In v2025-01-10, dataminers discovered a commented-out block in the AI controller:
In the end, the title is literal. You are under the witch. And the witch is under NumericGazer’s gaze. And NumericGazer, whoever they are, is watching you check the version number one more time, wondering what changed. Under the Witch -v2025-01-10- -NumericGazer-
This article dissects Under the Witch not as a game, but as a : a closed system where every relationship, every power dynamic, and every emotional beat is rendered legible through numbers, timestamps, and deterministic logic. NumericGazer, the presumed lead developer, has crafted a work that sits at the intersection of BDSM theory, early dungeon-crawler RPGs, and software versioning as an aesthetic statement. II. The Weight of the Date: v2025-01-10 as a Manifesto Conventional game versioning (1.0, 2.1) implies progress toward a finished state. The ISO date format—v2025-01-10—is different. It evokes logs, patch notes, continuous deployment. There is no “final version.” There is only the latest snapshot. And NumericGazer, whoever they are, is watching you
This transforms the power fantasy. Traditional BDSM-themed games offer submission as performance. Under the Witch offers submission as : you are minimizing a cost function (punishment, despair, game over states). The witch is the gradient you descend. V. The Player’s Double Bind: Freedom Through Numbers Paradoxically, the game’s hyper-quantification enables a strange liberation. Because everything is tracked—every hesitation, every failed escape attempt, every time you kneel without being ordered—the player can choose to treat the interface as an instrument of optimization or as a prison. observed by an anonymous gaze
These are not features. They are logical extensions of the game’s core premise: that control is a function of information, and information is a function of time and attention. Under the Witch is not about a witch. It is about the architecture of submission—how a system of numbers, observed by an anonymous gaze, can produce the feeling of desire, fear, and dependency.