The new shooter from the creators of Painkiller 'is much closer to Souls' than Doom, and it finally has a release date

pcgamer.com:

I've been looking forward to Witchfire for a long time—since way back in 2017, in fact, when it was first announced. As I said when the most recent gameplay trailer was revealed in March at the Future Games Show, it's all about the pedigree: Witchfire is a supernatural FPS from The Astronauts, the studio founded by former members of People Can Fly, best known as the developers of Painkiller and Bulletstorm—two shooters I like a lot. (Especially Painkiller.)

There's been no Painkiller since Painkiller—multiple sequels have followed but they've been increasingly weak and in some cases downright embarrassing—and so when Witchfire presented itself as a sort of loose spiritual successor, I was immediately snapped to attention. The more I've seen since then (and admittedly, it hasn't been much), the more eager I've been to play it. And this fall, I'll finally have the chance: The Astronauts announced during today's Summer Game Fest that Witchfire will go live in early access on the Epic Games Store on September 20.

«The thing that excites me the most in videogames is the idea of experiencing different worlds,» studio co-founder and creative director Adrian Chmielarz said. «To be a space pirate, a detective with supernatural powers, or a church’s witch hunter. It doesn’t matter to me if the game is focused on the story or on the mechanics—I need its world to feel like a real place. So even though Witchfire is obviously a shooter first, we invest a lot in its world and lore. I believe this enhances the experience even for the people who claim they don’t care about the stories in games at all.»

I'm not really big on lore in my shooters, but I do appreciate that commitment to place. The levels in Painkiller are completely