We are a small independent game developer located in Warsaw, Poland. Before The Astronauts, some of us worked on games like Painkiller and Bulletstorm.
Our latest project is Witchfire, a dark fantasy first person shooter set in an alternative world in which witches are real and very dangerous – but so are you, witchhunter.
Our first game was a weird fiction mystery titled The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. The game has won many awards, including BAFTA, and we sold over one million copies. It’s available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Click here for more details.
Multiple studies have found that when asked “good news or bad news first?”, roughly four out of five people prefer the latter. So let’s get the bad news out of the way.
We have to split the Witch Mountain update into two parts. The first part, called The Brewing Update, will be released on December 19th, next week. The second part, still called the Witch Mountain Update, will be released early next year, as soon as possible.
Why?
Let me offer this summary of events:
After the Steam Early Access, we started the work on the Witch Mountain.
We also wanted to include other cool things, like Alchemy.
Mid-dev, we realized we had a new, better idea for the Witch Mountain.
We switched to the new design and pushed hard to still make it on time.
Despite our best efforts, ultimately we had to admit we needed more time.
What to do? Delay everything or release a smaller update now?
We chose the latter.
It was not an obvious decision. We researched extensively to understand what makes a good Early Access update. What we found wasn’t surprising: people love content. What was surprising was what people consider content: new playable areas. We’ve seen with other games that players react most positively when updates include new levels, zones, regions, and the like. New gameplay features and even new gear or enemies were well-received, but not quite as exciting.
Ultimately, we decided to go with the smaller update even though it doesn’t include any new territory to conquer. We’ll see if it was the right move, but our motivation was simple: to give you something to enjoy during the holidays if you’re craving more Witchfire. After all, you’ve never fought the Ogre on the beach before…
Is the Witch Mountain delay worth it? Is this new idea for it so much better?
The honest answer is we don’t know. But that’s what makes it exciting. Because it’s terra incognita.
The original Witch Mountain was supposed to be a series of caves, each cave protected by the true version of the Familiars. See, the Familiars you’re fighting in the Scarlet Coast or the Irongate Castle are only weak echoes of true, more powerful bosses. These bosses guard the lair of the witch, and the idea was you had to kill them all in order to get to her. One notable feature was that once killed, the True Familiar would stay dead forever.
In other words, imagine a boss rush kind of level, with a series of caves full of hard encounters against more powerful versions of the Familiars. Conquer the Witch Mountain and you’re now facing the witch herself.
The problem is… you’ve played that before. If you soloed any Destiny 2 dungeon, or if you fought Bulletstorm or Borderlands or Doom bosses… you already kind of had that experience.
And there is nothing wrong with that, of course. Soloing Crota’s End on hard is probably in my top three gaming memories ever. It’s just that Karol got an idea for something very much different. Karol is the designer who brought you Prophecies, the Tower, the Prophet boss, and the Cursed Arcana — so you know he’s not short on creativity.
The new idea is risky as hell, but our internal tests and plays show that it can be fresh and exciting. I do not want to oversell it; it’s not that we are revolutionizing first-person shooters or anything—but it is something I have never experienced in Witchfire before. Here’s a teaser image that will tell you absolutely nothing about it, as it’s just the entrance to the [redacted].
We are working on this new version of Witch Mountain all the time, but even with a heavy crunch, it would not be ready in time. We are close, but we need a bit more time. We want to release it as soon as possible; it’s going to be all hands on deck after we return to the studio after the Christmas/New Year break.
But, as I said, and now it’s time for some good news, that update was to be accompanied by a couple of cool new things. And we’ve decided not to delay them and indeed release them next week, on December 19th.
Here is what’s coming.
Alchemy
Remember The Wishing Table from the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales? There’s now one in the Apothecary in the Hermitorium. It refills your potions and ammo each time you return from an expedition. Yep, no more potion crafting.
But potions and ammo are just the basics. For anything fancier—say, if you want to inhale something that improves healing abilities—you’ll need to use Alchemy. Find recipes, obtain ingredients, and craft your chosen incense. Use it before the expedition to enhance various healing features.
Hermitorium Moods
A feature promised some time ago, and now about to be delivered. Time stands still in the land of the witch, but the Hermitorium is free of her influence. Experience different times of day and night…and the mood that depends on how the expedition went down.
There will be a few small bonus surprises, too.
Boss Reshuffle
Preparing for Witch Mountain, we have now put the Familiars where they belong. The Galley Slave now rules the Scarlet Coast, and the Dimacher guards the Castle. The Shieldbearer becomes…you’ll see. All Familiars got updated with new moves.
Gear Pack
As always, new toys to play with, including two new weapons.
And here is the summary image:
Last but not least, December 20th is our last day at the studio this year, and then we see each other back on January 7th. I and my two co-founders feel that the team deserves this extra break for all their hard work so far. And I will finally have the time to play Cyberpunk 2077, yay!
Since The Brewing Update releases on the 19th, we only have one day for patches or hotfixes, which isn’t enough. That’s why we’ll be releasing a beta version on Monday or Tuesday for those who want to enjoy it earlier and help us find bugs. Details coming soon.
Yes, but closer to release. It’s very simple: things change all the time, I keep rewriting descriptions and notifications and other text. Maintaining all those changes in multiple languages would take time I’d rather spend developing the game. But rest assured, Polish will be among the languages supported. We will probably do a localization pack anyway.
