Witchfire is a punishing first-person shooter with roguelike elements that I liked to describe as what a Soulslike first-person shooter would be like. Sure, the developer, The Astronauts, is calling it a roguelike, but it shares so many similarities to the Soulsike games we’ve all played for years that it feels like one. It’s the DarkSouls FPS I’ve always wanted.
In Witchfire, you play as a Preyer, a person who has special powers that get from Witchfire, which also allows the Preyer to level up in any way they deem fit, which is both a blessing and a curse if you plan on pushing your way past the hordes of enemies that want to move you down.
Below are a few tips I’ve learned from my playthrough of Witchfire, which will help you survive a little bit longer by not making the same mistakes I made when I first started playing the game.
Picking the right stats in Witchfire is key
Make your way to the Ascension Shrine in the Shrouded Hermitorium, which functions as the games’ hub. This is the only place (for now) where you can spend the Witchfire that you accumulate in the world. You’ll find Witchfire by killing enemies, which you’ll absorb, as well as crystalized chunks (small, medium, and large) that will fall from enemies or be found in chests.
At the Ascension Shrine, you can select from the following stats. I’ve numbered the ones that I felt were more important.
- Vitality (health) – 1
- Healing (how much healing elixirs will heal you) – 6
- Endurance (stamina) – 4
- Witchery (affects spell cooldowns and number of spells) – 5
- Metanoia (affects how much Witchfire drops enemies) – 3
- Luck (determines drop rate percentage) – 2
While each stat is important, I found it better to focus on three throughout your first few hours with the game. That being Vitality, Luck, and Metanoia, in that order. Pushing more Witchfire into your Vitality will grant you extra health but also extra healing elixirs, which is nice. The more health you have, the harder it is for the hordes to kill you, which is a win in my book. Once I made I had 150 HP, I started focusing on Luck and Metanoia.
With Luck and Metanoia, I alternated by pointing one level in each until both were at level 16. This gave me ample Witchfire from enemies, and drops such as crystalized Witchfire, keys, ammo, and more were readily available. Of course, you can do as you wish, but this benefited me just fine.
Then, after that, it was on to Endurance and Witchery. Since I focused on getting my weapons upgraded, I ignored Witchery. But once the guns were doing enough damage, Witchery was a good supplement, as there are helpful offensive and defensive spells. Just like with Luck and Metanoia, I alternated until I was happy with both stats.
That leaves Healing, which won’t be as important if you have a healthy amount of HP. But it does help the amount of healing that the healing elixirs will do. At first, they don’t heal for much, and healing in Witchfire is a heal over time and not instant, which doesn’t help in the middle of a fight. This is another reason I would instead pump points into Vitality first.
If you ever get lost in thought on which stat to do, it should always be Vitality. Anything that helps keep you alive is a good thing.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
While you’re leveling up your Preyer, keep these things in mind. First, whenever you level up a stat, the cost to upgrade the others will go up. Secondary and, more importantly, as you level up, things will get more challenging. The Witch, the end-game boss that’s not available to fight in the Early Access but is present, will toss more things at you the more you level up. From harder enemies, events, and more.
Witchfire is currently in Early Acess and only available for PC on the Epic Games Store.
