Vampyr Review

Does Vampyr provide enough bite for your buck?

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It adds a very unique wrinkle to an already interesting system. As a mechanic it’s a very inventive one, but one that Vampyr ultimately squanders. Paired with a challenging experience, this question of when and who to eat would present a brilliant but difficult choice to make, but unfortunately the combat here is so simplistic and – to be honest – dull, I was never challenged enough to really feel the urge to go out and eat up my quest givers.

Presentation:

What doesn’t let the game down is its brilliant score. It doesn’t stray too far from the genre staples of its Hollywood brethren, but because of this adherence to formula it manages to provide an excellent, moody and atmospheric soundtrack. By playing it safe the game happily fits in besides the classic music that scored some of the best vampire fiction out there.

The graphics, however, leave a little to be desired. The game looks fine most of the time, but when characters interact with each other nothing really seems to click. Animation and character models in general feel a generation behind what we expect today, and whilst it was never enough to pull me out of the experience I would have liked to see better quality stuff.

The city, on the other hand, looks fantastic, and always managed to capture the mood Vampyr strives to achieve. Coupled with the interesting setting rarely seen in videogames Vampyr manages to deliver a truly unique and stylish experience, even if making your way through it is sometimes less than pleasant.

 

Conclusion:

Greatness wasn’t far off for Vampyr. It has a lot going for it – great music, an interesting locale and some really unique storytelling – but it is often let down by mediocre gameplay. As a creature of the night I want to feel fluid and deadly, but instead Vampyr’s gummy controls made me feel a little stunted. Worst of all, it’s often a boring, overly-simplistic affair, with by-the-numbers combat squandering some seriously cool mechanics. I’m eager to see DONTNOD put this experience towards their next project, however – as a first attempt at this sort of title, I’m wildly impressed at some of their more unique mechanics, and I’m enthused to see where they go from here.

Good

  • Excellent story
  • Interesting mechanics

Bad

  • Clunky combat
  • Poor animation
8.3

Great

Story - 8.5
Graphics - 8
Sound - 9
Gameplay - 7.5
Value - 8.5
Reviewer - GamerKnights

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