Despite a lengthy development period, Vampyr finally becomes available for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, alongside several reviews about its gameplay and story.
Unlikely Developer For The Genre
Dontnod Entertainment, the game developers responsible for the episodic adventure title, Life is Strange, follows a different approach for its newest game. Unlike the former, which showcases a narrative-driven gameplay, the latter is an action role-playing game.
Fans can recall that its last attempt at an action-oriented title was Remember Me, a poorly-received 2013 title published by Capcom.
This time around, the team refocuses its efforts to create a gothic horror video game that blends equal parts of an immersive story with a balanced mix of action-RPG elements.
The game throws players into the shoes of Dr. Jonathan Reid, a surgeon renowned for his work with blood transfusion. The story's conflict begins when the good doctor, unfortunately, becomes a vampire himself.
Development Details And Combat
Vampyr runs on Unreal Engine 4 and flows at a steady 30 frames per second. Players encounter a maximum of four enemies at any given time, which even hardly causes a hiccup with its frame rate.
The combat system, however, does not offer anything new to the genre and needs a bit of improvement.
Gamers should note that enemy units respawn after the player rests in a hideout. Moreover, as the protagonist moves up a level, so do the enemies, just like other role-playing games such as Final Fantasy VIII.
The game developer has listed it as an action-RPG, however, its gameplay mostly centers on investigation and conversation to prod the narrative forward. It boasts a comprehensive system wherein NPCs have a deep background story and relationships that can affect the outcome of some missions. Ultimately, the player makes the decision on who lives and who dies.
A lot of gamers point out that from the start, the game encourages players to take the easy way and kill people. To make it even more tempting, it awards gamers with loads of experience points with a single murder, which is quicker than the small increments Jonathan earns minus dead bodies everywhere. Overall, it gives players a chance to make moral decisions throughout its gameplay.
Feedback And Verdict
Vampyr has drawn mixed reactions from several gaming publications. Seemingly, most of them recommend that gamers should give it a try. Other than its combat mechanics and volatile conversation choices, which can ruin hours of effort with a single wrong response, the atmosphere and narrative give players more reason to unravel its mysteries.
Dontnod Entertainment proves that it is capable enough to branch out to other genres and come up with an immersive gothic horror title.
