Vampyr

It's imperfect but pretty good. Kind of a less obtuse but ultimately less good pathologic

I really enjoyed it. The story, the atmosphere, the music and gameplay.

Only downside was the ending. That could've been done better. Also, how your gameplay affects it. You're aren't allowed to kill anyone (not even the bad guys) to get the best ending. That's a bit disappointing. Ravaging the baddies in purifying self-righteousness hence is a no go. Too bad.

Other than that it's a nicely made game.

Good game with interesting story. Very good voice acting. There are a few niggly bits that might make you a little crazy. There can be delay in button presses and the game but these can be overcome. There are a few shoehorned interactions that just feel... odd. But over all I'm very much loving the game.

Such rich story and innovative gameplay.

A good game marred by design mistakes.
Alt+F4 if you don't want to commit to a dialogue. Auto-Save usually occurs when you walk through a door.

Story & Lore are okay (6-7) but cut short when they got good.
Dialogue is great but weighed down by the hint system imo (8).
Combat is fun (7-8), other gameplay systems not so much (3).
Style & Visuals are good by my standards. Sound / Atmosphere were also good.
Overall solid 6/10.

Seems like devs wanted every run to be different, but went about that in prohibitive and annoying ways.

Main gameplay gripe with thematic spoilers:
Damage dealt/taken is heavily affected by your level relative to the enemy's level. Used more intentionally, this would be fine; It's probably supposed to make you feel the sacrifice of refusing to drink. But in my opinion, all this actually does is punish you for investing points in what you want.
You gain one level for each point investment, but some things cost 250-1000 while more interesting options cost several thousand. If you're fasting the whole game, things will randomly destroy you because of this, and I don't think it's even intended. Conversely, if/when you decide to feast, all difficulty will be gone.

Vampyr is one of my favorite games on the steam store right now because of how original the concept is and its environment. Set in 1918 London, you play as the world's predominant blood transfusion specialist who also happens to become a vampire (lmao) working to bring an end to both the outbreak of Influenza and a much more mysterious Vampire epidemic.

What makes Vampyr special is its unique morality&leveling system, which forces you to constantly grapple with the the temptation to feed on the citizens of London (both as story-driving points and in the open world), each of whom has their own story, relationships, and role in the city's fragile ecosystem. Feeding grants you immense experience points, making combat easier, at the cost of the city's overall health. Choosing to resist your vampiric urges keeps the community stable, but it leaves you weaker, making each decision feel more impactful and personal. To get the most out of "embracing" characters, you have to whip out your detective cap and explore the city, as doing so leads to discoveries that enhance the game's story, context that allows you to make more decisions during major plot points, and (most importantly) experience gained from citizens you choose to feed on.

The game's atmosphere is equally compelling, immersing you in a dark, foggy, and disease-ridden London. The haunting soundtrack, moody lighting, and detailed environments perfectly capture the bleakness of the time while also adding a supernatural aspect that keeps you on edge. Every alley and shadowy corner feels mysterious, pulling you deeper into the world.

The combat takes some getting used to, as sometimes the controls can feel janky or unpolished, but these issues are relatively easy to ignore if the game otherwise compels you.

I'm more than happy to recommend this hidden gem of a game, and wholeheartedly think everyone should keep it in mind when looking for their next purchase.

Great RPG game set in dark and gloomy early 1900s right after WW1.
London is still dealing with the lack of proper resources, funding of facilities, and as if war injured patients weren't enough, now the doctors (including our main character) have to deal with an outbreak of influenza, slowly evolving bloodthirsty creatures of the night roaming the disheveled streets and alleyways, and their loved ones praying to live through it all...or at least be afforded a proper burial and not end up in a mass grave.

First of all, the graphics and overall setting and mood of the game are splendid and immersive. The rainy British weather and gameplay happening only during the night only add to the truly unnerving and harsh vibes of the game.
From wet docks with cargo ships, city streets and passages that haven't changed much since the dark ages with exception of more steel gates and printed warnings about quarantine or colourful army draft posters on every corner, to flooded and mossy sewers and underground tunnels and lastly the rich headquarters housing elites in their own mansions, lit up by the signs of nearby theatres or accompanied by restaurant and shopping venues.

The game itself is VERY dialogue and NPC interaction heavy and it's those dialogues and actions that affect our progression the most. Discovering detective-like investigations for the citizens and even doing our job as a Good Doctor and curing fellow London inhabitants, to keep up the districts' health and safety meters up.
...Or learning more about the people to get more xp from embracing them and speed up our character levelling up at their cost.

