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| Corey Hall |
The weight of your actions will be measured in blood.
02.07.18 - 8:16 PM
French developer DONTNOD, the team behind games like Remember Me and the critically acclaimed Life is Strange, has released a series of short videos further detailing their upcoming action-RPG, Vampyr. These videos invite viewers into their studio for a closer look at their upcoming title, introducing some key features and aspects of the game.
The first video being detailed, actually the second in a series of videos discusses the creation and crafting of Vampyr's depiction of London in 1918. Focusing on four main districts, each representing different conflicts, or social groups of the time, the game sets the scene beautifully in iconic, and memorable, locations. From the immigrant district of Whitechapel to the poverty-stricken East End docks, each area is of importance, providing further weight to the decisions set before you. Assuming the role of vampiric surgeon, Dr. Jonathan Reid, the game seeks to offer a sense of intrigue and wonder, while also presenting players with difficult decisions which will shape the path of their adventure.
Also introduced in this series is the beautiful, haunting music which sets the tone not only for the crime and poverty-stricken streets of London but also for Reid's internal struggle. The mash-up of industrial and orchestral music, featuring the bellowing, gut-wrenching, and intimate cello work of Eric-Maria Couturier, floats ominously in the background, like the low-hanging fog rolling through the dimly lit streets of The Big Smoke.
The subsequent video, the third in the series, focuses on the humanity of Jonathan Reid, who despite his vampirism must still bear the weight of his actions throughout the story. Each NPC in Vampyr, too, is imbued with their own life, their own story, and their own significance within the world. Faced not only with the recent fallout of World War I, with the outbreak of the Spanish Flu, and amidst a myriad of murderous crimes, NPCs are not seen out and about at night without good cause. This colorful cast will further emphasize the various levels of society present in each of the four main districts, and provide interesting points for players to uncover through thorough investigation.
Vampyr doesn't dispense XP for merely dispensing with lives, but rather for sacrificing the citizens of its world in exchange for their fresh blood. This really emphasizes the sense of weight of each individual life, rather than utilizing Jonathan's vampirism to tear through crowds of meaningless placeholder characters. Your actions will impact the world, with aftershocks of each missing person leaving behind family, friends, and colleagues, with its effects taking hold over the story at hand. The poignancy of this mechanic is not just to create a sense of the splitting decisions one must make when forced to feed on the lives of others, but also to force players to consider, and reflect deeply what it means to be human.
A deeply woven story of torment and sacrifice, Vampyr's weighted world, full of life, death, and introspection will make its way to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC this Spring. If you missed out on our initial coverage of this web-series, please be sure to check it out here for more exciting details about this upcoming game.
