Full disclosure: I was invited by Focus Home to their event last week as member of Vampyr's community and, as every person invited to a press event, my travel fees were covered by the publisher. I am also moderator on Focus' official forums and Discord server.
Since I never wrote previews, I won't make you endure one. It's more some mind dumps and I rely on your question to fill the rest.
"Proof"
Vampyr
Welp given some of previews out, my opinion will be harder to "sell" than I thought :D
I had a 30 minutes hands off followed by a 2 hours hands on. Both were on a dev build. After presenting the conditions of the hands off and the hands on, my thoughts will mix both without necessarily mentioning if it is based on one or the other.
The hands off was commented by Game Director Philippe Moreau. The demo played by another dev starts a few hours in the game. It showcased a big chunk of the gameplay loop: Investigation, combat, exploration, feeding on citizens, moral choices, loot / craft, narrative… I don't know what their plans for communication in the following months are but this sequence would make a really good video commentary showing to people what to expect from the game.
Then, the two hours hands on. This is the first two hours of the game. Half of it is a bit linear to teach you the main mechanics and to kickstart the story. Then it opens up, letting you free roam in the some parts of the semi open world. I won't spoil anything story related, but you'll spend some time in and around the Hospital and quests at the beginning are related to this place and its people. It's naturally the citizens around this place (Hospital employees and patients) you'll encounter first.
Impossible to talk about NPCs in Vampyr without mentioning the "Citizen System" that allows the player to feed on any citizen in the game to grow stronger, at the cost of impacting the district they live in (health and economy) and the lives of the people who knew them. I kinda dropped the ball here by not really trying to kill a citizen by myself (beside one I would qualify as "tutorial citizen") because I just couldn't bring myself to pick one "randomly" :( I guess the communication around the game emphasizing that each citizen has its own life worked on me because I just didn't wanted to kill one blindly, I found it would have been "unfair". This decision made the progression in the story harder for me (and a lot of people it seems), being a bit under-leveled. It is technically possible to finish the game without sacrificing a citizen but I feel DONTNOD will make everything they can to push you to embrace your inner vampire.
The combat. Welp I have to be "that guy" and make some eyes roll, but I did enjoy what I played, quite a lot. Even though I was under leveled because I refuse to feed on a citizen, I managed on my 4th attempt to get rid of the few enemies that caused a lot of troubles for many of the people who played it. I even almost got the boss at the end. The combat works with a right hand / left hand system:
- Right hand: Several type of melee weapons (sword, hatchet, bat, saw, …).
- And the left hand is for secondary weapons that can has several uses: pistol, stake to stunt enemies, some sort of syringe to drain blood from the enemies and fill up our own blood bar.
There is a fair amount of weapons and tools (at the end of the session, I had like 4-5 weapons and a bunch of tools). For the few I tried, the feeling can differ quite a lot. I won't tell you it's the best system I ever played but, t the very least and balancing issues aside, it is working.
Then I don't deny the issues other journalists had with the combat. Even the staff warned us the game needed more balancing. I think I dealt with it better becauseI am a PR0-G4M3R I've been following the game for a long time so I was already aware of some "new" elements as the blood system. One thing is clear: You won't success if you try to smash your way through.
Going back to blood: In Vampyr, you have three bars to look after: Health, Stamina for hits and dodges but also a Blood bar for vampiric powers. Here's an anecdote for you: In the first interviews DONTNOD made for the game back in 2015 / 2016, you could read that there was only one bar. Health, stamina and blood were basically one resource the player had to manage: Dodging or using a vampiric power would basically drain your health. Though they had to drop it because it was too punitive for the players. Two hours isn't enough to get used to that system so I ended up quite often with the blood bar empty rather quickly. Of course, you can take a quick bite on an enemy to fill up that blood. Or, since the game also has a crafting system, I suppose you can craft some blood reserves for the fights. As said, blood is here to unleash your vampire powers gained through XP. The powers unlocked and upgraded are up to the player: Aggressive, defensive, healing, shadows, …
Without entering too much in story details, from the bunch of NPC I interacted with, the voice acting is really good and the person who is voicing Dr. Reid is doing a phenomenal job. Between the hands off and the hands on, I could heard several ranges of emotions and several traits of his personality. From scared about what is happening to him to a really confident man who knows he is famous among his (human) pairs and has been toughen up by the War (I am thinking of a story related dialogue with a nurse from the hands off here). That voice acting is definitely carried by a strong and sharp writing. The narrative team found a really good balance between the info dump required to paint each citizens and the flow of the conversation that often go straight to the point. Again, it's only two hours but all the citizens I talked with were fascinating enough to listen to them without wanting to skip dialogues.
