Focus Home Interactive has released a 14-minute gameplay trailer for the pre-alpha version of the upcoming action RPG, Vampyr. Around E3 we covered some of the early details of Vampyr, that story can be read here. Vampyr is a game based during the Spanish Flu epidemic in a very stylized London, around 1918. The player controls Jonathan Reid, a protagonist who is coming to grips with existence as a newly created vampire. The new gameplay trailer for Vampyr can be viewed below.
Vampyr is meant to revolve around choice, making the killing that the player chooses to partake or not matter deeply to the end result of the game’s narrative. The trailer delves into the choice, showcasing the dialogue system for Vampyr. In the usual action RPG fashion, the player is presented with a few dialogue choices, which chain together the cut scenes and sway the way the conversation will go.
The system for choosing victims is one of the more interesting aspects shown off in the trailer. The player can check and see the health of the blood of their possible victims. A display also shows how infected that part of the city is by the flu, the other characters on the town, and brief explanations as to who these characters are. The player can then choose which victims they want to go after. The interaction shown in the trailer is between Reid and gang muscle, Joe. Two different forms of feeding are shown, one being convincing the victim to let the player into their home, which does not work on Joe, and the other being hypnosis to lead the victim away to be fed upon. After being killed Joe mutters things about his son, hinting at the way that choosing victims will influence the world of the game.
The combat system was also shown off in this 14 gameplay trailer. The system seems to be in a lock on, beat-em-up style with a vampire flavor added to it. The 2 combat scenes also show off the teleportation ability that player can use to move dodge enemy attacks. The enemies were also able to detect that the protagonist is a vampire, since they are vampire hunters. The interactive NPCS seemingly do not have this ability. The player can also use what appears like an ultimate move while in combat, in the trailer this was shown by the enemy being lifted and impaled on what looks like a blood spike. This look at the combat system as well as most of the aspects of this trailer should be taken with a grain of salt since the game is still in such an early development phase.
One of the other things that stood out in the trailer was the setting. Even in the pre-alpha phase the foggy, Jack the Ripper-esque backdrop fits perfectly with this story of morality and monsters. The streets and narrow alley ways full of fog and flickering lights will definitely put the player in the right mood and mindset to immerse themselves in the game. Atmospherically, the game is doing its job.
Vampyr does not as of now have an official release date but is expected to have a 2017 release date and will be available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.