Dontnod Entertainment is a developer that I've had my eye on for awhile. Their debut title, "Remember Me," was a flawed but interesting experiment with an ambitious story that explored society's reliance on social media. It was a character action game with two unique gameplay features: changing people's memories and being able to craft your own combos.
Their next game, "Life is Strange," was a graphic adventure that focused more on narrative and ethical choices. It was another daring interactive story that dealt with taboo subjects and conflicted characters.
Recently, I had the privilege to meet with one of the developers to discuss their new game, "Vampyr."
The interview
Blasting News: Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview.
Dontnod: My pleasure.
B: For the uninitiated, can you explain "Vampyr?"
D: "Vampyr" is a story driven RPG set in London, 1918; just when World War I finished. The player is a reincarnated Jonathan Reid, the famous physician. He's come back from France and has been transformed into a vampire on his way back to England. The game is centered on different choices regarding the citizens that the player can kill as [they see] fit and can see the consequences and lead the consequences of [their] actions.
B: is a pacifist run possible?
D: *smiles* Yeah, Sure. The player doesn't need to kill anybody, but [they] can kill everybody as well. So, we don't force the player to kill. We just incite them to kill, because with the blood of the citizens that you embrace, you will be able to evolve in the game. So, if you choose to to kill no-one, you will have a smaller and slower evolution and you won't be able to acquire as many abilities as you could with more kills.
B: What kinds of consequences do your choices have?
D: If you kill a citizen; people living in London like a woman living in her house, her relatives will be affected. On the other end, we have the main storyline of the game. There are several key characters who help you solve your adventure. And if you kill these characters, it will have a huge impact on the storyline.
We have different endings to the game. *smirks* So, you will have the ending that you deserve.
B: And you can weigh up your options on who to sacrifice and who to spare?
D: That's true. The game takes a huge spot into this social aspect. Meeting the citizens is very important. Basically, we faced the player with a choice. We want to incite the players to learn the citizen. To do that, you can talk to them. They have relations with other citizens in the game. If you kill them, it will have big consequences on the others related to them. All citizens have secrets and there are different ways to learn these secrets. If you find a secret, that allows you to unlock different content. You can unlock discussions with new characters, new gear, and quests thanks to the information that you've learned.
B: How flexible is the combat system?
D: The combat system is pretty flexible in that we have three main pillars. It's a melee oriented combat system where you have both melee weapons and ranged weapons. Handguns, shotguns, and crossbows. Stuff like that. And all of that is mixed with the vampiric abilities. So, the human part of the character is using the weapons that he finds and the vampiric abilities that he gets from the blood of the citizens allows him to enter combat differently. We have a wide variety of vampiric abilities. And the player will be able to unlock, acquire, and evolve these in the game.
B: Both "Remember Me" and "Life is Strange" feature protagonists who are conflicted and troubled.
What's Jonathon's plight?
D: Jonathan is a human. He was a human. He's a famous physician who's devoted to helping people. And as he returned from war, he turned into a vampire. But he's a rational person, you know? And he doesn't, at first, believe what's happened to him. He doesn't believe in vampires and he tries to find solutions to cure his condition. So, his main objective is to find a cure for the Spanish Flu, because he thinks that that's what's responsible for what happened to him. *Smiles and lowers eyebrows* But there is no cure to vampirism. You know, he turned into a monster. And you're the badguy in the game. You're not the hero. You're a beast- a cursed beast. So, he has to live with this duality: the vow he made to protect people and his condition that incites him to kill.
B: Will we be able to use his medical expertise in the game?
D: Yes. You can craft medicine to help the citizens.
B: Does the game follow the vampire rules?
D: Yes. Every vampire media has their own variation. For this game, we researched a lot. And we wanted to come back to a more Dracula-esque figure. So, we adapted our own lore. For instance, the vampire cannot enter any house without permission. In order to be invited, you need to know some of their secrets.
B: What platforms is this coming out on? Release date?
D: PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The release date is November of this year.
B: Alright. Thank you for your time.
D: Thank you.
