Victor Vran: Overkill Edition Reviews

Victor Vran’s two latest DLCs, Mötorhead Through The Ages and Fractured Worlds are coming out on June 6, 2017, after a slight delay. So does the Overkill Edition for the consoles that comes bundled with those DLCs.

A number of outlets have their reviews of the Overkill Edition up already. From the looks of it, people seem to be enjoying their time with Haemimont’s new and improved action-RPG. Have a look:

Finger Guns – 9/10:

In Summary, Victor Vran: Overkill Edition is demonic good fun and an almost essential aRPG. It keeps the focus on the action, keeps the combat competitive and remains entertains through either humour or atmosphere from beginning to end. It’s insistence on foreshadowing some of its more poignant moments does take the sting out of some of the plot turns and there are some dungeons that become a bit of a slog. Those small issues aside, Victor Vran is one of the most enjoyable aRPG’s I’ve played in recent times with some A+ additional content for Metal heads thrown in for good measure.

God is a Geek – 8/10:

Boss fights, however, are the weakest part of Victor Vran. Unlike the fun, varied combat scenarios thrown at you during the rest of the game, the bosses tend to be tremendous slogs. The first one, for example, periodically spawns totems that sap your health and give it back to the boss, and I ended up simply running around in circles to avoid his attacks while taking down these constructs. Most others follow similar patterns, sometimes swarming you with smaller creatures (which can significantly impact the framerate, slowing things down quite a bit at times) just to keep you busy and drag out the battles. It just feels lazy, which is a shame considering how enjoyable the rest of the game is.

Each stage comes with special bonus objectives too, ranging from killing a set number of enemies within a set time, to taking no damage or using no health potions. Some introduce the use of Hexes, which are modifiers that can be applied for extra challenge, but you really have to be excellent at the game for that. This adds a bit of variety to each stage (and there are tonnes of those) and even a little replayability. Much like the games that inspired it, Victor Vran has a lot of content to keep you playing after completion, from the expansion content to the optional dungeons and post-completion bonus challenges, and will keep going well beyond the 8-9 hours of the base game’s story.

Push Square – 7/10:

Victor Vran: Overkill Edition doesn’t revolutionise the action RPG genre, but it certainly has helped it evolve. The scrapping of class systems and skill trees gives you more control over the character that you want to make, while the hordes of collectable loot will keep you chopping and changing your loadout for a long time. While its story is a little stale and there is still something very conventional about how Haemimont Games’ latest is set out, the variety of gameplay and four-player co-op will keep you coming back to Zagoravia for hours.

PlayStation Universe – 8.5/10:

Bursting with slick hack and slash beats and enough content to keep even the most grizzled dungeon crawling veteran happy, Victor Vran has found a perfect home on PS4.

The very definition of a pleasant surprise in a year stuffed with high budget heavy hitters, Victor Vran might not make any massive strides to truly break the genre mould, but it does more than enough to ensure that it matches the calibre of its distinguished stablemates.

TheXboxHub – 4/5:

Graphically, the game performs well, for the most part. There is some annoying slow down when the screen gets particularly busy, especially if you and the enemies are using your demon powers – did I mention that the baddies can also use the same powers you can? – but it isn’t all the time. The animation of the creatures and Victor is also a high point, with the skeletons having a pleasing Ray Harryhausen kind of jerky walk, and things like ghosts and gargoyles zooming about the place. The sound works well too, and you can often hear the monsters before you can see them, giving you time to gird your metaphorical loins before wading in again. The crunch as a skeleton is destroyed by a hammer is very pleasing indeed!

In conclusion then, Victor Vran Overkill Edition is a worthy addition to the genre. It doesn’t out-Diablo Diablo, but thanks to the care put into the levelling and loot systems, it is undoubtedly worth the time to explore. With the DLC included in the package, especially the Fractured Worlds which are different each time you dive into a Rift, the value here is beyond reproach. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Victor, and think you just might as well.

Flickering Myth – 9/10:

At the end of the day all of these elements come together to provide you with an aRPG experience that’s not only a familiar romp, but something that manages to surprise and delight in ways you perhaps didn’t think was possible any more in this genre.