Mothergamer Plays Vampyr

 I had never played Vampyr before so when I saw that it was one of the free games for Playstation Plus members in October, I decided to pick it up. The story of Vampyr is set in 1918 London amid World War I and the influenza epidemic. The main character Doctor Johnathan Reid is returning home when he is suddenly attacked and wakes up in a mass grave as a vampire. This is where Vampyr begins playing as Johnathan trying to find answers about why he was turned into a vampire and trying to save lives. 

Johnathan's first day as a vampire. 

This introduction sets up with a quick tutorial on how the user menu and gameplay controls work as Johnathan has to run from vampire hunters that are all over the city. The setting of the city is gloomy, somber, and fitting for the story. Johnathan's beliefs in science and facts are overwhelmed by the supernatural aspects of what has happened to him and slowly he starts to understand how serious his situation is. Johnathan works at a hospital and his standing as a well known surgeon is how he is able to hide in plain sight working the night shift. This also gives him chances to talk to citizens and do quests for them ranging from getting extra medical supplies to rescuing someone who has a fear of being buried alive. 

Dr. Reid is in the house. 

With talking to the citizens, you are able to get clues depending on what you say. Here's the thing, I really did not like that Vampyr only has an autosave feature and no manual save because sometimes I would pick a conversation choice and it would be incorrect which meant the game would tell me that a hint about that person was gone forever. The only way to get it back is to start completely over from the beginning. That is frustrating enough, but then to not even be allowed to reload my last save and have a redo adds to that frustration. I understand what they were trying to do with showing that your actions in the story have consequences, but in reality people also try to amend the conversation by apologizing or explaining that's not what they meant; they get to continue the conversation. Vampyr gives you the illusion of choice with these conversations, but I felt you really don't and in some regards those hints are vital to the story. I ended up playing the game with a conversation guide so I could get every single conversation right and get the main story chat hints done. 

Trying to choose the right conversation. 

You can be the big bad villain and feed on the citizens, but considering many of Johnathan's conversations and inner thoughts are about absolutely not wanting to take lives because he is a doctor, I chose not to do that with three exceptions. The big thing is to not kill the person that is considered a pillar of the community in each district because people can go missing and feral vampires will be everywhere. I also felt that fast travel would have been nice to have because walking back and forth between neighborhoods became incredibly tedious. With each quest and ending each night, you get an update on each district on whether it's stable or unhealthy. This is where Johnathan's identity as a doctor comes in as he can craft medicines at the crafting table at the hospital or at various safe houses, then make the rounds giving people medicine to cure them. Crafting is a big part of the game by the way, as you will need to craft medicines, enhance weapons, and have healing items for Johnathan. 

Crafting medicines and more.

Combat in the game is interesting without being too challenging. Johnathan has plenty of vampire abilities that are unlocked as he levels up. One of the ways to level up is finishing the story chapters and feeding on citizens. If you're playing the pacifist or semi-pacifist route, this can be a bit of a challenge. Without spoiling it, there are at least 3 people that you can feed on that no one will really miss. Sometimes the combat can be a little sticky with the controls and in some boss fights a bit clunky, but they're not completely terrible. Unlocking different combat vampire skills for Johnathan helps to make him stronger, faster, and deadlier when it comes to fighting enemies like overzealous vampire hunters. 

Fighting vampire hunters. 

In many ways Vampyr felt really appropriate to play with the way this year has been due to Covid and drawing the parallels of seeing signs posted everywhere in 1918 London about wearing a mask, staying home if sick, and not coughing in public. I became invested in Johnathan's story as he struggled with the idea of being a vampire while trying to use science and logic with a mix of accepting the supernatural to figure out the mystery behind where the pandemic started and getting answers about the vampire who created him. 

I did enjoy the story in spite of quite a few plot holes. I also feel it suffered from the lack of a manual save system, no fast travel, and some very long loading time in places, but it isn't a terrible game. Depending on certain choices being made in the story you can get a great ending, a good ending, and a tragic ending. You can continue to be a good doctor vampire or you can be a terrible monster vampire that terrifies everyone. That part is definitely up to you. I liked playing Vampyr and I am glad I got a chance to play it. I don't think it's the best game, but I thought it had a good story and I did like the main characters as they discussed class systems, science, and the ability to try to accept that there are things in this world that sometimes we just can't explain like the supernatural. I got the pretty good ending and I was satisfied with it mostly, but again there were questions that didn't really get answered. Perhaps it was done that way on purpose, to leave it up to our imaginations. Either way, it was an intriguing adventure and fun to play as a vampire doctor. 

Johnathan has a cup of tea with a friend.

*Vampyr is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch

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