Witchspire (early access)

Witchspire is a game that has been on my wishlist for a while, so I was really excited when I got the chance to try it out. It's one of those games that immediately draws you in with its visual style and atmosphere. Although it is still in Alpha phase, it already shows a lot of potential, combining survival and crafting with cozy, fantasy themes and a beautiful interactive world.

At the very beginning, you choose your Coven, and that choice is not just cosmetic. Depending on the Coven, you receive different starting weapons (sword or wand), as well as a different character appearance. I chose Nightscribes, primarily because I liked their style the most and because this way I got a wand that helped me in ranged combat, which is especially useful when playing singleplayer and at a low level.

Character creation is currently not overly detailed, but it allows you to change the face, hairstyle, and eye color. For an Alpha version, that's quite enough, and I believe the developers will add more options before the full version is released.

After selecting your Coven, the next thing you choose is your Familiar, a magical pet that follows you during gameplay and assists you. The selection is diverse, so you can choose different companions depending on your own playstyle. I chose Fiena, a flying cat with the Nox element, while other starters like Quola, Brila, or Locta are also available.

After a short tutorial, the game introduces you to the basic controls, and the first goal is to level up your character. You quickly get acquainted with the crafting system where you build a Workbench, necessary for creating Verdantbloom Petals, one of the first healing items you'll use during exploration.

One of the most interesting systems in the game is Hearth, which serves as the center of your progress. By collecting resources and leveling up, you unlock Luminaries, a skill tree that offers a large number of upgrades. You can increase the damage of the weapons you use, upgrade your pickaxe, unlock new weapons, increase luck, get recipes for food, and much more. In this way, the game encourages you to level up and carefully choose skills that would help you the most at that moment. One of the best rewards for progressing comes after the fourth upgrade of the Hearth, when you receive a broom. Flying completely changes the exploration of the world as movement becomes much faster, more practical, and simply fun.

I particularly liked the build menu, which works in a way that your character stays in place while a hologram appears, allowing you to freely fly around the structure and place objects. This "out of body experience" approach to building feels very original and simplifies the whole process. Combat also left a very positive impression on me. The animations for using the Wand look great, and the Familiars add extra depth to the battles with their special abilities that have a short cooldown, so you use them often during combat.

The world of Witchspire is full of various animals and monsters that make the map feel alive and interesting. After defeating some creatures, you sometimes have the opportunity to bond with them and turn them into your Familiars, and the first creature I bonded with was Chirili.

What really sets Witchspire apart from many other survival games is the atmosphere. The visual style looks beautiful, the music during exploration relaxes you, but everything can change in an instant when you enter combat, and the pace of the game becomes much tenser. The sound effects, animations, and the design of the entire world give the impression that the developers have a clear vision of what kind of game they want to create.

Of course, it should be noted that this is an Alpha version. Bugs can occasionally be found, some systems are not fully developed yet, and there aren't many character customization options at the moment. Despite all these shortcomings, the game already provides a very fun experience and shows enormous potential. If the developers continue to develop the game at this pace, I believe it could become one of the better titles in the genre.

If you love fantasy survival games with crafting, exploration, base building, and collecting magical creatures, Witchspire is definitely a game you should keep an eye on. The game is currently available on Steam in two versions, namely Early Access and Founders edition. The first is available for €22.99, while the second will cost you a bit more, at €37.98, and will unlock new cosmetic items. Witchspire is currently not available on consoles, but the developer plans to release that port with the launch of version 1.0.