Vampyr's latest dev diary explores its environments and music

We're now two episodes deep into "Dontnod presents Vampyr," an aptly titled series of mini-documentaries designed to flesh out the studio's titular vampire RPG ahead of its upcoming (albeit delayed) release. The latest episode, "Architects of the Obscure," focuses on the environments and music which color Vampyr's London nightlife.

There are four key districts, explains narrative director Stephane Beauverger. You have Whitechapel, the immigrant district; the East End Docks, which are both impoverished and replete with crime; the Hospital district where protagonist Jonathan Reid can talk to or kill patients, nurses and department heads; and the wealthier West End district, said to provide a vertical slice of myriad social classes.

The connecting theme is, as always, Jonathan's internal struggle, the gulf between his responsibilities as a doctor and his urges as a vampire. This struggle influenced Vampyr's music as well, composer Olivier Deriviere says, which led Dontnod to work with solo celloist Eric-Maria Couturier. You get a good taste of Couturier's heavy strings in the second half of the episode, which also offers another glimpse at Vampyr's combat.

Dontnod has two more episodes in store, with the next coming on Thursday, February 1. You can watch episode one, "Making Monsters," here.

Austin freelanced for PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and has been a full-time writer at PC Gamer's sister publication GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover-up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news, the occasional feature, and as much Genshin Impact as he can get away with.