Vampyr was revealed back in January, and I still dig the concept: As a doctor-turned vampire in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, players must reconcile their commitment to the Hippocratic Oath with their desire to suck the blood out of everything with a pulse. That's a tough row to hoe by any measure.
What makes the setup especially interesting, according to the details announced today, is that you can feed on literally anyone in the game, including people who provide quests—and whose absence will be missed. "Carefully study the habits of your next victim, his or her relationships with other characters, and set up your strategy to feed, unnoticed: seduce them, change their daily habits, or make sure they end up alone in a dark street," developer Dontnod said. "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."
Not feeding, or going the route of the rat sucker, isn't an option: Human blood is also necessary to unlock new vampiric powers to use throughout the game. Taking damage and using supernatural powers in combat also drains your blood—a two-in-one measure of your health and "energy"—heightening the need to feed even further.
The "concept teaser" isn't particularly informative, and I do wonder if the inevitable pre-release comparisons to the brilliant Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines might end up setting expectations unreasonably high. But Dontnod's previous games are cause for at least guarded optimism: Remember Me didn't live up to the studio's ambitions, but the first episode of the ongoing Life Is Strange was apparently quite good.
Vampyr is currently slated to come out sometime in 2017. A website is up at vampyr-game.com, although it's not much more than a placeholder at the moment; it does, however, promise that the full website is "coming soon."
