Vampyr's lead character won't be able to ignore his monstrous ways
Dontnod has released three new screens and more insight into the vampiric Dr. Jonathan Reid.
Dontnod's action-RPG Vampyr, about a doctor-turned-vampire in the pandemic-riddled London of 1918, is all about choice. Not whether to be a good guy or a bad guy, though, because being bad is pretty much inevitable. The studio alluded to this last year when it said, “You cannot escape that you are a vampire,” but the announcement accompanying the three new screens released today is a little more direct about it.
“As a Vampyr, you have to accept your need to sacrifice people to survive. Feeding on people will be the basis of your character progression, as it will allow you to learn supernatural Vampyr powers and talents that will be useful in persuasion, locomotion, survivability, and combat,” it says. “So the dilemma that's offered to you isn't, 'Should I kill people?' but more, 'Who will I kill?'”
Dontnod said that killing a person will have a “rippling effect,” and long-term repercussions, on the game's ecosystem. Feeding on a doctor, for instance, will cause the health of the patients at his former hospital to decline. That doesn't necessarily mean you're stuck being a total dick, though: Referencing your character's “duality,” the studio asked, “Can you be both a savior and a monster?” (My guess is that the answer will probably be "yes.")
Vampyr won't be out until sometime in 2017, but I like what I've seen of it so far. Which isn't much, to be honest, but hopefully more is coming. Dontnod said Vampyr will “be present” at E3 in June. Meantime, here's a preview from March.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
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