The arena shooter Witchfire is supposed to host an early access mode later this year, but now that’s been delayed due to a redesign most beneficial.

Witchfire’s early access will instead be out in early 2023, due to an upgrade. Instead of the close-quarter shooting you saw in past trailers, the game is getting an open-world fighting type structure. Developer The Astronauts creative director Adrian Chmielarz shared more details on a blog post: 

“The feature is now 95 percent implemented. It makes the game better. It is kind of hard for me to imagine the player did not have that freedom before. Sure, you can still be trapped by the witch in this or that spot, and some doors will be closed until you find a key, and it might be too dangerous to enter areas closer to the boss before you are ready—but the world is wide open for you to explore in almost any order, and you can both push forward and retreat as you please.”

The devs will share more details later this October.

“[E]xpect something nice in a week or two. Let’s call it Witchfire Halloween Week. It won’t be any gameplay footage or stream or such, but if you are interested in the story and the world and great 2D art, it’s going to be a treat.”

Check out the gameplay below, in case you need a refresher.