About character progression: The game REALLY prioritizes taking responsibility for your actions and choices, auto-saving often and having permanent follow-ups.
The major npcs remember and are aware and affected by what you did, especially harshly on a dark "killing spree" route.

The game purposefully slows down character levelling on a good route so even you, as a player feel compelled or at least VERY TEMPTED to embrace a citizen or two..
Or all of them. After a few they just come in like Skittles, really.

It's fully up to you if you choose to go on a high xp and max level bloody embrace streak, watching districts fall into chaos and their streets fill with harder and bigger amounts of enemies and citizens that weren't embraced go missing or die for other reasons...Or you play through the game as a *Good Doctor On A Mission To Fix The World*, and sacrificing your fast progression and nearly endless power, you watch the districts thrive as enemies are lesser and citizens' illnesses less frequent or severe....Good luck fighting the "bigger bads" of the world though.

There's no fast travel in this game, so wherever you need to go, you'll be forced to deal or at least run past the hostile (or not) "consequences" of your choices.

About fighting: The combat mechanics are pretty good. Nothing crazy, nothing boring.
A bunch of melee and ranged weapons and abilities that can be levelled up, altered or modified to your liking and preferred fighting style.
Enemies have their weaknesses and resistances, attacks that can be dodged or predicted if timed correctly, and bosses have fight "phases" based on the amount of their health.
Consumables are crafted the same way as remedies for the citizens and used as syringes to boost hp/stamina or replenish blood.
Blood being a resource for self healing and ability usage, an equivalent of mana of sorts, the tasty kind your stunned enemies are FULL of :3

You can't really get the best of the best weapons out there on a good playthrough, but since enemies scale around your level (a lot of them will ALWAYS be equal or higher than yours, whether you're lvl 9 or 29, to keep up a consistent challenge.) You won't need them as much, and the ones you find exploring around the world can be levelled up to pretty powerful ones aswell.

Exploration is also VERY WELL rewarded and valued.
Whether it's for investigation quests, crafting materials, medicine recipes or finding safehouses to rest in.

The game events aren't real time limited, and the day only ends and progress, aswell as the consequences, take place only after you rest.
And resting is the only way you can level up yourself or unlock new abilities, so can't have one without the other.

Lastly, honorary mention to an AMAZING romanesque castle ruins and a nature setting for the epilogue, reminding me of games like "Plague Tale"...Which also had the same OST Composer!
The eerie tracks keep the player tense and on edge, or safe and warm depending on the district and area they're in.

Great game, the ending story-wise was a bit rushed and could've taken an extra quest or two to summarize and wind down better, and the combat is target lock-based which also proved a bit unintuitive or slow to "trigger" during fights with more enemies.
Those flaws aside, solid 9/10!
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"What is darkness but lurking sun? What is wall but enslaved stone? What is glass but tortured sand? What is song but a call to arms? What is hate but jilted love? What is life but death pending?"- Hardest quote i've ever seen a game start off, i knew it'll be a good one from that line alone.

The game is very good but was a few years too early i think.
The concept: The XP system is used on making the "rigorous" choice, or choosing to become stronger and changing the game with HUGE impact. this is balanced pretty good. but honnestly most players will choose to go all good/bad all the way. Which on handside is pretty sad because it is excecuted very good. This game was developed before the soulslike hype, but playing without any benefits really feels like playing a soulsgame.
The game could be improved by adding a lot more UX info. The weight of the bad/beneficial choices should be a lot more obvous. in the end game i tested a safefile, and from going lvl 26 vs 35, to 50 vs 30, it was an extreme difference. I had some moments that i was tempted to do the bad thing, but if they added a bit more on an empathy choice it might have worked. therefor the game might have been developed a bit before adding good facial expression.

For its time its great. Even every different skill on gameplay, but due to putting most of its "temptation" on dialog which is skippable since there is a lot of it, it should've needed some UX on what your LVL does to your normal gameplay. If this had a modern version i could've been a really big hit i think.

minor complain; expept for the bloodyroots achievement, it's fast auto-save, its so easy to scew up and make you miss a very strong passive-weapon in game. the punichment even while doing the pacifist playthrough is so significant, we dont wanna do a full restart for that.

