Dontnod Entertainment is not a studio to rest on its laurels.
Three years ago, the French developer ventured into cyberpunk territory with the divisive action-adventure title Remember Me, before breaking new ground with Life is Strange in 2015. Released as an episodic series a la Telltale Games, Life is Strange won over the hearts and minds of players with a poignant time-travel story all wrapped up in the nostalgic seaside town of Arcadia Bay.
Fast forward to now and we arrive at Vampyr, a new IP crafted in collaboration with Focus Home Interactive that is literally worlds away from teenage angst and Neo-Paris. In the game, you’ll step into the grubby shoes of Dr. Jonathan Reid, a skilled professional who just so happens to moonlight as a vampire. Set in Victorian London during the devastating outbreak of Spanish flu – around 1918, then – Dontnod’s new creative venture is teeming with potential, particularly when you toss in the fact that your decisions – who lives, who dies? – will have a marked effect on the outcome of the story.
That set-up extends to London’s many citizens, too, with the studio teasing that “in Vampyr, every citizen killed will affect London’s safety. From shop closures to missing kin, the act of killing is unavoidable, but who you kill, and how, is in your hands. Every civilian can be killed, or saved – but as hordes of vampire hunters prowl the streets, growing strong on the blood of the weak will be ever more tempting.”
Vampyr is expected to claw its way onto PS4, Xbox One and PC sometime in 2017.
