Have you ever wondered why there are so few vampire games out there taking into account their popularity as supernatural creatures in public zeitgeist? What happened there? And I don't mean just “Twilight ruined it for everyone” which seems to be a prevalent opinion these days. Well, Vampyr sure seems intent on taking it back and even rocks a historical period which managed to stay untapped by video games even though it was quite a powerhouse for vampires considering the legacy penny dreadfuls left. So let's see whether it held up or not.

We assume control of Jonathan Reid as he stirs from a mass grave following a rather cryptic opening about some queen or another you don't really get full context for until the very finale when things escalate in a major way. But for now it seems our protagonist is sick as he barely stumbles out of the pit only to crawl towards a thumping red mass his blurred vision leads him to and does what every newborn vampire does – a character-defining mistake. Player is far quicker to catch on to what's happening so you have some of those “Why is sunlight hurting me?” motions until a local altruistic doctor, who also happens to be in the know, offers help. Jonathan is then brought up to speed while vampire society seems to become richer by one doctor who just returned from the Great War and happens to be a hematologist expert in London now running amok with an epidemic. Its origins are mysterious, but also lead to proliferation of lower class vampires stalking the streets and vampire hunters have responded in kind. With that you find yourself as one of the doctors at Pembroke hospital. Which somehow manages to function despite you working only night hours, but things are crazy enough so staff and patients don't care as long as you can help. It's in this relatively safe environment where you begin learn the ropes of Vampyr and get hint that things may not be exactly a mere returning Spanish Flu some suspect.

Main [mechanical] hook of the game is deciding the fate of its four districts gradually unlocked as you advance through the main story. This is accomplished with their citizens. They come with backstories you explore through hints, occasional side quests and most commonly them talking your ear off with life stories. If you don't enjoy talking to characters for extended stretches of time this is when you reconsider your purchase. But why bother, you may be asking? Aside from simply discovering more about people it also lets you snack on them for experience and the more you know about them as people, bigger the reward you'll get out of it. Who lives or dies, how you treat their “pillar” characters – all of these decide district health as they range from sanitized to absolutely hostile where most of the characters are dead, missions are locked off, more monsters roam the streets, shops have increased prices, etc. You effectively trade well-being of London for your own power progression.

Needless to say this is not a management game, at least not full-time as you go do your doctor rounds, but rather a variety of action RPG so lets get down to the gritty details. Which oddly enough involves in equal measure talking and bashing in skulls. Even more so if you opt for a “no embrace” playthrough where you decide to not kill any story characters and willingly weaken yourself as you scrounge for every experience point you can find alternatively. Add to that playing on hard mode, so that temptation actually works as intended, and you're in for hell of a time as game stacks the odds against you.

You have your three bars to work with (health, stamina and blood) with stamina determining how much you can attack and dodge/run, automatically making it the most imperative one to focus on. You'd think blood, which powers your abilities and inherent healing, would be something to devote attention to ASAP, but honestly there are plenty of ways to replenish health you needn't obsess over it. Weapons that drain blood to whaling at enemies long enough with your offhand weapon so you stun them and feed all work just fine. Blood bar is one you have the most control over. All three can, and should be to some degree, upgraded under skills with your experience points. When it comes to upgrading your skills aka evolving, as the game puts it, you cannot do it whenever nor should you do. You need to rest in a bed, but that act will also advance time for a day. There's no secret timer or anything yet with each night things change in mentioned districts. Citizens tend to become sick and then it falls on to Jonathan to craft medicine or their state will worsen necessitating advanced medicine you may not have access to right now.

So, crafting. Major part of the game and not something tacked on as it goes beyond routine “characters X and Y got sick, time to craft the fatigue medicine and distribute them”. You also have access to serums, which will replenish the three bars I've talked about, but real draw of crafting is upgrading your weapons. Low on experience point and unable to evolve fast enough? Better compensate with the best freaking weapon you can. Sure, game will throw upgraded weapons at you occasionally, but if you're relying on those on hard difficulty you're already screwed. Upgrades reach level five for all types of weapons (1H, 2H off-hand and fire-arms) + accompanying side-grades that affect how weapon behaves like altering blood drain, stun points, etc. Interestingly enough I found firearms to be the least useful and primarily used to stop enemies with a shotgun blast or lower the stun bar from a distance. Acquiring more crafting material is one of more standout reasons why you'll be dumpster diving and fighting enemies in Vampyr seeing as grinding for experience that way is not exactly viable. Which brings me to combat itself.

If you've played any other action games in recent years you're already familiar with the affair. Something that stood out for me is enemy variety. I expected to have seen everything game had to offer earlier, but surprises kept coming and you gradually unlock more tools to counter them. For example, enemies can have resistances to damage types (melee, firearms, blood and shadow) so you want to make sure you have all those covered at least. And developers are wise to your tricks, too. Think you can stealth through levels because you have a power that lets you? Think again because there are priests for hunters and certain type for Skals that can detect you skulking about. In fact, game is quite deadly when it throws certain enemy combinations at you, especially in late game when you're so starved for experience only to find out enemies now come in stronger varieties. Avoiding them in a game that has no fast travel between hideouts AND re-spawning enemies is at first intense and then becomes a chore, but is never easy you can plow through them.

Time for closing words largely draped in negatives for a game I liked overall. What do I mean? Well, there are some shortcomings here you can't ignore. Be it from mere visual standpoint like flat conversation cameras work or how at times Vampyr tends to be obtuse in how it handles choices or at least how it telegraphs them. I know I screwed up at least one important choice because I misunderstood how vampire “suggestion” works... but then I learned and screwed up entirely by choice afterwards. Also, this is quite a frustrating game provided you play on hard and then make choices where game becomes even more challenging because districts go to hell. Wise up, people.

Final Thoughts and Rating?

Taking into account just how much fighting and talking alike you'll be doing in Vampyr it's actually astonishing how average both of these elements are. I think devs were banking heavily on getting the player invested in the whole “deciding who lives or dies for those sweet experience points” and on hard mode when you're facing enemies five to ten levels above you that becomes a real dilemma. Early 20th century London is also amazingly well realized through visuals and soundtrack itself, although re-spawning enemies didn't help considering you can't grind them for experience, nor did all the trash cans you'll go through. I wish story was tighter and didn't effectively become absent between major events because Vampyr relies on you to care about citizens who are hit or miss with their troubles.