HIGH STAKES
Uncover a different kind of tomb raiding with the gory morals of Vampyr
Victorian London is full of shadows. Some of them, like Dr Jonathan Reid, are exceptionally hungry. Blood must be spilled but at what cost? If you’ve ever wondered what’s it’s like to have a serious case of Angel-itis and feel guilty about being a bloodsucker, boy, does Vampyr have the brooding black coats and moral decisions for you. Exploring a beautifully grim 1918 London that’s simultaneously being ravaged by flu and supernatural forces, you must choose whether to give in to Reid’s vampiric urges or to help the people like a true doctor would.
While choices and dialogue options abound, this isn’t just a Telltale-style narrative adventure – vampires and their hunters must be fought in the streets and sewers, and London requires you to explore every inch of its grimy world. Vampyr is a bold action RPG that constantly plays with your desire for power. New abilities unlock with experience points and while you can get that from completing missions and helping people, you’d get a lot more from draining them like a Capri Sun pouch. And the better your relationship, the more XP you’ll get, so you’ll look them in the eye and talk to them before they submit to your fanged “embrace”. “We want to challenge the morality of players,” says Florent Guillaume, lead level designer. “And there are always consequences. I kill a merchant, I loot his stuff. I kill a quest keeper, I lose his quest. There’s always a consequence, but we want the player to question their own morality.”
There are multiple different types of bloodsucking fiend and the game joyously plays with gory tropes. It’s a good thing your abilities include persuasion because, for all his power, Jonathan needs to be invited across each threshold. With every decision having potentially dire consequences for you giving in to your lust for O-negative, Vampyr is a bloody soup of moral choices.
Vampyr is released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One in November.