First off, Vampyr is a great game. The story is great. The intricate morality system is great to explore. The graphics and audio is top notch as well.
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| Vampyr |
However, there seems to be something lacking in terms of the gameplay itself. I did a play through of Vampyr and here is a full review. I played on PC on a mid-spic gaming PC with an Intel G4560 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 and 12GB of DDR4 RAM.
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| Settings are a mix of High, Medium and Low Settings |
I played the game at 1920 x 1080 resolution at a combination of Medium and High settings. I got around 30 - 45 FPS most of the time which is console like experience. The game looks awesome. The characters have great detail on them even if it is not as realistic as some expect it to be. Vampyr is set in 1918 during World War I and during the Spanish Flu epidemic. The atmosphere is heavy and full of fear and panic.
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| Dr. Jonathan Reid |
You play as Dr. Jonathan Reid an expert in the science of blood. Ironically, you were turned into a vampire. The main plot revolves around Reid finding the culprit who turned him. This gives you a conflict of interest. You want to help and find a cure for the Flu but at the same time you also need to quench your thirst for blood. This is a fresh take in terms of a vampiric lore in video games. As a doctor, you are surrounded by a lot of people with blood flowing through their bodies. That is were one of the main mechanic comes in.
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| Who to kill and who to spare? |
You can choose who you want to kill and who you want to spare. This decisions will affect the story depending on how important the person is. For instance, if you kill a very important person, people will notice that he is missing. Each person can give you experience with varying amounts related to their importance in the community. A well-known doctor will give you more experience that a lowly drunkard. Or you can also kill rats.
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| Each NPC has a life and their own story |
Each NPC in the game has a life, ambition and relationships you need to consider. An innocent looking man may look like a pretty insignificant person, but through Vampyr's investigative side, you can learn about him and then decide if he is worthy of his life or not.
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| Earn experience to evolve and get stronger |
The experience can be used to help you evolve your powers and skills. You can upgrade your abilities every time you to your bed to sleep and save. Which leads us to safehouses. There are safehouses scattered throughout the game's map. This is where you can save and recuperate.
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| Vampyr's world is divided into districts |
You also need to consider the district that you are currently in. The game's world is divided in districts. Each district will have it's health which can be directly affected by your actions. Cure more people it goes up while killing more people will certainly help it drop. Let it drop past the critical levels and you will lose that district. The story continues on but the lost district can never be reclaimed.
This is the best part of Vampyr. You are a vampire stuck in a world where you are persecuted. You will need to learn to blend, adapt and make do of what is presented to you. It is a great story with ambitious mechanics however it fell short in terms of the combat and everything in between.
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| Movement felt floaty and stiff |
If you are used to games like the Witcher 3 and Metal Gear Solid V, which are great third person games, you have a set expectations about the way the game handles. You expect it to be smooth yet has weight on every step. Combat shouldn't be a problem since there are a lot of games that came before it. Right?
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| Combat is also a bit lacking as well |
Well, for one, the movement in the game is very unrealistic to say the least. There is no crouch button that I am aware of. There is a stealth element in the came but Dr. Reid is jogging by default. You need to press Q to walk slowly. You may assume that this is a game revolving around creeping about and avoiding vampire hunters and unwanted attention that maybe the default will be walking at the very least. You also feel like like you are floating or sliding around whenever you are walking around.
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| Combat can get tedious and repetitive |
Combat is a bit tedious to say the least. It is the typical action game combat where there is a primary attack button and a stun button, dodge mechanic and abilities. You hit the enemy with 2 attacks, stun them, bite them, use your ability, dodge, rinse then repeat. This is all typical combat controls but not done that well. Hits don't feel rewarding. You just want to get it over with most of the time.
It is a bummer that this great story is plagued but sub par animations and combat mechanics. But, we still give it a recommendation because of the great story and other gameplay elements. The story itself is worth the retail price.
You can get it on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It is PHP 1,699.95 on Steam.
Verdict:
Graphics: 95/100
Audio: 90/100
Story: 98/100
Gameplay: 85/100
Replayability: 90/100
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