Random other extra mind dumps:
- The game is gorgeous. I guess if you take every assets individually there's probably nothing to write home about but the global presentation is really strong. The work they did with the shadows in the background, the mix between the fog and the lightning are truly selling the game as something that will age well.
- Dr Swansea is awesome.
- The size of the map seems okay+. I was only in one of the four districts but the size seems acceptable and, even if it won't compare AT ALL with a Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed Origins or even a Horizon, there's enough room to explore.
- Still in that regard, there is a narrative explication for that, but I expect some people will be annoyed about how empty London feels at times.
- … but is she really a vampire?
- It seems that the "I have to collect enough datas about a citizen for them to trust me and let me enter their home" will be an important mechanic in the game, hence my use of "investigation" earlier.
- The medical side of the character seems more important than I would have thought. From crafting medicines for citizens (to heal them and make their blood yummier for you later?) to story reasons. You even have a quick access to a medical check up for each citizens.
- Beside their health, the more you know about a citizen (by unlocking the "hints" on their characters sheet), the more XP you'll get by feeding on them. The game really emphasizes on the "romantic" aspect of the vampire in that regard: The closer you are with your future victim, the best it is for you.
- Did I say that Dr Swansea was awesome?
The Council
A really good surprise. I truly believe the first trailer and PR don't sold the game really well. I would qualify it as a narrative RPG, because boy there are a lot of RPG elements in it. You start the game by choosing a class (Diplomatic, Detective and a third one but I cannot understand what I wrote on my notes /shrug). The class you'll chose will give you several skills and you'll gain XP, points to spare, level, … as the story progresses. Those skills will give you access to unique choices and actions that will cost you "effort points" (that you can refill if you explore enough). All of that gives you access to other paths during negotiations with other characters. It can honestly be a bit overwhelming but I think Focus and Big Bad Wolves have something really interesting to differentiate themselves from what Telltale or Life is Strange are doing. In terms of exploration of levels, it is closer to what Life is Strange offers (I say that because you can move the camera around the character and the locations are quite big for the genre). Regarding how the story branches, hard to tell based on half of an episode but several times I had the impressions I could solve some elements differently or at least heavily alter the narrative.
The game might feel to be on a budget when looking at a technical level but if it's a concession to have a good branching system, why not? Some artistic elements might turn some people off, but I'll definitely check the first episode when it drops in March.
Since I never wrote previews, I won't make you endure one. It's more some mind dumps and I rely on your question to fill the rest.
"Proof"
Vampyr
Welp given some of previews out, my opinion will be harder to "sell" than I thought :D
I had a 30 minutes hands off followed by a 2 hours hands on. Both were on a dev build. After presenting the conditions of the hands off and the hands on, my thoughts will mix both without necessarily mentioning if it is based on one or the other.
The hands off was commented by Game Director Philippe Moreau. The demo played by another dev starts a few hours in the game. It showcased a big chunk of the gameplay loop: Investigation, combat, exploration, feeding on citizens, moral choices, loot / craft, narrative… I don't know what their plans for communication in the following months are but this sequence would make a really good video commentary showing to people what to expect from the game.
Then, the two hours hands on. This is the first two hours of the game. Half of it is a bit linear to teach you the main mechanics and to kickstart the story. Then it opens up, letting you free roam in the some parts of the semi open world. I won't spoil anything story related, but you'll spend some time in and around the Hospital and quests at the beginning are related to this place and its people. It's naturally the citizens around this place (Hospital employees and patients) you'll encounter first.
Impossible to talk about NPCs in Vampyr without mentioning the "Citizen System" that allows the player to feed on any citizen in the game to grow stronger, at the cost of impacting the district they live in (health and economy) and the lives of the people who knew them. I kinda dropped the ball here by not really trying to kill a citizen by myself (beside one I would qualify as "tutorial citizen") because I just couldn't bring myself to pick one "randomly" :( I guess the communication around the game emphasizing that each citizen has its own life worked on me because I just didn't wanted to kill one blindly, I found it would have been "unfair". This decision made the progression in the story harder for me (and a lot of people it seems), being a bit under-leveled. It is technically possible to finish the game without sacrificing a citizen but I feel DONTNOD will make everything they can to push you to embrace your inner vampire.
The combat. Welp I have to be "that guy" and make some eyes roll, but I did enjoy what I played, quite a lot. Even though I was under leveled because I refuse to feed on a citizen, I managed on my 4th attempt to get rid of the few enemies that caused a lot of troubles for many of the people who played it. I even almost got the boss at the end. The combat works with a right hand / left hand system:
- Right hand: Several type of melee weapons (sword, hatchet, bat, saw, …).
