Last year, Dontnod Entertainment dropped an impressively bloody adventure on every platform except a Nintendo platform: Vampyr. Its mix of choice-based gameplay and researched, historical London playground was relatively well-received, but it took over a year for the game to finally make it to the Nintendo Switch. It's now on its way, just in time for Halloween, so here's everything you might want to know about Vampyr before you step into the shoes of a doctor-turned-vampire and menace or save the citizens of early-1900s London.
Will you hurt or heal?
Dr. Jonathan Reid has been turned into a vampire. London is full of disease. And a strange plot that's looped in some of his family seems poised to destroy the newly-turned main character. Reid must follow the trail of disease and destruction through London, all while sating or sustaining his own hunger by feeding on innocents or prolonging his own suffering to avoid hurting others.
What is Vampyr?
Vampyr is an action RPG developed by Life is Strange studio Dontnod Entertainment and published by Focus Home Interactive. It takes place in a fictionalized version of London in the early 1900s and puts the player in the shoes of Dr. Jonathan Reid. The lead character returns from a war only to be turned into a vampire at the start of the game, a transformation which kicks off a series of events that sees him investigating the Spanish Flu epidemic and a mysterious group of vampires, all while trying to satisfy his own cravings for blood.
How do you play?
As Reid, you are free to explore the streets of London, which are divided into neighborhoods. Quests corresponding with the storyline will send you on missions to track down and kill specific targets, but you won't always know immediately just where to go.
The citizens of the city all have their own schedules and habits that they will follow day by day. You'll need to talk to people and get them to share information with you in order to track down your target, and you can do so with varying levels of violence. Reid has a number of powerful weapons at his disposal for combat, as well as his ability to drink the blood of anyone and either kill or turn them into vampires like him.
London's neighborhoods are also struggling with an ongoing disease that will slowly spread throughout their citizens. Since you're also a doctor, you can help treat ill people, and the quests and information that are available to you throughout the game will change depending on who has died of either disease or your own bloodthirsty habits.
Can I play the game without killing anyone?
Not entirely -- you'll still have targets of quests you'll have to kill. But you can play through the game without harming any innocent people -- it's just very challenging. Drinking the blood of bystanders will level Reid up, giving him new skills and powers to fight with. If you don't consume anyone, you will get very few levels over the course of the game and find its mandatory fights extremely challenging. But if you devour too many people, you may lose out on key quests, key bits of information, and your own cover as a doctor.
Is there anything new in the Nintendo Switch version?
Unfortunately, no. The Nintendo Switch version is out over a year after the original release of Vampyr on other platforms, but in this case it appears to be a straightforward port with no additional features.
When can I get it?
Vampyr is planned for launch on Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2019. It will cost $50.
Will you hurt or heal?
Dr. Jonathan Reid has been turned into a vampire. London is full of disease. And a strange plot that's looped in some of his family seems poised to destroy the newly-turned main character. Reid must follow the trail of disease and destruction through London, all while sating or sustaining his own hunger by feeding on innocents or prolonging his own suffering to avoid hurting others.
