Watching the announcement trailer for Vampyr, you would hardly be able to tell what you actually do in this new project. What it does reveal is the atmosphere the game is built around, since everything takes place in London, in its darkest back alleys. The year is 2017, the year chosen for the release of Vampyr, so it's worth taking a closer look at what the project has to offer.
Game features
- The game runs on Unreal Engine 4 and is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, so plenty of players will be able to try it.
Time and place
The early 20th century, and the grim, heavy atmosphere of Britain, or more precisely London, which at the time was choking on street violence, the Spanish flu epidemic and an all-consuming fear of everything going on. Every resident of the city knows one thing above all: never be caught alone in the city's alleys after dark, or you might fall prey to elusive vampires.
The hero
Jonathan Reid is actually a brilliant surgeon who has only just come home from the battlefields of the First World War. He won't get to rest quietly at home after the heat of battle, because Jonathan becomes a vampire, and that brings a host of difficulties into his life, one of which is finding food.
Choosing a victim
There is no shortage of choice. More precisely, there are plenty of supporting characters, but each one has a role in the game and traits of their own. Some may even give you quests, but in the end you will have to choose someone. This is where you need a skill that vampire games rarely explore: you have to find yourself a meal by choosing a victim while making sure that character's disappearance draws as little attention as possible.
The predator's hunt
You get to experience every aspect of stalking your prey: learning the chosen character's habits and tracking their movements. Sometimes you will have to lure the victim to the right spot, and other times simply lie in wait in a dark alley. Keep one thing in mind when choosing a victim: their death will change the bigger picture, because that character is gone for good.
Power
A nice bonus of drinking human blood is that the hero gains new powers. Exactly what they will be, you will find out after choosing a victim and pulling off a successful hunt.
Brutal encounters
Finding food won't be your only task. Along the way you will also run into enemies, and you will need to use the skills you have gained at range or fight up close, since the game has two combat systems.
Enemies
You will face other vampires with a variety of abilities, hunters of these creatures armed with a special arsenal, and several kinds of other mystical beings. You definitely won't be bored.
Life energy
In this game, life and energy are essentially one and the same. When you get attacked, you lose some health, and when you use special abilities, you also lose some health. Replenishing it works the time-tested way: you have to find a way to refill your supply with human blood.
Crafting
As a nice extra on top of all this, the game has a crafting system. You can find a variety of components in the game's locations and later assemble them into different tools for combat.
A greater goal
Don't forget that Jonathan is a doctor, and despite his vampire nature, something human still remains in him. Hunting for food and brutal fights won't fill his whole life, because his greater goal is to find a cure that can save the population from the Spanish flu.
The game was set to release on June 5, 2018, and you can download Vampyr for free and hunt the streets of London yourself.
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