I didn't expect a game to captivate me that much. Oh boy, Vampyr sure did manage to do that. I didn't expect anything, really, but I was more than bamboozled to be hit with such a scrumptious Storyline and such great characters.
Sure, the game has its flaws, them either being bugs or unused/dropped story assets, but even with those things in mind, this game easily took its place in my top 10 list.
Really hope Don't Nod would either remaster it (and perhaps pick up some of the scrapped ideas, which are already partially available in the game anyway) or even make a continuation. It doesn't even have to be with Jonathan or Elisabeth as the protagonist, but perhaps with a new young Ekon.

I'm having such a fun time with this game playing from the couch with a controller. The atmosphere is perfect, and they got voice acting for every single dialogue line which is kinda crazy, so it feels very immersive. I really love running around shithole London on dark and rainy nights.

The combat on normal difficulty is surprisingly brutal. Enemies move fast and track extremely well, so you have to be sneaky, smart, and careful (or you can just eat a lot of people and get buff). You can just get absolutely stomped even by lesser mobs.

In between combat sections it's a lot of dialogue, investigating crimes, snooping around people's private matters, spying on citizens, pilfering their loose change, and being a real hypocritical arsehole to everyone I meet (I ate a patient only last night, who am I to act so righteous?)

There ARE a few bugs. including some progress blocking ones, which is insane that those haven't been fixed in all the years the game has been out. So far I've managed to get past them all with a bit of googling. Get it on sale for sure!

Was a good game with interesting mechanics. End game was a little let down as the story seemed to build up for a different ending.

Can recommend for the general story though.

good story
side quest its okay
fighting overall its overall but could be better
skills its pretty cool
but the i hate the most is how horrible the map is

Playing as a vampire has never been so fulfilling.
I liked everything: the dark atmosphere of the city, the plot twists (especially with the Jonathan's sister) and the choices you have to make during the game. Music in this game is especially great.
The only thing I didn't like is moving around the city (it would be better if we could instantly move from one protagonist's shelter to another).

You’re a doctor turned a blood-thirsty vampire. How will you save lives now that you have become death?

• Combat system and enemies that don’t scale to your level.
  
  This is by design. Do not buy this game and expect a hack and slash. If you are underlevelled, and you WILL be if you go pacifist, you will need to learn the enemies’ movements and adapt accordingly. Before this scares anyone off: The enemies are never at a Dark Souls level of difficulty. Swarms of enemies are particularly difficult, however. Split them up, use the environment. Or invest in skills that target multiple targets. For reference I did a pacifist run without much difficulty, and I’m by no means a hardcore player. Your main source of XP will be helping citizens and/or eating them. It will be hard at times, but you are supposed to feel tempted by the blood – that is the entire crux of your vampire existence. If this pull between humanity and monstrosity isn’t interesting to you, if you don’t like being challenged a little, you won’t have much fun with Vampyr.
  I also want to say I’m not particularly good at building characters, but I found the levelling system in Vampyr to be intuitive and engaging. You also get a free re-spec so you can explore the different abilities in early game. Try new things, find your combat style and have fun!
  
  
• No fast travel.
  
  This is so you are forced to fight enemies between areas. Often after completing a main quest the enemies in the area will change to higher levelled ones. This is meant to be frustrating and make you plan out your levelling. During the main-game this was a fun challenge, but whilst doing the side quests it got irritating and repetitive. I recommend talking to all citizens in an area, then do the side-quests in bulk. This way you minimize the amount of back and forth you have to do. That being said I would have loved if fast travel was unlocked, if not only right before the final boss. This way the player is encouraged to explore one last time before being locked out of the main area.
  
  
[*]Map design.

Especially frustrating because you can’t fast travel. I often got lost. Sometimes a single door to an area will be open, and no other. You get no pointers on which door to access either, just the final destination. On the flip side this can lead to interesting exploration, but sometimes it won’t. This wasn’t bad enough to scare me away, though. Most times there’s a logic to where the game wants you to go (using main roads, finding the gates close to hideouts, paths being «blocked» off by more than normal high enemy levels etc). If all else fails, there's no shame in looking up walkthroughs, but stay away from main quest spoilers!

It's ok, the vampire theme with the London 1918 vibe is actually very cool, but I felt like running in circle and I became bored of the dialogues with his unbothered voice.

Game is pretty good, the gameplay is pretty inovative but it is plagued by issues:

- You constantly run into issues where you have to search how to proceed with the sidequest. There are multiple progress breaking bugs that you have to do a little dance to work around.
- Running around since the game has no fast travel is frustrating.

