Vampyr

A city tale with lots of bite from the makers of Life Is strange

- Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

DRAC ATTACK

Presided over by former metal Gear animator teppei takehana, vampyr’s combat mixes the branching ability upgrades of remember me with a little of Dishonored’s black magic. You can beef up a slam move to turn you invisible on impact, for example. reid is armed with a bonesaw and shotgun, also upgrade able using resources from stores—providing you leave the staff in question alive.

Vampires may be creatures of stealth and shadow, but those we see in videogames tend to be pretty, well, showy. Think of Metal Gear Solid 2’s pirouetting Vamp, any given cut scene from the Legacy Of Kain series, and the entirety of Bloodrayne.

Jonathan Reid – star of Dontnod’s latest action-adventure set in London, 1918 - is in comparison refreshingly subtle. Oh, he can wreak chaos where necessary – notable party tricks include a teleport dash and impaling people on shadows – and there’s plenty of no-holds-barred combat, with fire-throwing undead hunters and rival bloodsuckers. But Reid is ultimately much more of a puppet-master than a fighter.