A Vampyre Story

The lore regarding vampires has increased by quite a lot in the last few decades, as has the interest shown by people from all over the world when it comes to the fanged creatures of the night. Although almost all the tales feature some common elements, such as their inability to survive in direct sunlight, or the fact that they are immortal, every rendition also brings a few new elements to the table, in order to make the story a bit more original.

In the case of A Vampyre Story, however, every cliché of the genre is present, including garlic, bat metamorphosis and plenty of other old myths surrounding the idea of a vampire. While this might sound unoriginal and boring, the game emphasizes on humor, story and great characters to relay the story, which quickly take your mind off anything else and keep you invested in the events unfolding on the screen.

Using a classic point-and-click adventure interface, the game should feel very similar to the fans of the genre, since the mechanics are about the same as in any other title of this kind. However, due to the fact that a lot of the developers are ex-developers from LucasArts, many elements are borrowed from classic games such as The Curse of the Monkey Island, which is definitely not a bad thing at all.

The plot revolves around a young woman who dreams to be a successful opera singer, but a vampire ruins her plans by turning her, thus rendering her unable to perform ever again. Her goal is to break the curse and get back to her normal life, using an old and somewhat strange ritual to do so. Along the way, she also gets a very funny, yet not that particular helpful companion: a talking bat by the name of Froderick. Naturally, Mona can also turn into a bat herself from time to time, although she chooses not to more often than not, to preserve her humanity as intact as possible.

As far as the puzzles are concerned, you should not let the wacky graphics or the funny dialogues trick you, because they can be pretty brutal and not everything is as obvious as you might think. However, they are very satisfying in the end and pretty clever as well, since it is not all about pixel hunting and noticing small details. Everything you do helps you advance and there are no quests put there just to make the game longer.

In the end, A Vampyre Story is definitely worthy of a playthrough, if only to enjoy the great tale and hear all of the incredibly funny dialogue written for the game. Adventure fans can also find a decent challenge in the title, thanks to the ingenious puzzles and tricky riddles.