This game would be a perfect match for a remaster.

I really wanted to enjoy Vampyr, but it ended up being a frustrating experience overall. The map design is one of the worst aspects of the game. It's confusing and unnecessarily convoluted, making navigation a total chore. On top of that, the lack of a fast travel system is absolutely maddening. Having to run back and forth across the map repeatedly, especially with its maze-like layout, quickly drained any fun I might have been having.

The XP system is another huge letdown. You need XP to level up your skills, but the process feels like a grind. What made it even worse is how you lose all your blood after dying in a boss fight. This means you have to run around farming blood again just to have a chance at beating the boss. It's an exhausting and repetitive cycle that completely kills the flow of the game. Instead of feeling rewarding, leveling up and preparing for fights becomes an annoying chore.

The one saving grace of the game was its story, which I’ll admit was interesting and kept me engaged to some extent. The narrative had promise, but the gameplay issues overshadowed any potential the plot had to shine.

In the end, while the story was okay, it wasn’t enough to make up for how frustrating the rest of the game was. I honestly can't recommend Vampyr unless you're extremely patient or willing to overlook the serious flaws in its design.

In the shadowy realm of Vampyr, I found myself enthralled by the macabre beauty of this gothic horror RPG. As I delved deeper into the streets of 1918 London, now plagued by the undead, I discovered a world rich in atmospheric tension and moral complexity. The characters, much like the citizens of our own world, were multifaceted and intriguing, with their own dark secrets and desires. It was as if I was navigating a twisted love story, where the lines between right and wrong blurred in the moonlit fog.

The game's focus on player choice and consequence allowed me to explore the depths of my own darkness, to indulge in the taboo and the forbidden. It was a liberating experience. If you're ready to immerse yourself in a world of shadows and desire, then Vampyr is the game for you, Just be prepared to confront the darker aspects of your own nature, for it's embracing the unknown that true freedom lies.

i couldn't WAIT to uninstall this game. god this is one of the most frustrating games for 2 main reasons, one self inflicted and one by design.

first, as brought up before, the lack of guidance via minimap/quest directions/fast travel made me run around the map for hours trying to get things done.

while this was the biggest time-drain, the worst are these ANNOYING enemies that don't scale to level. to preface, i chose to do a no kill run, and that wasn't an issue since all these bosses are a joke, but THESE NPC ENEMIES in SWARMS in the endgame (SPECIFICALLY MORGUE INSULIN QUEST) had me dying for HOURS. it doesn't help that the combat is clunky and the autolock never works how you want it to.

im so glad i never have to play this game again, the story wasn't even that good and the romance is such a random blindside addition, it feels out of place.

This game is sick, really underrated game. If you want something different and you like Victorian horror vibes (Like Lies Of P environment) You'll like this a ton. Hopefully we get Vampyr 2!

(Its 200% worth it on sale as well)

I finally beat this game. I've had it in my library of games for a while, and i have some thoughts.

Mood is great. Music is great. Theme and presentation.

But there are so many odd things, and you can tell it's a quite old AA game. Combat sucks. Controls suck.

Dialog is....stiff and awkward. Most exposition is delivered in anywhere between 2 and 5 line bursts. It's all very strange.

I'd recommend it, but only on sale. It's fun and cool, but I feel like it kind of missed the mark.

Great atmospheric game with good storyline, but marred with frustrating bugs such as the inability to complete key side quests. What is the purpose of playing a game with trophies where major bugs prevent you from getting those trophies? Good riddance to this game...time to move on.

I started a two-hour game challenge, where I play every unplayed game I have for two hours. I have over 100 games on Steam alone to play/review. I figured I would leave my two-hour review impression after each session. (Session #1)

This was my first game for the challenge, and it certainly put me out of my comfort zone. It made me dizzy and anxious at first, but I managed to level out enough to keep going. I reduced the mouse sensitivity to zero, and it still was overwhelming. I don’t know if it’s intentional to add to the gameplay or just me. I chose story mode. It was slow for the first hour as I was taking everything in. I wasn’t sure how much I would get into it, but I can see myself revisiting this game. It has a skill tree system that seems easy enough to understand. I didn’t get enough materials to try out the crafting or upgrade weapons, but it seems interesting. I have a slow playstyle, and there were plenty of shinies to pick up. If you're a Doctor Who fan then you won't mind that The Doctor is always running.

