Warding Witches

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• Announcements·8 Aug 2026Official

  Warding Witches at gamescom 2026

  Absolutely THRILLED to announce that we're going to be at gamescom this year! THE gaming event of the world!! BULLET HELL ON THE BIG STAGE, BABY!We're going to be in the Indie Area, that is Hall 10.2, Booth E051g, as part of the Games/Bavaria booth alongside other excellent games from my home state.I bring a lot of merch! Some you get just like that, for the collectible cards, you'll have to manage to beat the demo (and put yourself into the leaderboard). Don't worry, you can do it, I promise!You can play my usual exhibition build, which is about the extent of the demo that's currently up. So don't be too sad if you can't make it, you can try the demo at home!At gamescom though, I'll bring with me the full Stage 2 and Stage 3 for you to have a sneak peek if you've played Warding Witches before! And maybe I'll put in some of the Arrange Soundtracks too, let's see. Of course, coop-gameplay with other convention-goers is always super fun. ːsteamhappyː(Footage from POLARIS 2025)We're closing in on release. It's not going to be this month, but make sure to Wishlist and Follow to get the newest news and not miss when the game releases! Also, it helps a whole bunch ːsteamthisːHope to see you around, come by say hi we'll talk shmups, witches, and have a good time :)
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• Community & Events·15 Jun 2026Official

  Steam Next Fest June - Warding Witches DEMO OUT NOW!

  Hey everybody!I'm so excited to have you all get your hands on the game!What's Warding Witches?Warding Witches is my love letter to shoot 'em ups (shmups) of the arcade era, particularly Bullet Hell shooters. While the adrenaline, franticness and beauty of it is preserved, it features some modernized design choices so as to not only bring fresh wind for the veterans, but also appeal to newcomers. Try it out!Should You? (Yes!)Veterans can dive straight into the high stakes Arcade Mode and get crackin' - if you want, on one of the higher difficulties. The gist with Warding Witches is that there's no bombing mechanic - instead, the Witches have different defensive workings at their disposal, which are tightly interwoven with your gameplay and all systems and mechanics.If you're new to shmups, don't fret - all kinds of gamers and non-gamers have played Warding Witches at exhibitions already and most of them managed to clear the demo! You've got this. Story Mode is the ideal point to start into it for you, as you'll grow stronger with time and effort. My love letter is for everyone to experience, at least that's my hope.It's even got the local Coop mode available if you have a friend nearby!The Road so farAbout half of stage 2 (and all of Stage 1) can be played in the demo, so you'll get 3 unique boss encounters already. Of course, in the main game, it will be quite some more - I'm working on it tirelessly. Here's a sneak peek at Stage 3. Can you guess where it is and why they're there?In the demo, you'll get an idea of how the story begins.What to do now?Wishlist if you haven't!Follow for updatesJoin the Discord Server!The Demo is live for a limited time, have a go at it!See you around!- Sonorode
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• Announcements·14 Mar 2026Official

  Warding Witches Devlog #02 - Catching Up!

  Hey! It's Been A While9 months since the last devlog. That's... a long time. Let's catch up. The Publisher SituationYou’ve probably seen it already - I’m with Headup Games! We announced our collaboration in October 2025. Very happy with them so far, they’re lovely people who are passionate about indie games and help me out a lot. On the other hand though, I'm being held accountable which is stressful at times. But it helps with getting the witches on the road!Convention Tour 2025After GG Bavaria 2025, Warding Witches went to LFG-Con, LEVEL Up Salzburg, Connichi, the German Shmup Event, POLARIS, MAG-C and, again, GG Bavaria (2026). That’s a LOT of conventions!Highlight: Someone COSPLAYED as Willa at MAG-C! 😍Instagram: @yozora_cosplay It takes out a lot of development time, but interacting with people, from shmup newbies to superplayers, seeing players regardless of gender, age and background vibe to the music and the gameplay is so rewarding. Shmup never dies! Development ProgressHere's what's actually done:Core system and mechanics: The code base is mostly done (famous last words). The game transitions stably from one screen to the other, including logic (score holdover, death, etc.). Shot limits, upgrades, variable option counts, enemy behaviour, event triggers, and so on - everything works!Stage 2, the burning village, is about half way done - mostly to show it off at conventions. Stage 1 is mostly done already.Multiplayer mode is fully functional! I’m trying for it to not be just “tacked on” - there are no lives in multiplayer mode. Instead, if both players are dead, the game ends. But if only one player is dead, the other can revive them by successfully using their defensive skill to build up the revive meter. It get’s incrementally harder the more often you die! The combo/chain system is implemented - it’s called Hexlink! It rewards killing and defending, and it stales if you do either one too much consecutively, rewarding varied gameplay and resource managemen...
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• Announcements·18 Jun 2025Official

  Warding Witches Devlog #01 - It begins!

  Hey everybody!Welcome to Warding Witches, and thanks for tuning into the first ever devlog. As there's already quite a bit to the game, this one's gonna be a bit chunkier! Let me know in the comments if you'd rather like lengthy logs or smaller (but more regular) ones.What Kind of Game is Warding Witches?I'm not gonna bore you with marketing speech or elevator pitches - keeping it real in the devlogs. Being a composer (for video games, but also EDM) as well as an avid shmup-head, it's been one of my dreams to compose the soundtrack of a shoot 'em up - long story short, Warding Witches was born.In my head, it's the "this soundtrack comes with a sick game!" kinda deal. You know, being a musician first, and a dev... 43rd. ;)Shmup (shoot 'em up) is a genre which I'm exceptionally passionate about, and as such am confident in designing it in a proper yet modern way.It started off as a hobby project in 2024 and would have stayed under the radar until I eventually released or was close to releasing it. Of course, that is most different now - more about that later.Setting & CharactersWilla Willa is a young witch, specializes in warding work - adept at defending herself and others with wards, shields, protective circles. She is joyous, curious and confident. Orphaned at a young age, she lives outside of a village together with Talia.Gameplay-wise, she cancels bullets outright with her defensive spell, while sporting a wider shot spread to cover large areas of enemies.TaliaTalia, while appearing younger than Willa, is suspectedly quite older. She raised Wanda since Wanda was a little child, and has not aged on the outside. Specializing in temporal workings, Talia manipulates time itself to slow down bullets or locomote seemingly instantaneously. She is enigmatic and reserved.Gameplay-wise, Talia is more difficult to use as she doesn't cancel bullets, but offers a higher skill ceiling as her spells can be used more often, longer, and in various situations. Her shot is a classi...
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