RiZ3R! Posted October 6, 2019 Posted October 6, 2019 INFORMATION Vampyr is an action role-playing video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Focus Home Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 5 June 2018, and will launch for Nintendo Switch in October 2019. The plot relates to how Jonathan Reid, a doctor who has turned into a vampire, comes to terms with his undead condition as he is torn between the Hippocratic Oath and his newfound bloodthirsty nature GAMEPLAY Jonathan Reid is a doctor with a particular interest and expertise in blood, giving his transformation into a vampire a splatter of dark irony. The caring helper of the sick and protector of the weak is still in him, but so is a ravenous monster with an all-consuming desire to drain the crimson, life-giving nectar from his patients’ bulging, fleshy necks. It’s a deliciously evil and original premise for a vampire story, and frequently forces you to make some genuinely tough decisions Here’s the thing, though: that nurse might not be as honest as she seems. There’s an investigation element to Vampyr, with Reid uncovering details about the lives and interconnected relationships of the people he encounters in the cosy pubs, dingy slums, and foggy streets of London. The game is set in 1918, in the wake of the First World War and during a Spanish flu epidemic, which makes your bloodlust even more disturbing. These people’s lives are bleak enough without worrying about random vampire attacks too. I love this simulation aspect of Vampyr: learning to live with the curse, blending in, choosing when to feed, who to spare. But it’s the bits inbetween that disappoint. For every fleshed-out NPC there’s an endless parade of vampire hunters and feral vampires to kill in dull, repetitive combat sequences. You carve through so many of these guys that it cheapens Reid’s struggles with violence elsewhere. And the combat feels weightless, twitchy, and unsatisfying, with the floaty, frustrating third-person camera frequently getting stuck in corners and on bits of scenery, obscuring the action. In its favour, there’s a decent variety of ways to fight, from using melee weapons and guns, to more exotic vampire-related powers such as hurling spears made of blood at people and viciously clawing them to shreds. But these parts of the game are rarely more than passable, and their existence is actually to its overall detriment, feeling like a tiresome distraction. I can’t help but think that Vampyr would have been much better if the story and simulation elements were left to stand on their own—which I think they easily could have. There’s a lot of interesting, high concept stuff in Vampyr, and I love how Dontnod has used the tropes of vampire fiction to create a simulation of life as a vampire. London makes for an atmospheric setting, with buildings looming ominously through the fog and a dark, oppressive feel to the cobbled streets. But it feels like a game at odds with itself, veering wildly from compelling, dialogue-driven storytelling, to flat, uninspiring action, and back again. I never really fell in love with Reid either, a grim, relentlessly self-serious chap whose charisma seems to have been sucked out of him along with his humanity GAMEPLAY TRAILER
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