Salem-inspired WITCHHUNTER.exe is coming soon to Steam

Solo developer Noah Dundas announced that WITCHHUNTER.exe is coming soon to Steam. This "haunted" horror visual novel explores themes of religious violence along with the fear of otherness that fuels it. It's been styled as a forgotten text-based adventure game from the 80's and features elements of psychological and meta-horror to emulate a demonic entity haunting the game that sees beyond the screen and wants to claim the player’s soul.

The core gameplay of WITCHHUNTER.exe features a rich dialogue combined with the character art of visual novels. These are then paired with classic dungeon-crawler that's inspired exploration and combat mechanics. It results in a brief but dark story that contains branching paths and multiple endings. In a statement, developer Dundas revealed that players can look forward to about "4-5 hours of playtime."

In the game, players take on the role of a local priest assigned to a remote village that's been beset by the Devil. They now have to lead a witch-hunting inquisition and investigate five women who are suspected of practicing witchcraft. Players have to track down and interrogate each of these suspects. They'll be using brutal witchcraft tests that's inspired by real inquisition practices. After that they can then decide which characters are spared and which burn at the stake.

The thing is, no matter what players do, it appears that the Devil is always watching their actions and choices. The Devil whispers to the players all throughout the game and attempts to sway their decisions and convince them to spare the suspected women from the pyre. How the player reacts to this strongly affects the course of the story.

Choose the Path

In the game, the decision on who is innocent is all up to the players. That means they get to choose who is innocent and who gets tied and burned on the pyre. They'll have to explore branching paths and discover the root of evil as they interrogate the residents of the village and decide their fates. It's important to remember that not all of them still have souls.

That's not all. Because fear, distrust, and paranoia run rampant. In addition, few are willing to submit to the interrogation willingly. Players can talk peacefully to people to earn their cooperation or have the option beat them into submission. While non-violence is always an option, the inquisition has always had quicker ways of extracting confessions.

For those ready to discover the horrors, wishlist WITCHHUNTER.exe on Steam now.