can also lock the game up for seconds at a time and start to stutter, which is difficult to manage mid-combat, especially as it seems to be combat that triggers it a lot.

- Casting Heavy Spells literally locks my game for a second when I cast them

- Big monster spawns during Cursed Chest events or similar does the same

- Catacylsms, depending on which one you get can lower the overall FPS and start stuttering

- Opening a Divine Chest is probably the worse. The performance becomes so bad that extracting/awakening the Orb is impossible. I've had to do these on my PC.

Just wondered if there were any community settings anywhere to improve it - as I've already set most things to low/off.

I've played a lot of Witchfire (currently sitting at around level 320) and adore this game - it's got so much content and polish already despite being in early access - but there are a few systems and elements that in my view could do with a bit of attention in future updates to many this game even better:

1. The fallen preyer system could do with a bit of a rework. I like the concept of finding the mask shards scattered across the map and using them to unlock fallen preyers to help you in your runs, and the additional choice that this gives the player, but some of the implementation of this system could be improved. Firstly, the echoes and boons system feels a bit odd - Preyer echoes are ridiculously easy to get, and it's very easy to amass thousands of them by simply paying the minimal cost to do an echo quest every run, even if you completely ignore what the echo quest is. In my opinion, there are three alternative solutions to resolving this: the first is to just remove this system entirely (such that you get a certain number of boons every run automatically, with the number you get increasing with gnosis level, which are refilled automatically without using echoes). Alternatively, you could make doing an echo quest harder (either through increasing the cost from 1000 Witchfire, making them more specific or award less echoes, or making the run on which you are doing an echo quest harder - through increasing the rate of world corruption, for example). Thirdly, they could give Preyer echoes an alternative use. The best one would be to let you use them to upgrade fallen preyers, or use them during a run to summon a fallen preyer on demand.

2. Divine essence needs more uses on some maps. On some maps this is done well currently - witch mountain has a few different uses for it, and island of the damned lets you use it to unlock more prophecies. But on the other maps, beyond using it to for latent orbs, it's useless. This feels unsatisfying, particularly when you're doing a torment or stimulant run where you can easily amass a lot of divine essence, as you end up not getting anything for it when you escape. Adding additional prophecies to other maps which you can unlock with divine essence would be good, or alternatively just allowing you to convert it to Witchfire similarly to what you can do on island of the damned.

3. Add mysterium upgrades and elements to demonic weapons. All too often I forget that I even have a demonic weapon because they aren't significantly better than normal weapons with the right upgrades and arcana. This would be a way to incentivise integrating demonic weapons into your build.

4. Some witch vaults could do with a rework. The island witch vault is a bit too hard for how early you can access it, particularly given the madness mechanic which can feel very frustrating and annoying especially for new players. While I don't dislike the vault, the combination of some potential insta kill platforming, poorly telegraphed madness mechanics plus a lot of enemies can make this a bit too challenging for the vault on the first map. The Scarlett coast witch vault is too small and easy, too.

5. I know witch mountain is an unfinished map so conscious that this could all be changing in the next update, but the labyrinth could do with some tweaks to make it less easy. I love the concept so much, but as it currently stands it's a bit too easy, as you can generally kill the summoning orbs before they can summon much or the enemies get much of a chance to attack you. A simple tweak such as giving these more health or changing the way that you disable them would help to make this section feel a bit tougher. I know that there's a boss fight to follow at the end of the labyrinth so it shouldn't be too difficult, but after the first couple of orbs your summoned minions take most of the agro anyway, which at present makes this feel a bit anticlimactic.

To be clear, the game is still fantastic even without these tweaks, but I hope that future updates address some of these systems to make Witchfire even better.

The madness thing is super annoying. No idea what’s going on. Makes me want to quit playing… I was having a great time up until this point. I just go mad no matter what? Very bad game mechanic. Just made 8 hours in game and turned it off.

Edit, yes inside the tower. It’s a horrible mechanic in the game. If you stand in a cloud of something ok. Or beams of light hit you fine, but to do it the way it’s designed is bad.