G-Star Indie Awards and Burning Beaver Award Winners
The first challenge of the two-person development team ‘Snake Eagle’
* KILL THE WITCH *, a hardcore 2D pixel action platformer developed by domestic indie game developer SnakeEagle, entered Steam Early Access on February 18, 2026. This game, which boasts a high level of difficulty despite its cute graphics, has garnered a lot of attention from the domestic gaming community and the indie game industry even before its release.
Humanity that gave up on happiness, a witch with a baseball bat
Set in a near-future, apocalyptic world where humans have been reduced to “insects” by a super-intelligent AI, Kill the Witch tells the story of Yona, a baseball bat-wielding witch who bravely fights enemies. The game’s worldview can be summarized in a single sentence: “A time when humanity, having given up happiness to avoid unhappiness, has become insects.” The game’s key, unexpected charm lies in its philosophical and weighty themes, wrapped in adorable pixel art and charming characters.
The gameplay revolves around three basic movements—movement, jumping, and rolling—plus two unique systems: the “Home Run” system, which launches enemies into collision with other enemies, and the “Transformation” system, which activates by filling a gauge. Behind this seemingly intuitive and simple control scheme lies a level of hardcore difficulty the developers themselves describe as “enjoyable suffering.”
The early access version consists of two stages.
The game consists of six stages, with the current Early Access version allowing players to play through two stages. In particular, the second stage features the “love”-themed boss character “Nana,” which sparks a full-scale battle and a turning point in the narrative.
The development team plans to actively incorporate user feedback during the early access period to improve the game’s quality. They will then continue to enhance content and improve systems, aiming for an official launch in the first half of next year.
G-Star Indie Awards and Burning Beaver Win Two Awards
Even before its Early Access launch, “Kill the Witch” had already garnered industry recognition. It participated in major domestic game exhibitions such as G-Star and PlayXpo in 2024, winning the “Creator’s Voice” award at the G-Star Indie Awards and the “Burning Beaver of the Year” award at Burning Beaver, garnering attention from both users and industry insiders.
The “Creator’s Voice” award is directly selected by developers participating in the G-Star Indie Showcase, and is given to the most impressive work in the eyes of fellow developers. The “Burning Beaver of the Year” award is also a prestigious award given at Burning Beaver, a domestic indie game festival. Both awards are significant in that they are based on evaluations within the development community. It is particularly unusual for a small, two-person development team to win both awards simultaneously.
User reactions are a mix of anticipation and concern.
Immediately after its Early Access launch, the game achieved a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam, with a 73% positive review rate. While this is a decent start considering the early stages of Early Access, the community response is a mixture of anticipation and concern.
The core of the positive response is undoubtedly the impact. Users who tried the demo version early on commented, “The impact sound and reaction when sending enemies flying with a baseball bat are impressive.” Many gamers also found the contrast between the cute visuals and the harsh difficulty level to be part of the game’s appeal. However, some users pointed out typos and grammatical errors in the dialogue, and some expressed concerns about the game’s completeness in the early access stage.
The Korean indie game community has been highly interested since the demo days. At the time of the demo’s release, there was a lively exchange of specific technical feedback on the DC Inside Indie Game Gallery, including concerns about frame drops and judgment delays during the first boss’s second phase.
2-person team Snake Eagle: “Early Access is not the end, but the starting line.
Snake Eagle is a two-person team led by CEO Oh Yoo-seok, along with a developer, a composer, and a sound designer. While small, the team actively communicates in English and Japanese through Steam communities and X (formerly Twitter), working to secure a global fan base.
The developer sent a heartfelt message to the Steam community upon launching Early Access: “SnakeEagle is a team of just two people: one developer and one composer. While being a small indie team has its drawbacks, it offers two unique strengths: the ability to take creative risks when we deem it appropriate, and the ability to see projects through to completion with relatively limited resources.”
Their funding method is also noteworthy. Snake Eagle has been communicating directly with fans through Tumblbug crowdfunding, offering various merchandise rewards like illustrated posters, acrylic keychains, and pads. Their decision to self-publish without a major publisher is also a decision to maintain their creative direction.
“Kill the Witch, ” with its distinct personality and level of completion that’s hard to believe was created by a two-person team, is currently available on Steam for 15,500 won, but will be available for a 10% discount for two weeks after release, dropping to 13,950 won. For more information, visit the official Steam page.
Steam Store Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2878760/KILL_THE_WITCH/
