DONTNOD Starts Talking Vampyr

It’s been almost six months since we heard anything about Vampyr, an RPG developed by DONTNOD (Life is Strange, Remember Me) set during World War One and featuring a vampire protagonist, but it looks like the developers are finally ready to give us a few details.

The official PlayStation Blog has what we might call “the elevator pitch” for the game:

What can you tell us about the gameplay of Vampyr?

Vampyr is an action RPG with tight, visceral combat mechanics, exploration, and investigation you’ll have to collect many clues, and talk to many people as you prowl the streets of London.

With the use of vampiric powers as you’d expect! and authentic ‘˜make-shift’ weapons, such as a saw (our protagonist is a surgeon, after all!) you’ll be fighting both mythical terrors and human foes.

You’ll also be able to make use of different ranged weapons, and there’s more to the combat, but we’re not ready to reveal that yet.

One of the most interesting things is that everyone you meet in Vampyr could be a target, if you want. But each kill will have consequences on the fragile streets of London. You’ll both see those consequences, and feel them. They’ll have an effect on the story, often immediately, and in the long-run. Vampires have to eat, after-all. But as the saying goes, ‘˜you are what you eat’ at least, in Reid’s mind. He’s a very human vampire. at least, he hasn’t forgotten where he came from. Do not think that makes him .ood’, though. You’ll see.

While GameSpot has a more in-depth interview that confirms the developers are working on Unreal 4 and targeting current-generation consoles:

Vampyr obviously isn’t the first vampire-themed game. What are some of the team’s favorite vampire games and in what ways does Vampyr expand on the idea of being a vampire and take it in a new/different direction?

Philippe Moreau: There are certainly tons of vampire-themed movies and TV shows, but I felt that there was plenty of untapped potential for the theme to be explored in gaming. Of course, legendary examples such as Vampire: The Masquerade and Castlevania explore the theme masterfully, but I really think the universe and mythos remains underexplored.

We want to go back to the Gothic roots of Vampire mythology and emphasize their struggling duality: killing innocent people to survive is the price of immortality. So if you, as a player, were a vampire, how would you handle that choice? Less glitter, more grit.

Does working within the confines of a real event put any limitations on what you can do creatively? Or do you see that more of an opportunity to provide a new take on the subject?

Moreau: On the contrary, we chose a setting and time period that provided us a really rich narrative context. In the addition of the supernatural Vampiric layer, we are able to bring our own very darkly mysterious and atmospheric version of London, 1918.

What kind of research did you do for this project specifically–about vampires and early 20th century Britain and the flu? How deep did you dive into the history of the world you’re building?

Beauverger: We did a lot of research about the historical setting of the catastrophic flu, but also about medical and scientific progress during the war, to lend authenticity to the feeling of the situation at the time. The authorities hardly coped with the situation, there were just too many corpses to be dealt with, and civilians mostly were left to themselves. It is also important to notice that, because of the ongoing war, the government did not want to alarm the population and communicated very little about the epidemic. All of this will be shown in our version of a grim London, throughout events and general background. And, of course, we also did a lot of research about vampire mythology, to create a unique but relatable lore.