Alright, this is the kind of game that steam reviews don't necessarily mean much for. One could aptly describe Witchfire as "Destiny as a soulslike" and in those four words you'd get a very good idea of whether or not it's the game for you. There are light rogue-like elements but only so far as randomizing enemy positions/types, and the bonuses you get for clearing enemy encounters but the former is there to stamp out some repetitiveness and the latter can be very effectively manipulated from as early as your second expedition, so if you're shying away from this game for some reason related to randomness this is a sign you should give it a try. The guns feel phenomenal, and the balance is so good that the weakest weapon and the strongest weapon are only marginally different, allowing you to play around with various combinations and playstyles, trying what sounds fun to you without nerfing yourself by any metric. The sound design is excellent, and the artstyle is consistently beautiful throughout. Every enemy has just enough attack variety to keep you on your toes without feeling overwhelming, and their telegraphing animations are all very fluid and readable. If you're paying attention, you should always know exactly what's coming next. The progression feels really nice, difficulty increases are left to the player's discretion on when they happen, be that through raising your Gnosis level or exploring new areas. This game is a labor of love and it really shows, from the sounds to the art to the balance to the map design, you can feel that there was a consistent developer vision throughout.
Now on to my negative thoughts: There are times when you can be left wondering where to go next, but that's honestly a very minor gripe that feels kind of like picking a problem to be upset about. There is no fast loadout swapping/presets, making it a bit tedious to experiment with multiple new things at once, or have multiple sets of weapons and spells to use together. My biggest complaint is that I would love to see some choice in the progression tree for weapons, like a "this or that" choice between two bonuses for the third level of each weapon, though that is a contributing factor to how well balanced the guns are with each other, not to mention how much additional work it would take to design, code, and balance extra options like that.
I haven't experienced any issues of major bugs/glitches, in my currently 63 hours I've had exactly 1 crash and exactly 1 bug of an enemy walking through a solid object once. This game is not in early access because it runs horribly or is unstable, and the dev team regularly communicates exactly what they're doing and when, so if seeing EA scares you off, give it a chance.
This game is something quite special, and I wholeheartedly recommend it as the highest standard of what a singleplayer game can and should be.
