Vampyr (video game)

Vampyr
Developer(s)Dontnod Entertainment[a]
Publisher(s)Focus Home Interactive
Director(s)Philippe Moreau
Producer(s)Maxime Clavier
Designer(s)Guillaume Liechtele
Programmer(s)Nicolas Sérouart
Artist(s)Gregory Z. Szucs
Writer(s)Stéphane Beauverger
Composer(s)Olivier Deriviere
EngineUnreal Engine 4[1]
Platform(s)
Release
  • PlayStation 4, Windows & Xbox One
  • 5 June 2018
  • Nintendo Switch
  • 29 October 2019
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Vampyr is an action role-playing video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Focus Home Interactive. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 5 June 2018, and for Nintendo Switch on 29 October 2019. The plot relates how Jonathan Reid, a doctor who has turned into a vampire, is torn between the Hippocratic Oath and his newfound bloodthirsty nature.

While some boss battles are mandatory, most combat can be avoided, and the player is under no obligation to kill innocents to finish the game. Dialogue options are used for conversation and hunting prey to feed on, which replenishes strength and levels up the lead character. Weapons and supernatural abilities are employed while combatting enemies. Set during the era of the Spanish flu, London serves as a fictionalised semi-open world composed of four districts, amenable to destruction based on the player's actions. The game was first mentioned at a Focus Home event in January 2015.

The developers researched the setting by travelling to London and consulting history books and documentaries. The visuals were made with fictional and factual reference points in mind. Olivier Deriviere composed the original score and infused it with industrial music. The game was met with mixed reviews from critics, who praised the primary game mechanic, setting, character development, and voice acting, but criticised the combat, overall narrative, technical problems, aspects of the choice-based system, and animations. The game surpassed one million copies sold within ten months.


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