I hate the survival genre, but Witchspire may just change my mind

There are very few game genres I hate. I'm not a sports fan, for example, so while I'll happily cheer on the Texans during NFL season, you won't catch me playing Madden. Similarly, I'm not a fan of games that mimic real life; I want to roleplay as a magical spell-slinging mage, being a mafia don simply doesn't do it for me. But survival games are perhaps my least favorite of all. The idea of chopping down trees for hours on end while simultaneously managing hunger, thirst, and my own IRL sanity is an absolute chore, and even the most fantastical entries in the genre like Runescape Dragonwilds and V Rising consistently fail to hold my attention. When I learned that Envar Studio's debut title, Witchspire, was, indeed, a survival experience, my heart sank a little - the trailer was amazing, and the aesthetics are perfect, but could I overcome the aforementioned thirst, hunger, and depression? At Gamescom 2025 I sat down with head of studio Liam O'Neill and game director Oliver Granlund for a guided tour of Witchspire's magical world and, maybe, just maybe, I've found the survival challenge for me.

Envar's survival game thrusts you into a world that O'Neill says was inspired by the likes of Breath of the Wild, Studio Ghibli, and even Minecraft, with nods to the developer's Swedish heritage visible in the game's sparkling lakes and deep fjords. You're cast as a witch who's been pulled through various dimensions into another world by the titular Witchspire, a beacon of ancient arcane energy. In an attempt to reactivate the towering monument and get back to your real home, you'll uncover a mysterious corruption that's tainting the land, with the game's trailer showing an adorable little owl familiar transforming into a vicious, red-eyed predator intent on tearing you limb from limb. That's all we know at the moment, but it's easily enough to simultaneously ruin my day while piquing my interest - leave the cute li'l guys alone.

The stars of the Witchspire show, however, are its myriad creatures. Granlund introduces me to Chirili, a bright orange hamster-like rodent that zips around and, occasionally, breathes fire. Immediately reminiscent of Palworld, the duo stress that you won't be putting your companions to work in sweatshop-eqsue munition factories, highlighting that your journey is about growth together as animal and witch. Your pets will actively contribute to your base (heating up pots and running on wheels to generate power, for example) but the 'animal slavery' element that made Palworld so divisive has no place in the world of Witchspire.

These pets play an integral role in the game's replayability, too. "Every creature spawns with a rarity," O'Neill tells me. "One creature may just be a common version, there's nothing special about them (no offense to them). Then you can run into a rare, epic, or legendary, and they have different, randomized traits that they bring to the table. You can get some fun combinations - you can get a really, really aggressive version of a creature, for example. So even if you've found your favorite creature, you haven't found your favorite version." Catching all of the cute critters sounds good to me, so count me in.

But Witchspire arguably releases at a bad time. Throughout 2024 and into 2025 we've seen the survival genre begin to bloat, with direct competitor Runescape Dragonwilds also launching just a few months ago. Some of Witchspire's systems are reminiscent of Jagex's fantasy romp (you can throw a spectral axe to cut down trees, for example), but for me, Witchspire feels like a more polished fantasy-survival experience. It's all in the little touches - when you enter build mode, you astral project your witch onto a broomstick, which you can then use to survey your new abode from every angle. Similarly, you use an army of spirit pickaxes to tear through rocks and scavenge minerals, each of which makes a satisfying little 'clink' as its blade connects with the stone. Chopped down a small forest in your travels? Use your magic to instantly grow a new one. Where, for me, Dragonwilds felt like a basic survival crafting game with magic tacked on, Witchspire interweaves that sparkle into every element of its gameplay.

Similarly, Witchspire doesn't have thirst and hunger meters, or weapon durability for that matter. One of the banes of my Dragonwilds existence was that both bars consistently limited my exploration, and the grind to produce clean water and cook food felt at odds with the fact that I could conjure a fireball from literal nowhere or crack rocks with a thought. Doing away with those core systems may prove too radical for survival enthusiasts, but it's one of the reasons I'm so drawn to the game.

"When you talk about how you do survival without the drains [thirst, hunger, and stamina meters], that's where the map comes into play," O'Neill says. "Once you start getting a little more familiar with the game and when you get into the desert or tundra, these areas have more dangers, so you will have to craft particular gear and that particular gear might be a bit more limited - think of it like a radiation suit. But it's an active choice - you're there, and you're prepared now. It's about creating an incentive system, not a punishing one."

"We go into survival mode when you're exploring and adventuring," Granlund says. "We're not pushing those systems on you, but if you're pushing out into the world, then the world might push back. The sun is going to burn you in the desert, but there are caverns you can go through and gear you can craft. The player has those mechanics when they're ready to move up."

Witchspire, in my eyes, is somewhat of a cozy survival experience - a welcome halfway house between the harsh realities of pure endurance and blissful simplicity. "It's okay that the game feels similar to other games," O'Neill says, "it just has to have its own thing." Granlund describes it as a "gateway" for "Animal Crossing players who've been lured in by a friend who plays games like Rust," and that really is what it feels like.

Hardcore survival experiences feel a dime a dozen these days, and the more of them that exist the less interest I have in the genre. Witchspire feels like the makings of something new - something with real fantasy flair and a sprinkle of survival sparkle. I walked away from an appointment I had, quite honestly, been dreading, excited to see what comes next. Of all the myriad things I saw at Gamescom this year, Witchspire is up there at the top of my 'games of the show list' alongside my beloved Bloodlines 2 - and that's high praise indeed.