It's certainly a good game, but unfortunately gets too repetitive towards the end. It kept up an interesting and immersive story for the majority of the gameplay for me, but the magic waded away in the end. Part of the problem is that all of the later bosses are patience tests, with not much changing the pace. And finally, I hate the camera, I want to fight the enemy and the environment, not the camera!

Story rich and the graphics appeal to me a lot. I like the victorian era with its style and manners. Oh yes and i like vampiers. We all have 'this thirst for blood' that we tone down by playing the game. Jokes aside the game is very fun.

The game is really good and definitely fun to play. I like choice-based games and this was definitely one that I enjoyed. I am currently on my second playthrough and I am trying to get all the achievements.

The fighting mechanics are a bit janky but all in all it's manageable and once you learn the fighting mechanics, the game can be very easy. Some of the boss fights can get pretty tough if you are not prepared though (talking from experience xD).

I don't usaully play horror games but this one was really good and I really liked playing as a vampire.

This is a tricky one to recommend, as I really enjoyed it but also gave up on it several times over the course of the game. The main thing to be aware of is that there is a LOT of combat in this game - some of it frustratingly hard, which really slowed the pace of the game for me. Which is a shame, because there is some great non-combat gameplay too: meeting characters, exploring London, performing medicine on citizens (or choosing to embrace them as a vampire). You do get to make significant choices throughout the game, and the sections of the city will respond to your choices up to and including being completely wiped out. The music is great, the world is intriguing, and the feel of the world kept me coming back. Just be aware that if you're looking for a story driven game as DONTNOD are known for, be prepared to do a lot of fighting by the end of it.

If you like biting, clawing, sucking & slashing then this game is definitely right up your alley! But be careful which dark 19th century London alley you venture into though... because not all is what it seems. On a more serious note this game is a masterwork when it comes to creating a dark story driven atmospheric game.

The music, the voice acting, the backstory of all the protagonists, citizen quests, vampire lore & each district with it's distinctive feel all contribute to that. It's a very grim, dark atmospheric game but with a deep tragic story behind it if you take the time to read all the collectibles and finish all the main & citizen quests.

The game had great visuals and voice acting, but gameplay was awkward and repetitive. Navigation was frustrating.

This is a STORY DRIVEN GAME! NOT AN ACTION DRIVEN GAME! First of all, Vampyr was a much better game than I initially thought it would be. It's very, very slow-paced, so it requires a lot of patience. You're going to be talking to people A LOT. But that doesn't mean it's bad. Some people won't have the patience for it, but I did. I very much enjoyed the voice acting, so listening to tons of conversational dialogue was not much of an issue for me. The pacing of the game is definitely something to mention in any sort of review of the game, though.

The primary characters, particularly Lady Ashbury and Jonathan, are definite highlights, bringing depth to the story. The voice acting and atmosphere really immerse you in the world, making it a great experience for fans of vampire lore.

The story, while not perfect, kept me interested, especially with the surprising reveal of Jonathan's maker. The game also lets your choices matter, affecting the outcome and adding a layer of depth to the experience.

One minor gripe is the repetitive combat and the awkward romance subplot. However, these are small issues in an otherwise solid game.
I'd rate it about a 7.5 out of 10. It's not a perfect game by any means, but it was interesting with good voice acting, good graphics, and relatively fun gameplay. The story was fairly decent, but it's the script, in my opinion, that is one of its strongest components. Most of the dialogue is so well-written. It's funny because even though I say the script is done so skillfully.
. Despite its flaws, Vampyr is a game that offers a unique experience worth trying out.

This is an excellent vampire game. But the game navigation system is irritating. Because there is no mini-map only a navigating compass. Navigating Compass is good if the game is completely open-world, but this game is partially open-world.
Need NPC location marks on the main map because finding the NPC after the first meeting is difficult. The game SFX and the music are too good. It's created the perfect horror feel.

A story set in Victorian England, with all the characterisation and writing all very much 'Austen-style'.
It is not every day where I see a game that depicts Victorian speech, dialogue and setting so very well, more importantly, the way the characters interact with each other makes me think that - yes, we are in Victorian England. In that era, 'physical distance' is strictly adhered to, in fact, even now, the British still maintain a clear physical distance to another, just by looking at Dr Reid's movements, his distance to another, especially one of the opposite gender, hints that he is close to her.

