Witchfire, from the minds behind 2004 shooter Painkiller, has been available in Early Access on the Epic Games Store for about four months now. In Witchfire’s dark fantasy universe, an unspeakable evil has taken power and is encroaching on the player’s world, forcing “The Church” to compromise its principles and enlist sinners who are willing to fight with pagan magic, gunfire, and any other means at hand—at the cost of their souls.

It might not be a game for optimists, in other words.

Instead Witchfire—which launched in Early Access on September 20 and is exclusive to the Epic Games Store for the coming year—is a roguelite for those who like poking and prodding at systems while working up to a powerful mastery of a difficult world. Each “expedition” (run) through Witchfire is procedurally generated, but the most important components of player progression are preserved for the next foray into an unholy realm.

Witchfire’s long-anticipated “GGU Update” is now booked for February or early March. Adrian Chmielarz, founder of The Astronauts, recently noted that the studio rode a kind of development high in the two months after its Early Access debut, then slogged through a refractory period as the studio—comprising 12 developers—contemplated what the GGU Update should address.
 
“It’s not like we stopped coming to work or anything,” he wrote January 11. (The most recent Witchfire update released in November.) “But … you cannot be in a state of flow or ecstasy or hyper-excitement without eventually paying the price.” Chmielarz compared Witchfire’s September launch to five cups of coffee, and then beginning the really hard work of the GGU update to a post-lunch crash and burn that we can all identify with.

Here are the biggest changes you can expect in Witchfire’s GGU Update.
 

The Calamity System

The Calamity System has been the most controversial design feature of Witchfire to-date, and therefore the one that is most difficult to balance. Calamities happen when the Witch, the ultimate evil directing the playing space, works black magic to assault the player at their most vulnerable.

If you survive a Calamity event, the loot and progression rewards are very worthwhile—but at the moment Witchfire deploys Calamities when players, especially newer ones, are at their weakest and most unable to repel them.

Witchfire calls itself a Soulslike, which is supposed to tip off the player that this ain’t supposed to be a walk in the park. But it’s also never fun to be blindsided by an overwhelming mob without knowing why it happened. In a developer diary back in December, Chmielarz acknowledged that such ultimate moments should not appear out of the blue. The Astronauts are going back to the drawing board to give more structure to these game-altering events, so that players at least understand when the excrement had just hit the metaphorical fan.

In the current build, Calamities arise from several game conditions, which Chmielarz shared:

• Low health
• Lack of Healing Elixirs
• Collecting a Cursed Treasure
• Being spotted by a Warden
• Collecting a Crystal
• Destroying a Trap
• Running from combat (that is, exiting the arena)

“The idea was: The Witch is aware of you but she waits with her most powerful curse—the Calamity—until you’re at your lowest,” Chmielarz said.

“If you played Witchfire, you probably had a moment where you got cocky for half second […] then enemies from another arena close in on you, you change direction and stumble upon a Warden [a higher level threat] so you start panicking and then, boom, Calamity,” he said. In other words, the massive challenge that a Calamity represents should be foreshadowed.

Chmielarz likened the ideal Calamity to the progression of an Indiana Jones action sequence. Events go from bad to worse, and desperation forces the hero to deal with impossible threats. If they survive, they get the rush of knowing they beat the odds—plus a lot of sweet, sweet loot. The difference, Chmielarz says, is that such moments build steadily, if they aren’t altogether predictable.

The GGU update will provide more visibility to players as they get close to triggering a Calamity. Chmielarz referenced the Heat level in the Grand Theft Auto series, for instance. Witchfire may not show players the actual meter to let them know stuff is about to go down, but it will give stronger clues and make it more apparent that the longer you go, the more likely you are to trigger the Witch’s wrath.

“We have an idea, a direction, and it doesn’t seem like implementing the new Calamity system is too complicated or time-consuming” Chmielarz said in December. “Not saying it’s going to be easy or quick, but it’s not a complete mystery.”

Starting classes

At present, Early Access players of Witchfire run through the game with a standard loadout and set of attributes. In November, Chmielarz said Witchfire will introduce starting classes that prioritize certain attributes (and diminish others, of course).

Starting classes will also have different weapon loadouts at the beginning. “Some of them you’ve never seen before,” said Chmielarz.
 

New enemies

Witchfire’s GGU update should also bring a new enemy type to the arena. The Astronauts are calling this unit a “druid” for now.

Canonically, they aren’t exactly aligned with The Witch. They’re former spiritual leaders who are “reduced to crawling and decay,” and therefore are “easy targets that attack only up close and personal,” according to Chmielarz.

Druids are a kind-of onboarding enemy, and though they are slow, they deal lethal damage if players let them get too close.

 

Rebalancing the level-up

In Witchfire’s ongoing development roadmap, Chmielarz said that how the player levels up is due for a change.

“We’re not killing the feature,” he said back in October, “but it certainly needs both rebalancing and a new approach.” Leveling progression will be more connected to the player’s accomplishments, particularly if that comes against overwhelming odds. “We know how to do it and the whole thing will be the subject of a future blog post,” Chmielarz said.
 

In the beginning…

The Astronauts have rather consistently told Witchfire’s Early Access community that the game’s opening hours could use more than a little touch-up. As it stands now, players launch into a hub world that does not have much explanation—and for total newcomers, not much use either. Then they step through a portal to take on their first expedition, and it’s pretty much just the player and a single gun versus a lot of undead.

“Why not give the player three guns to choose from?” Chmielarz says in the roadmap. “Should the player have a spell right away? We are looking for answers to these questions and more, and we will keep on improving the initial hours.”

This doesn’t mean players will have access to all of the toys or powers Witchfire offers right out the gate, but spells would connect players more to the game’s lore without warping what is an intentionally difficult game.

 

Map expansion

Irongate Castle, one of the maps available as players progress through Witchfire, has teased inquisitive players with a fully meshed torture chamber area that is so far unused. On January 10, Chmielarz said this space would be brought into the main game.

“[N]ot only will this place be playable in the GGU, but will also feature a fantastic surprise,” he said. “Actually, it’s one of the most exciting things that we’re adding to the update. As always, that’s all I can reveal until we venture into hard-core spoiler territory.”
 

What the heck does "GGU" mean?

In the note to players published on January 10, Chmielarz said, “because of a certain…thing, we’ve decided to call this first update the GGU, where U stands for Update, but GG is kept secret for now.”

So, you’re not alone in wondering what GGU stands for, or even references, and The Astronauts are likewise clear they aren’t telling. Perhaps Witchfire’s first big content update will let everyone in on the secret?

Witchfire is being built with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 and it is available exclusively on the Epic Games Store in Early Access. The most recent version is 1.10.48090.