Game Review: Vampyr (Xbox One X)

“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?”

Vampyr is an action role-playing video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment (Life is Strange, Remember Me) and published by Focus Home Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 5 June 2018. The plot relates to how Jonathan Reid, a doctor who has turned into a vampire, comes to terms with his undead condition as he is torn between the Hippocratic Oath and his newfound bloodthirsty nature.

Doctor Jonathan Reid, returning to London from the Great War in 1918, awakes in a mass grave as a vampire. Overwhelmed with bloodlust, he causes the death of his sister Mary, who was searching for his body nearby. Reid takes shelter from vampire hunters in an abandoned house. He starts hearing the disembodied voice of his maker, a typical feature in the progeny of vampires. Realising London is profuse with corpses, he follows the trail of blood. Thus begins a much bigger investigation than he planned.

Vampyr is set in early 20th century Britain as the country is gripped by the lethal Spanish flu. The streets of London are crippled by disease, violence and fear. In a disorganized and ghostly city, those foolish, desperate, or unlucky enough to walk the streets lay prey to Britain’s most elusive predators: the vampires. Emerging from the chaos, a tormented figure awakens. You are Jonathan E. Reid, a high-ranking military surgeon transformed into a vampire upon his return home from the frontline. Explore the darkly atmospheric streets of early 20th century London. Interact with a multitude of characters with their own identities and importance. Accept and fulfill the missions they give you. But don’t forget: sooner or later, you will have to feed, and make a difficult choice… who will be your prey?

Absolutely all characters in the game are potential victims of your vampiric lust. Carefully study the habits of your next victim and his or her relationships with other characters. Set up your strategy to feed, unnoticed: seduce them, change their daily habits, or make sure they end up alone in a dark street… Be careful who you choose to hunt, as they will be gone forever. And their death will impact in a meaningful way the world that surrounds you. Feeding on human blood will not just keep you ‘alive;’ it will also unlock new vampiric powers to use.

As usual I’m not ashamed to say I love vampires. I’m always intrigued by anything to do with them and when I heard even the first whisper of this game, I was excited. Vampire games are extremely rare these days. Which makes Vampyr the first next-gen game based around blood-sucking immortals.

Vampyr is a flawed but somewhat impressive experience that plays differently than a lot of other games. It isn’t something that will appeal to a wide audience. But it’s worth checking out if you’re okay with a slow burn and don’t mind lots of reading. Initially, I had to restart the game and play on easy as I found normal combat way too hard when facing bosses. But I’m not the world’s best player so I’m unsure on how I can critique that. Combat on easy was enjoyable though, your vampiric moves feel devastating and impactful.

The biggest issue I found with Vampyr is it’s a little boring. At first I appreciated that every NPC I met was important and had a lot to say. But when you get close to the 60 characters you can interact with, you start to skip through the dialogue a little bit. Additionally, the central plot felt rushed. Firstly, you’re very quickly pushed into a romance with someone who you literally just met. As a player, I’m expected to care for them when I haven’t felt that from Jonathan yet.

Secondly, I felt the game used Elizabeth being a woman as a convenient excuse for why she couldn’t do everything I was doing. I felt it was pretty unbelievable that ancient vampires would even still consider gender at that point, scorned or not. And that her being older and wiser would make her the more natural choice to lead the main story’s investigation. I understand Jonathan’s blood was more powerful from his Maker. But, he was so inexperienced, so she just seems like a better candidate for them to have chosen. But I digress, I found Vampyr to be at its best when players are digging into the lives of London’s citizens. And choosing who to kill or who to spare, rather than the fairly convoluted main plot.

Beneath these problems is a classic vampire story that leverages its grim visuals and moody soundtrack to create an engrossing atmosphere. Jonathan, along with other main characters are well designed and well voice acted. Unfortunately, some side NPC’s are lacking in the design and look a tad rubbery.

Over all, Vampyr is definitely one for vampire and horror fans alike. If you like the ideas of feasting on the blood of innocents, fighting alongside and against vampiric foes, all while battling the Spanish Flu as a war doctor, then it’s the game for you. It’s as fully immersive into the time period as you can get. Athough perhaps overly ambitious, I feel it pulls it off enough to be worth experiencing Jonathan’s tragic rebirth into this world.