Bullet Witch

Bullet Witch

Developers
	Cavia
Windows	Marvelous
Publishers
	XSEED
	Marvelous
Release dates
Windows	April 25, 2018
Reception
Metacritic	51
OpenCritic	47
IGDB	59
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	North America, Post-apocalyptic, Supernatural

Bullet Witch is a post-apocalyptic supernatural third-person shooter game that was originally developed by Cavia, ported by Marvelous, and published by XSEED. It is the spiritual successor to the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex game for the PlayStation 2.

The original game was released in Japan for the Xbox 360 on July 27, 2006 and it was previously localized by Atari on February 27, 2007. Compared to the original Japanese version, however, Atari was charging players for all of the downloadable Concept Missions that were originally free in the Japanese version while lying about other changes for the game during localization. A PC version was later developed by Marvelous and XSEED, which was released through Steam and Humble Store on April 25, 2018. The PC version is based on the Japanese version, features higher resolutions and framerates over the Xbox 360 version, includes all of the game's downloadable contents, and implements a dashing ability that was initially cut during development.

The PC version received some updates to address some major issues such as facial animation errors after casting the Meteor spell, the game not working properly with Steam in Offline Mode, and restricted resolution options. Marvelous however has stopped supporting the game as of v1.05. The game also lacks dual-audio support and uses only the English dub, even in Asian regions, however, a Japanese voice mod by NSM53 PROJECT is available.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Publisher website
Humble Store		Available as DRM-free or Steam key, not both.
Steam

Version differences

The Steam version has Steam Achievements and online leaderboards, compared to the DRM-free Humble Store version.

DLC and expansion packs

All the extra costumes and Concept Mission DLCs from the Xbox 360 version are built-in for the PC version.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SystemSetting.dat <path-to-game>\BulletWitchLangauge
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/696180/pfx/

SystemSetting.dat stores general game settings. BulletWitchLangauge stores language settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\savedata\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/696180/pfx/

BulletWitchSaveData and BulletWitchSystem are the game's save game data files. BulletWitchRecord stores mission score data.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Configuration tool

General settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Ultrawide resolutions can be selected from the launcher, but in-game graphics will be stretched. The aspect-ratio can be hex edited to fix the issue, but the Steam version's DRM prevents hex edited executable from running.[citation needed]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Can be forced via GPU control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Referred to as "Soft Anti-alias". Toggleable on/off. Unknown what method of anti-aliasing is being used.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		On by default with no option to disable.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Option for 30, 60, 120, or Unlimited FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Input

Keyboard remapping

Controller remapping

Advanced control settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Some HUD elements still uses Xbox button prompts.
Mouse sensitivity		Adjusted from the configuration tool.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus		Mouse wheel can be used to navigate the menus, while left and right mouse buttons act as Confirm and Cancel respectively.
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Configuration tool when launching the game requires mouse input, however it can be disabled afterwards if desired.
Controller remapping		Movement and aiming are bound to left and right analog sticks respectively, and cannot be remapped.
Controller sensitivity		Handled through Turn Speed setting.
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers		DualShock 4 DualSense controllers are not supported without a workaround.
PlayStation button prompts		Some HUD elements still have Xbox buttons prompts.
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes	Wired, Wireless (Bluetooth)

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)		DirectInput controllers are also supported.
Additional button prompts

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sliders for BGM, and SFX/Voice.
Surround sound		Plays up to 5.1.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese				The PC version lacks dual-audio support and only uses the English voice-overs. Japanese Voice Pack by NSM53 PROJECT, download.
Korean				Korean translation patch by NSM53 PROJECT, download. Uses the Japanese Voice Pack for audio. Some elements are still in English.
Russian				Fan translation by «ZoG Forum Team».
Spanish

Issues fixed

Heavy stuttering during gameplay or freeze while loading game unless a gamepad is plugged into the system

This is caused by the engine incorrectly overpolling the USB I/O in Windows in keyboard and mouse mode.

Use x360ce
The Xbox 360 Controller Emulator can be used to emulate a virtual XInput controller without having to connect any additional devices to the system. This tricks the game into thinking a controller is connected, fixing the stutter (for as long as x360ce is open).

Plug a gamepad into the system
Issue does not arise if the game detects a gamepad plugged into the system. Keyboard and mouse can still be used to play the game as long as a gamepad is present. This may be complicated on Windows 7 and earlier due to XInput support issues.

Disable unused HID devices in Device Manager
Open the Start screen/Start menu, type devmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter. Select "Human Interface Devices". Disable all "HID-compliant consumer control device" and "HID compliant device" ("HID compliant vendor defined device" in Windows 10), and do not disable anything else. It is advised to re-enable the devices after the game has closed.

Unable to adjust vertical camera axis with the Right Joystick of Xbox Controller

This is caused by Steam's controller settings interfering with the game's native controller support.

Disable Steam Input Open the game's Properties settings. Enter the Controller tab. Then in the drop down menu, click Disable Steam Input.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-6300HQ 2.3 GHz		Intel Core i5-6400 2.7 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB		6 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	5 GB
Video card (GPU)	Intel HD Graphics 530 DirectX 9.0c compatible		Nvidia GeForce GTX 950

Mimimum requirements are based on the game running at 720p at 30 FPS.