A Vampyre Story

Puzzles aren't too hard, but they aren't too easy. [Feb 2009, p.80]

Overall A Vampyre Story is a decent game. Some may find it slow paced, some may not see the humour in the conversations, but as a call back to classic adventure games there is little else available.

Resurrection of the pre-dinosaur adventure era. Wonderful graphics and original story line can’t hide the problematic engine and “delicately” chopped-off ending. [Issue#173]

It is tough to fulfill six years of expectations and hope, but ultimately I liked and occasionally admired A Vampyre Story—and can't wait to see the improvements that can be made by this developer the second time around.

Quotation forthcoming.

A Vampyre Story creates a wonderful atmosphere, looks good and is very detailed, but the open end and the riddles change the picture a lot. There are not enough hints, but far too many pointless interactions. The game requires a lot of patience, which kills the fun playing it.

And so my guess is, if you play A Vampyre Story exactly the way the developer intended, and if you don’t encounter any bugs or sloppiness, then you’ll have a lot of fun. But if you keep having problems, and if you keep struggling with puzzles, not because you can’t figure them out, but because the engine isn’t working properly, then each bug / mistake / badly designed puzzle will drain a little bit of fun from the game, until, perhaps, there isn’t any left. It’s just a question of whether you want to take the risk or not.

If in search for the next best thing in adventures, A Vampyre Story isn't it. While it has some issues, and an obvious lack of polish at places, it definitely has its moments, and some of these moments are awesome. It's not perfect, but genre fans will enjoy the three or so evenings they'll spend on it, with its humour, likable protagonist, and beautiful vistas being the best things on offer… and the fact that this is basically a Part One of a Part Two that never came (and probably never will) ruining the experience.

Having come from the imagination of a few of LucasArts alums, A Vampyre Story had the potential to spin a gothic comedy steeped in that tradition, which my score reflects. But I won't recommend half a game to players.

Despite having been in development for approximately six years, it does not feel like a game that has been fully tested and refined. Nor does AVS try to evolve adventure gameplay mechanics, making it all the more irritating that it’s not as polished as it should be. It’s worth a look but the quality is too variable to score higher.

A Vampyre Story is a good game that combines a classic gameplay with an interesting storyline and an accurate character design. Despite that it presents a lot of bugs and an awful translation from English to Italian.