Available for more than a year on PS4, Xbox One and PC, Dontnod's vampire was invited to Nintendo Switch not long ago and hopes to plant his fangs on a new set of players. Is the portage worth the detour? What about the technical concessions made? This is what we will see in the following lines.
This is where it all begins ... In a mass grave
For those who have never heard of Vampyr before today, it is a narrative A-RPG created by the DONTNOD studio (at the origin of the excellent - although imperfect - Remember me, and, more recently seasons 1 and 2 of Life is Strange) and published by Focus Home Interactive. We play Jonathan Reid, a doctor who officiated during the 1st World War and recently returned to London. Rather sticky, our character wakes up to a pile of corpses just swung by a patrol. Trying somehow to extricate himself from the mass grave in which he bathes, the latter will quickly find himself face to face with a woman he cannot see properly, her sight being hampered by his thirst for blood. It is after drinking greedily that our protagonist will recognize his sister lying on the ground. There is no time to be moved, however, since Jonathan will have to flee several enemies threatening his life.
You will need to drink regularly to use your skills
That's roughly the starting point. Like many vampires, our soldier doctor will set himself the goal of finding his father through the various districts of London. Dontnod, true to his habits, offers a rather wordy title, with worked characters and important moral dilemmas. The scenario is indeed interwoven with a crucial gameplay brick: by our nature, we will be able to embrace (a very charming way of saying "kill" in the game) the characters serving the narrative.
Killing an NPC is not without consequence, since it will arouse the suspicion of those around you, and will influence the "health" of the neighborhood you are in. However, acting like a vampire while drinking often will grant you a lot of experience, if you do not gain the sympathy of the people you meet. This experience can be consumed after each night to unlock and improve your skills, whether offensive or defensive. Note that if you choose not to kill anyone, the experience will get tough enough, your character only earning little XP by default.
Dull, poorly detailed and hazy, the Switch version does not really do London justice
This system is well done on paper, as it tries to force the player to make some sacrifices during the adventure, however, if you choose the "path of evil", the game will quickly become very simple, in addition to cutting totally some parts of the game (quests that are no longer accessible, for example). Too bad, but not unthinkable so far, as the game can be redundant in terms of fighting. We will quickly go around the skills of our character, and a frustration arises as to the possibilities that the game could have offered if it had gone further in its clashes.
Not all boss fights are successful.
As for the city of London, the latter is intriguing to visit. Sinuous and dense, although not particularly large, we will take a lot of pleasure in exploring the British capital, which is adorned with a black atmosphere of the most beautiful effect. Too bad, however, that the technique does not mar all this. As often on the Nintendo console, concessions must be made, and here, they are not the least. Reduced viewing distance, very late appearance of textures and lower framerate during clashes are to be expected in TV mode. In portable, the game appears a bit more fluid, but will not make the experience unforgettable. It also seems important to mention rather long loading times (a defect already present on the PS4 and One versions). In the absence of the technique at a discount, we can cling to the compositions of Olivier Derivière who does, once again, a remarkable job, and reinforces the Victorian atmosphere of Dontnod's work.
However, Vampire is an interesting game in many ways, despite its off-putting clashes. Discovering this winding London, with its sick and poor after the war is intriguing. However, we recommend that you head to the PC (Steam), Xbox One or PlayStation 4 versions if you have one of these machines, to fully appreciate the journey, rather than the Nintendo Swich version tested here.
