Vampyr Review

Sucking the life out of everything….

Vampyr is available now on PlayStation 4 Xbox one and PC, it is a semi open world game with rpg elements and it’s developed by Dotnod Entertainment. These are the guys that brought us Life is Strange.

Vampyr starts off with the main protagonist, Dr Reid waking up inside a pit filled with death. It throws you into a scene that should really be a decision you make but it isn’t and from there it lets you loose in a dank dark London that begs to be explored.

First off London is an excellent location to place this vampire action rpg. London already has a dark and twisted history. Set just after the war, you get to see first hand the effects of the Spanish Flu. An airborne killer that ended up being a global pandemic in 1918. You also have to deal with Dr Reids insatiable appetite for blood.

There are a few different mechanics at play here, when fighting you can bite your enemies to fill your stamina meter and some well deserved health. I played the game on normal difficulty and I felt it was a perfect blend of challenge and strategy.

Fighting plays out like The Witcher 3, but Dr Reid feels clunky and inexperienced. Sadly, even with experience the combat never feels tighter later in the game, just slightly easier due to your vampire abilities. The combat is pretty standard for these types of game and that’s ok.

Visually Vampyr is a mixed bag. On one hand it has some really great looking moments with seriously good lighting in a dank locale. Certain locations like the hospital look stunning and certain characters are detailed and well animated. Alas the characters that offer side quests are the ones to lose out with less detail, worse lip syncing and less care taken on their skeletal animation. It’s more of an annoyance than a game spoiler, but it definitely makes the difference. Certain environmental objects suffer with minor texture pop in and on the PlayStation 4, the game suffers with framerate and what seems to be frame pacing issues.

Sound wise Vampyr is also a mixed bag. At one end of the scale some characters are voiced well and as a result, I felt connected to these characters throughout. Other characters not so well and for me, well it took me a while to get used to the main character’s voice.

At first I hated it, it felt so emotionless and dull. As if it had been voiced by someone that didn’t even know the circumstances they were in, in the game. This was especially the case in the first mission as Dr Reid should have been totally devastated and instead he comes across as not really that bothered, I felt no pain in his voice. Other characters in the game show pain really well, this is especially important in this setting.

Vampyre oozes in atmosphere though. Putting the voice work aside, Vampyre offers you large sections of a desperate London that no games have shown before. It shows the rat infested cesspit that was London back in the day and it does this exceptionally. I searched every area of the game for the various hidden collectables and to meet new characters. Meeting new characters after all has a twist, you can drink their blood and reduce them to a pile of skin and bones. Doing quests for people will enhance their blood for a better quality tipple. Some people are just filthy which makes their blood no better than raw sewage. It is a cool mechanic that will make you think at least once as without killing anyone, the game ends up being a more difficult affair.

I personally didn’t kill a single person as it felt morally wrong, I did go around killing rats and sucking on crazies necks to stay alive. I know I am being purposefully vague with some of the characters and this is just because I hate spoilers, no matter how small.

Above all else, what really matters is how the game plays. Honestly Vampyre plays well. It isn’t perfect by any means, but I never felt hindered by any momentary bug, glitch or in game mechanic. Everything for the most part felt smooth, from the quest line to the character interactions and menu system. I never felt out of my depth and was never confused about what to do next. The game also offers a lengthy campaign with ample side quests.

Verdict

Overall Vampyr is a mixed bag, it excels in atmosphere, story and location, but it lacks high polish in both the voice acting and visual department. It offers a really solid experience besides its issues and it houses some interesting game mechanics. It may not be the best action rpg style game out there, but it is the best vampire game currently available on most platforms. It also offers something fresh in what some may say is a stale genre.