Video Game Vampire Discussion Thread
- Thread starter BrawlMan
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And twice is the only way to live.
- Jan 25, 2023
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- The boring one
Vampyr is one of the recent games that has impressed me most. It's an indy game, so it has a small scope compared to a Masquerade Redemption or Bloodlines, but it has an excellent atmosphere and a very interesting gameplay mechanic. Games where you play a vampire struggle with the moral axis of vampirism, and treat it like a rpg moral compass with some possible branching narrative effect (loved Redemption's "bad" ending). People want to play the vampire and want to play the good guy. Vampyr is ruthless. It throws you in a little community with no anonymous NPC. You can feed on them, but it kills them, and that's whole storylines, whole trees of dialogues, gone forever. You remove a life. It also makes society crumble after to many kills. So your restrain only comes from a direct sense of responsibility toward that virtual world, not from "bad points" punishments from the game designers. If you kill, you do an evil of which you see the effects. But also, if you kill, you do boost your powers way faster and way beyond what you can do with the petty XP gained from killing monsters (it's like 15 xp for a monster vs 2000 xp for a NPC). So if you want to unlock and develop your abilities, you either "break" society, or you grind ridiculously.
Now what's interesting is that, nowadays, games are connected and watched : the authors, or the game client, get stats (for achievementrs, etc). This is how we know that the vast majority of players, like 9/10th of them, did actually play this game the "good" way : restraining themselves from killing innocents, and, in a way, eschewing the vampire powers gameplay that the game promises (as opposed to Bloodlines, where you can go full vampire power fantasy while remaining the good guy and preserving all storylines). In front of that genuine moral choice, most players play moral, at the expanse of the game's supposed selling point.
Vampyr is the most interesting game in terms of morality (or meta-morality, you could say) bcause of that. It's a nice, interesting story in a very nice setting, very nosferatu-like (a plague in London), very classic (not victorian but around 1914-1918). And it's the nost clever way to put you in the shoes of a reluctant vampire, with a moral conundrum that is way less artificial than in any other game of that sort.
Also, on the side of playing against vampire, the game Nosferatu had terrified me back then. It's an oppressive horror survival in a randomized castle with a ticking clock, and a very old school design (vampires popping max-schreck-like from their coffins), and felt absolutely nightmarish.
I loved Bloodlines for the nice RPG it was. But Vampyr and Nosferatu are much more visceral, haunting memories.
Now what's interesting is that, nowadays, games are connected and watched : the authors, or the game client, get stats (for achievementrs, etc). This is how we know that the vast majority of players, like 9/10th of them, did actually play this game the "good" way : restraining themselves from killing innocents, and, in a way, eschewing the vampire powers gameplay that the game promises (as opposed to Bloodlines, where you can go full vampire power fantasy while remaining the good guy and preserving all storylines). In front of that genuine moral choice, most players play moral, at the expanse of the game's supposed selling point.
Vampyr is the most interesting game in terms of morality (or meta-morality, you could say) bcause of that. It's a nice, interesting story in a very nice setting, very nosferatu-like (a plague in London), very classic (not victorian but around 1914-1918). And it's the nost clever way to put you in the shoes of a reluctant vampire, with a moral conundrum that is way less artificial than in any other game of that sort.
Also, on the side of playing against vampire, the game Nosferatu had terrified me back then. It's an oppressive horror survival in a randomized castle with a ticking clock, and a very old school design (vampires popping max-schreck-like from their coffins), and felt absolutely nightmarish.
I loved Bloodlines for the nice RPG it was. But Vampyr and Nosferatu are much more visceral, haunting memories.
Nosferatu (SNES) is what happens when you combine Castlevania, Prince of Persia, and Splatterhouse. What's amazing is your main character is just some random dude that can punch and kick things really hard. No magical whip, or no cursed demonic mask. I've only ever played the game on emulator. Definitely a hidden gem in needing of a re-release.
