Witchspire is the League of Legends Star Guardian survival game of my dreams, even if it needs a little more polish

Witchspire has lived in my head rent free for the past seven months. Created by Envar Studio, the team that brought us iconic League of Legends splash arts like Battle Academia Katarina, Project: Akali, and various Summoner's Rift map themes (including the current Demacia one), I instantly fell in love with the survival game's Sailor Moon-esque anime trailer and vibrant Ghibli-inspired aesthetics. While I didn't get to try it at Gamescom, I ranked it as one of my games of the show - a surprise given that the idea of spending hours cutting down trees and gathering resources sounds like my personal hell. But Witchspire's sprawling, magic-infused world, coupled with its adorable companion creatures and lack of Palworld-esque battery farming wormed its way into my soul, and I've been waiting for its demo ever since.

Featuring the vocal talents of Assassin Creed Syndicate's Victoria Atkin and Critical Role titan Matthew Mercer, you're cast as, well, a witch (the name Witchspire probably gave that away, huh?). Transported to a mysterious new world, it's your job to stem the corruption that appears to be tainting everything from the natural landscape to its adorable, often fuzzy denizens. The opening hours are the usual survival fare - craft a workbench, upgrade your weapon, build yourself a house and a hearth, and maybe even a witch circle. All in all, relatively standard stuff.

But where Witchspire immediately sets itself apart is with its Familiars. Akin to Palworld's Pals and, of course, Nintendo's Pokémon, your companions roam around the world with you, providing combat support and a whole lot of good vibes. I chose the mysterious Nightscribe Coven as my starting 'class,' meaning that my adventuring partner was Quol, an icy blue dragon-like creature that rains mysterious magical energy down on its foes. Armed with my trusty wand and a deep purple cloak that's vaguely reminiscent of Mona's from Genshin Impact, I head out into the wild in search of adventure and new Familiars. Look, let's be real, my focus was always going to be the creatures.

While gathering resources proves relatively easy (made even more simple by a magical, Runescape Dragonwilds-style sickle that easily chops down trees), the cracks in the game's combat start to show early on. I consistently managed to cheese higher-level encounters because the NPC's AI would bug out (it's the only reason I managed to acquire the much-coveted Chirili fluff in the first place), and midway through the final boss fight it simply stopped attacking. While this was great given how severely underleveled I was, it's not the most satisfying way to win.

But Witchspire's world more than makes up for the slight rockiness of its demo. Its softcore approach to survival (no hunger and stamina metres here) makes it far more accessible and, for me, more interesting. The theme of magic and wonder cohesively transcends all of its myriad mechanics, too - the Astral Projection system, which sees your witch create a copy of themselves to zip around and provide clear vantage points as you build, is a great touch, partly because it makes building more accessible, but also because it oozes high fantasy.

There are lore drops that hint at the state of the world, and pressing Z triggers different voicelines that help contextualize the action. Witchspire's worldbuilding is so strong, and that's something that a lot of survival games lack. Plus, who doesn't want to listen to Matt Mercer on repeat?

Is Witchspire perfect? Absolutely not. This is, to quote Envar, an "early look at the game." But what's there is exciting, and absolutely worth sinking a couple of hours into. The Witchspire demo is live now on Steam, and you can play the first island, Vyr's landing, with up to four friends. You can try it out here, and add it to your wishlist.