Soon after Life is Strange finished its fifth and final episode, the team at Dontnod Entertainment wasted no time in announcing that they’re working on a brand new game, Vampyr, a game decidedly different from the mumblecore-movie-meets-teen-film-meets-butterfly-effect game that was Life is Strange. During this year’s E3, Dontnod released a new trailer for the game, showing off what the game is going to look and play like.
Looking at the trailer above, you can see that I wasn’t kidding when I said Vampyr is decidedly different from Life is Strange. For starters, its overtly dark tones don’t exactly match those of life at Blackwell Academy. While Life is Strange took some time to prove it wasn’t playing with kid gloves either, Vampyr seems to be throwing down that gauntlet right out the gate. The trailer alone features a good bit of gore, blood, and corpses. As well, it appears to be somewhat of an action title, judging by the combat sequence they previewed.
Its story, however, may find similarities with Life is Strange despite its much more bleaker, darker setting. As Life is Strange aimed to highlight the (very, very) quirky life of one hipster student who finds herself imbued with time rewind powers, Vampyr focuses on a post-World War I doctor who suddenly finds himself turned into a vampire. The doctor, who abhors what he’s become, hopes to not have to kill people to get his bloody fix.
Therein lies the challenge, according to Dontnod. Players will be rewarded for not killing humans over the course of the game. They’ll have to balance the doctor’s search for a cure with his suddenly bloodlust driven condition. Dontnod whips out the butterfly effect again here, saying that who players kill can and will have an effect on their game. They shared one example in the press release, writing, “A merchant’s wife could be killed and he could decide to close shop and leave town. Every life you take away will have consequences for the city and the people around them.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Dontnod pulls off this story. If it can take its lessons from Life is Strange and bring them to bear on Vampyr, then there could very well be something special in this game. You can bet I’ll be watching very closely.
(via Polygon)
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Published: Jun 15, 2016 11:48 am