Vampyr is unlike anything I have ever played before. It has all the dialogue and character interaction that comes with previous Dontnod entry Life is Strange but it mixes in a Dark Souls light style combat and a deep RPG system. I remember watching previews of the game and being worried that it was too ambitious, but I am happy to report that for the most part, the game is a success.
The story is set in 1918 and you take control of Jonathan Reid, a doctor who has just returned from the war and finds himself as a new-born vampire. The plot thickens as the first thing we see is the good doctor having a munch on his sisters neck. This is followed by a police foot chase while Jonathan tries to justify what just happened in his head. After a frantic start the game settles into a slower pace as you come to terms with the recent changes in your life.
The game world is split up into four main regions. The Docks, Pembroke Hospital, Whitechapel and the West End. Each region has sixteen characters that you can interact with. They all have unique personalities and motivations in the world. Talking to one person can open up hints and new dialogue options with another. This gives the world a realistic feel and makes you consider the consequences of your actions.
Each region also comes with it’s own pillar of the community. This is the most influential character in that particular region and someone you will be forced to deal with directly during your time with the game. Morality is a big feature in Vampyr. Throughout the game you and the 64 characters you can interact with have a mesmerise level. Anyone who has the same or a lower mesmerise level than you can be embraced (killed) for XP.
If you decide to be a good little vampire and not take the lives of those around you levelling up will be slower, thus making the combat in the game more difficult. As there is no traditional difficulty setting when you start your adventure, so this is the route anyone looking for the toughest challenge should take. Speaking of difficulty, I have heard many mixed thoughts on the toughness of the combat.
Personally I found it pretty challenging for about the first third of the game, then after doing a fair bit of levelling up I suddenly found myself overpowered, even in boss fights. This feeling of being the ultimate vampire and brushing aside all in your path is really cool and adds to the enjoyment of the game. Unfortunately right at the end a sudden difficulty spike set me back to square one and then some! I expect the end of a game to be a challenge, but the difficulty went from a 2/10 to about an 7/10 at a moments notice and it felt out of place.
That brings me on to a few gripes I have. This could be fixed with a patch, but the game suffers from the odd performance issue. If you spend a lot of time sprinting around the map you will regularly be hit with a loading screen. This would be ok if it was reserved for when you moved into a different region, but it can happen at any time. It’s the game trying to catch up and load the direction you are heading in. The loading screen can appear from anywhere between two and ten seconds and really takes you out of the experience.
You may wonder how often you will actually find yourself sprinting around the world. Well, quite often as it happens. In a rather strange move the game doesn’t offer any sort of fast travel mechanic. I can’t say this ever became a massive issue as the world is pretty small by 2018 standards, but later in the game it would have been a nice option.
While aspects of the story are well told and unfold in a mature and believable way, there is the odd time a relationship with an NPC changes or the story advances and you are left wondering if you missed an entire scene leading up to the change. This can also happen in terms of story progression as well. For the most part the story is told well, but there is the odd juxtaposition.
Trophy wise it’s a strong list. An excellent blend of story related, side quest, random interactions and one based on the way you play. Vampyr doesn’t have a difficulty setting as I stated earlier, but what it does have is a trophy for completing the game without embracing (eating) any of the NPC’s you interact with throughout the game.
You would be forgiven for thinking this was some sort of stealth related trophy but that isn’t the case. You still have all the normal combat encounters in the game and can kill all enemies, you just can’t dispose of any of the 64 main characters within for the XP boost they provide. This leaves you under-levelled in most encounters and provides a more difficult experience. Having now finished the game taking liberties with some of the citizens of London I am now restarting to do a no kills run in search of the platinum trophy.
Vampyr is a unique and special game. It is rough around the edges in parts but there is a charm factor that stays throughout the 20-25 hour play time. Dontnod have a real knack for story telling adventures and this attempt at branching out into something more is in my opinion a big success. I recommend everyone takes a look that this one!
-Craig ✌️
*A review copy of this game was provided by the publisher
UPDATE: After finishing my second play through and getting the platinum trophy I have a few things to add. While on first run the game is 20-25 hours long, if you choose to do a second run to mop up trophies you can expect to get through it in about 10 hours if you skip the dialogue.
I had also mentioned the issue with the game loading at just random times as you roam the world. When trying to speed through the game this happens much more. It can be a real pain, especially as you have to run between locations because there is no fast travel.
Finally the difficulty spike I had talked about at the end. This is way more dependent on your load out than I initially thought. When I got to the final encounter on my second run I had chosen different powers and breezed through the fight.