The romance is pretty well-done, for one set in Victorian England, if you are hoping for a 'passionate', declare your feelings to the world type of romance in a Vampire RPG, much less a Victorian RPG, this is not for you.

Vampyr is one of my favorite games, captivating with its gothic, 1800s London setting, foggy streets, mysterious characters, and a haunting soundtrack that perfectly sets the tone. The protagonist, Dr. Jonathan Reid, is torn between his oath as a doctor and his new vampire nature, creating a fascinating duality that drives the emotional depth of the story. The biting mechanics is both enjoyable and meaningful, as each choice impacts the narrative and the city around the player. The moral choices and their consequences kept me engaged - Vampyr is an immersive gothic tale and enjoyable vampire experience with a richly crafted dark world.

Okay I just beat the game I have to say I enjoyed every last bit of it!
while the combat was a bit clunky with a horrible targeting system that jumped from one enemy to the next every time I locked on, I think the atmosphere is dark the world building is incredible and the music is moving.

overall cool vampire game, we honestly need more vampire games like this. hope for a sequel :)

Good plot..... Bad decisions like the lack of fast travel really ruined it for me. Not to mention that the ingame map is not detailed at all and mostly just shows the streets which leads to even more running around trying to get to get to where you need to be.

Great game! Great graphics, great story!

las peleas no me terminaron de convencer, la historia es buena, pero bueno mucho tiempo del juego corriendo de aqui por alla si queres completar las historias de los secundarios.
A pesar de estos detalles, lo recomiendo por su historia, muy interesante protagonista.

So, at first the gameplay was a little wonky and completely understanding the games universe was confusing. But the setting and story keep you going. After a couple of hours you become hooked, entangled in a mystery in another time. Slowly you pick up the mechanics and completely fall in love!!! This is a very unique game and called for mechanics not ordinary to most games and a beautiful job was done! Kudos, hopefully they will continue with the story in another game!!! 10/10 Keep'em coming!!!

A flawed but fun game. The enemies are kinda samey, but they can still surprise you (I hate the jump attack). This has the issue of I choose and option that has 5 words of text and I completely misunderstood what was going to happen. I really wish this game had a save scum mechanic because the alternative is to start over again once you make a mistake. Do not do the pacifist run your first time, you will miss out on a large portion of the game, just be sure you want those NPC to die.

Love the story line. Graphics are great.

I recommend you play on easy mode / story cause it's hard, the story is more than fine, I'd say this is the best vampire game so far and at this time. i had to play it, now I'll let you guess where I'm from so you understand why i had to play this game, Dracula's Castle is located in my Country.

Love the concept and deserves a sequel to improve some of the mechanics. We need more solid Vampire rpgs!

After playing BioShock and Dishonored this feels like a similar game that kept moving into that goth ascetic. Add some detective game play elements and a sort of light side/dark side options and you got yourself a good time.

story of a telltale game, but combat that's clanky and jank, with items that were used carrying over between deaths.

Soulslike with intrigue and great roleplaying. Gorgeous besides bad facial animation.

Pros:
- good RPG mechanics
- a combination of modern and classic representation of vampires (still, no bat transformation sadly)
- good story
- characters are well written, with strengths and flaws
Cons:
- enemies are levelling up with you, making progression feel like a necessity to not be overwhelmed by increasing health bars and greater damage outputs
- lost oportunity for stealth mechanics, as a vampire you should be the master of darnkess and shadows, but sadly all encounters and combat is forced into "brawls"
- although the story is good, it could have been improved especially towards the end, where the game tries to keep it more cryptic and then shoves some answers in your face via character dialogues (they could have gone with more investigations as gameplay loops)

Overall a good game. But as a personal taste, I would have liked a few improvements here and there (mentioned above).

It's an underrated good game. There are bugs and animations stuff that happens that I would like them to be fixed. Needs a bit of a touch up. Solid game nonetheless. 6/10.

TL;DR: 8/10, worth every penny. Amazing characters. Makes you feel like a posh British after the game with an appetite for necks and fight half of London with a tea cup.

