Witchfire postponed to 2023, the shooter becomes an open world

Witchfire postponed to 2023, the shooter becomes an open world

Witchfire postponed to 2023

The Astronauts team has announced that Witchfire has been postponed to 2023, waiting to define a precise release date: the game should have been released by the end of this year, but will have to face a postponement due to an increase. of work required to transform the game into an open world.

Witchfire was presented in 2017 at The Game Awards and then returned to show itself during the Summer Game Fest, but its release is not yet imminent.

Witchfire, an image of the game The Astronauts has in fact decided to make a clear transformation to the game, taking it from being a classic arena shooter to an open world shooter, which obviously requires considerable reworking.

Adrian Chmielarz, creative director of Witchfire and founder of the team, explained that the works have already been underway for a long time and should not take many additional months: "The feature is now 95% implemented and will make the game better. It was hard for me to think that players did not have this freedom before. Of course, you may still find yourself trapped by the witch at one point or another and some doors will be locked until you find a key, or it may be too dangerous to enter some areas close to the boss if you're not ready yet, "Chmielarz explained," But the world is large and open to exploration in almost any order, allowing you to advance and or retire at will ".

This is a significant structural transformation, if you consider the fact that, initially, Witchfire was intended as a closed arena shooter and now it should have an open and freely explorable. At this point we expect to be able to see it in more detail, as the team has promised new information and materials by the end of the month, on the occasion of Halloween, as well as a new release date in 2023.

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Witchfire's Early Access Launch Delayed To Early 2023

Witchfire has been one of the most promising-looking shooters since its reveal in 2017. The dark fantasy romp was slated to launch in early access later this year, but a shift in design has forced developer The Astronauts to push that launch into next year.


The Astronauts has decided to rework Witchfire’s arena-style combat into an open-world format. Creative director Adrian Chmielarz writes in a blog post that the change makes Witchfire a “better” game. 


“The feature is now 95% implemented. It makes the game better. It is kind of hard for me to imagine the player did not have that freedom before. Sure, you can still be trapped by the witch in this or that spot, and some doors will be closed until you find a key, and it might be too dangerous to enter areas closer to the boss before you are ready– but the world is wide open for you to explore in almost any order, and you can both push forward and retreat as you please.”


Chmielarz also teases more Witchfire news to emerge in the next week or so. It won’t be gameplay footage but rather content promoting the game’s art and world in some fashion. 


Witchfire blends gunplay with the supernatural as players wield guns and magic to fend off otherworldly threats. The game is set in an alternate reality where you’re tasked with hunting down a witch at the behest of the church. The Astronauts previously developed The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and the studio is made up of ex-People Can Fly employees. 


Witchfire is still slated to launch on PC via The Epic Game Store in early 2023. You can watch the most recent trailer from this year’s Summer Game Fest here.