- And the left hand is for secondary weapons that can has several uses: pistol, stake to stunt enemies, some sort of syringe to drain blood from the enemies and fill up our own blood bar.
There is a fair amount of weapons and tools (at the end of the session, I had like 4-5 weapons and a bunch of tools). For the few I tried, the feeling can differ quite a lot. I won't tell you it's the best system I ever played but, t the very least and balancing issues aside, it is working.
Then I don't deny the issues other journalists had with the combat. Even the staff warned us the game needed more balancing. I think I dealt with it better because
Going back to blood: In Vampyr, you have three bars to look after: Health, Stamina for hits and dodges but also a Blood bar for vampiric powers. Here's an anecdote for you: In the first interviews DONTNOD made for the game back in 2015 / 2016, you could read that there was only one bar. Health, stamina and blood were basically one resource the player had to manage: Dodging or using a vampiric power would basically drain your health. Though they had to drop it because it was too punitive for the players. Two hours isn't enough to get used to that system so I ended up quite often with the blood bar empty rather quickly. Of course, you can take a quick bite on an enemy to fill up that blood. Or, since the game also has a crafting system, I suppose you can craft some blood reserves for the fights. As said, blood is here to unleash your vampire powers gained through XP. The powers unlocked and upgraded are up to the player: Aggressive, defensive, healing, shadows, …
Without entering too much in story details, from the bunch of NPC I interacted with, the voice acting is really good and the person who is voicing Dr. Reid is doing a phenomenal job. Between the hands off and the hands on, I could heard several ranges of emotions and several traits of his personality. From scared about what is happening to him to a really confident man who knows he is famous among his (human) pairs and has been toughen up by the War (I am thinking of a story related dialogue with a nurse from the hands off here). That voice acting is definitely carried by a strong and sharp writing. The narrative team found a really good balance between the info dump required to paint each citizens and the flow of the conversation that often go straight to the point. Again, it's only two hours but all the citizens I talked with were fascinating enough to listen to them without wanting to skip dialogues.
Random other extra mind dumps:
- The game is gorgeous. I guess if you take every assets individually there's probably nothing to write home about but the global presentation is really strong. The work they did with the shadows in the background, the mix between the fog and the lightning are truly selling the game as something that will age well.
- Dr Swansea is awesome.
- The size of the map seems okay+. I was only in one of the four districts but the size seems acceptable and, even if it won't compare AT ALL with a Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed Origins or even a Horizon, there's enough room to explore.
- Still in that regard, there is a narrative explication for that, but I expect some people will be annoyed about how empty London feels at times.
- … but is she really a vampire?
- It seems that the "I have to collect enough datas about a citizen for them to trust me and let me enter their home" will be an important mechanic in the game, hence my use of "investigation" earlier.
- The medical side of the character seems more important than I would have thought. From crafting medicines for citizens (to heal them and make their blood yummier for you later?) to story reasons. You even have a quick access to a medical check up for each citizens.
- Beside their health, the more you know about a citizen (by unlocking the "hints" on their characters sheet), the more XP you'll get by feeding on them. The game really emphasizes on the "romantic" aspect of the vampire in that regard: The closer you are with your future victim, the best it is for you.
- Did I say that Dr Swansea was awesome?
The Council
A really good surprise. I truly believe the first trailer and PR don't sold the game really well. I would qualify it as a narrative RPG, because boy there are a lot of RPG elements in it. You start the game by choosing a class (Diplomatic, Detective and a third one but I cannot understand what I wrote on my notes /shrug). The class you'll chose will give you several skills and you'll gain XP, points to spare, level, … as the story progresses. Those skills will give you access to unique choices and actions that will cost you "effort points" (that you can refill if you explore enough). All of that gives you access to other paths during negotiations with other characters. It can honestly be a bit overwhelming but I think Focus and Big Bad Wolves have something really interesting to differentiate themselves from what Telltale or Life is Strange are doing. In terms of exploration of levels, it is closer to what Life is Strange offers (I say that because you can move the camera around the character and the locations are quite big for the genre). Regarding how the story branches, hard to tell based on half of an episode but several times I had the impressions I could solve some elements differently or at least heavily alter the narrative.
The game might feel to be on a budget when looking at a technical level but if it's a concession to have a good branching system, why not? Some artistic elements might turn some people off, but I'll definitely check the first episode when it drops in March.