Yeah, the story can be summarised in 5 minutes, although that would be a punishment to the developers because they put quite a lot of effort into the game. My first run took me a while because I was running around aimlessly, but it felt good exploring nonetheless.
The characters are very memorable, some not so much, but the majority are worth revisiting. So much so that I found myself finding clues for them and went back to them to understand who they really are (and trust me, there are some really good plot twists).
Fighting is good and simple, no crazy gimmicks and you'll easily find your combo of preference until the end of the game.
Crafting system is mid, too simplified, maybe no effort at all, so for those who don't care too much about this you're good. But for those who love farming and then crafting, well this is "no bueno".
Now, there's these annoying things called collectables, well, lemme tell you something...you're gonna need at least 2 runs to do everything. The game explains carefully that your actions have consequences, and oh boy, do they. I was lucky enough to be the "lost" gamer to find everything on my second run, and then started a 3rd run to do an achievement right at the beginning.
Also the game has 4 different endings making it feel even more that your choices impacted your game further.

Will I play it gain? Yes, for nostalgia or if I'm going through a vampiric phase again.
Would I recommend it? Yes, a game more "vampire" than this and as good as this is hard to find.
Rating: 8 outta 10 bites

Game seems to be crafted with love but overstays its welcome. A 6.5/10.

The story is fairly good, reminiscent of Vampire the Masquerade, so if you're itching for a bit of that, this game might scratch it, like using a butter knife instead of a proper backscratcher.

As for the gameplay itself, it's deceptively linear. You're presented with a large map of London, suggesting freedom and exploration, but each (fetch) quest itself is unfortunately on rails. There is a game map that seems to promise a sprawling city to explore, only to find that each quest location is surrounded by suddenly locked gates and inexplicably blocked paths, forcing you into a single, illogical route. You end up feeling more like a rat in a maze than an adventurer in an open world.

Every single quest entails you going somewhere (of course), but 90% of them then *funnel* you into a *specific* path. For example, in one quest, you're tasked with going to a certain house, seemingly right in the center of the map. You look at that location and think you can approach it from any direction since the map shows all manner of roads leading to it. But no. All those paths are blocked off by 'locked gates' or doors. Instead, there's a single hidden path that is the *only* way to the location. So, you waste half an hour circling the location to find that single 'correct' path. This pattern repeats for most quests, leading you to feel like you're being jerked around needlessly and start cursing the game developers as they pull you out of the world with this shenanigan. It feels like playing one of those ancient first-generation point-and-click adventure games, where you had to randomly click every single pixel on the screen, hoping to find *the* magic pixel the developers wanted you to find. Time sink incarnate.

Secondly, the repetition is mind-numbing. There are just a handful of enemies. Each map region is pretty much composed of a group of three enemies with two different sprites, spawned seemingly 30 meters from each other all the time. Wherever you go, you'll be slowed down by this same trio of mobs. Since the game uses respawn, there's no sense of achievement in defeating them, turning the entire gameplay into one long, tedious slog.

If you're into this game mainly from an RPG/story perspective, I strongly recommend playing it on Story (easy) mode. Any higher level, and you'll spend 95% of the playtime doing the same thing over and over instead of experiencing the story progression. And even on Easy, the game feels like a chore. Halfway through, I was forced to enable 1-hit kills just to progress the story at a reasonable pace. Even Easy bogs you down into a sense of repetitive insanity at about the midpoint.

The mind-numbing repetition and linear quest design make it hard to believe most people would ever complete the game, likely leading them to quit midway. As such, I can unfortunately not recommend it.

My still decent rating is due to the writing and storytelling. I look forward to seeing what Dontnod can do in a follow-up if they manage to sort out the gameplay element. That should provide for a great experience. As *this* title stands, it's an "Ok" time waster, like watching paint dry, but with slightly more plot.

Vampyr, developed by Dontnod Entertainment (the creators of Life is Strange), is a unique and atmospheric game that leans heavily on storytelling and character development. Set in 1918 London during the Spanish flu epidemic, it offers a haunting and immersive narrative experience where choices have real consequences. While the game has its strengths, particularly in its story and setting, the gameplay itself feels somewhat lacking compared to the engaging narrative.

Story and Character Development

Atmosphere and Visuals

Gameplay and Mechanics

Pros:

• Rich, immersive story with moral choices that impact the game world.
  
• Well-developed characters with complex backstories that make the world feel alive.
  
• Beautifully dark atmosphere that captures the eerie feel of London in 1918.
  
• Choice-driven narrative where decisions matter and have real consequences on the world.
  

Cons:

• Mediocre combat system that lacks depth and can feel repetitive.
  
• Gameplay is limited mostly to exploration and conversation, which may not appeal to action-focused players.
  
[*]Some pacing issues in terms of quests and travel between locations.

Final Thoughts