Haemimont Games’ Victor Vran sheds the shackles of Steam Early Access and comes in guns a blazing as a top down action role playing game for the masses. With lots of competition in the field but a favourable £15.99 price of entry is this worthy of your time and money. Take a look at our Victor Vran review for the full picture.
Victor Vran Review:
Today we’re taking a look at Haemimont Games top down action role playing game Victor Vran which has steadily been gaining traction in Early Access for the past six months and now is fully realised. Coming in rather cheap at £15.99 the game tells the story of a demon hunter haunted by a mysterious voice as he searches for clues and answers as to who is pulling the strings in a demon infested city. The story is perhaps rather forgettable and told by way of interaction with NPCs and the odd cut scene, however its presence acts as a basis for lots of hack and slash killing which ultimately is where the game shines.
The gameplay is quite a simple affair where you’ll hold down a single attack button whilst directing where Victor faces leaving enemies sliced and diced over and over. However, there are a few tactics involved including dodge rolling, jumping and unleashing charged up and special attacks at the opportune moments. What’s perhaps most interesting about the combat is the fact that Victor can chop and change his attack style by the type of weapon he wields, so for example there are giant hammers which offer slow but powerful hits, rapiers which are quick and deadly, and then swords and scythes which hit multiple enemies and sit in-between. To top the weapons list off there are a number of ranged weapons such as a trusty shotgun, rifles and grenade launchers which can also be changed on the fly. With Victor able to equip two weapons of choice at once there’s much encouragement to mix things up across levels to suit the opposition – so again for example, the quick moving vampires seen later on fall foul to a bit of sword play quite readily whereas singular tougher foes like gargoyles can be turned into mush with a hammer.
As you would expect, the loot comes thick and fast so there’s always an incentive to check the stats of whatever weapon is found and replace the currently selected item if it’s better suited. There’s some neat bonuses for each weapon which prove useful against particular foes so a bit of menu trawling is required every so often, although you could easily just ignore this and march onwards. Between each level there’s a hub area which can be used to buy or sell gear and a rather cool transmute option which allows upgrades of weapons and items. The game uses Destiny Cards as a way of providing Victor with stat bonuses which can be found in the field or purchased and equipped at leisure. As Victor levels up more slots become open and allow players to tailor the base stats and some skills. Demon Runes are also used which govern the special attacks and like everything else come in a variety of levels of rarity. Being able to upgrade all of these extras is a neat addition, although not entirely necessary if fiddling in menus isn’t your thing.
In terms of visuals the game looks good throughout although for the most part the far camera makes Victor rather small on the screen. There’s good reason for this so as to see the surrounding areas with ease, but a manual zoom could have proved to be more engaging during combat. The levels are quite varied in design but sit within typical environments for this type of game – so there’s very little originality here. There are some neat special effects from various attacks which light up the screen making Victor’s adventure look well polished with very few, if any glitches or massive dips in frames.
Audio is of a very high standard with some fantastic music aiding the atmosphere with enchanting melodies providing pleasant pensive moments during searching and combat. There’s also a some excellent voice acting and script with the Voice providing a few laughs here and there as the game doesn’t fully take itself too seriously at times – the haunted pumpkin being one such moment that reeks of tongue in cheek playfulness. Victor himself is voiced by Doug Cockle who is well know for playing Geralt in the Witcher series and lends an air of authority to proceedings which is great.
Players can expect to sink quite a number of hours despite the basic actions being a little repetitive after so many hours exploring and killing. What is rather good is an encouragement to replay levels to gain all the stars, players are encouraged to experiment with Hex modifiers which ramp up the challenge considerably. Once the game has been bested Elite Challenges are unlocked adding even greater accomplishment to obtain. It’s a good system and although the basic actions remain the same provides enough bang for your buck. Players can also team up online and co-op or go head to head which is neat bonus although sadly there’s no local co-op play option.
Victor Vran enters the fray as a surprisingly well polished and exciting action role playing game to sink your teeth into. It’s got some decent humor, solid gameplay mechanics and a stat system which allows for multiple ways to tailor the character to your liking. With lots of loot to find, and plenty of enemies to lay waste to, there’s enough entertainment here to reach into double figures and beyond. For the asking price though it’s great value for money and if you’re into Gothic games of this nature then it comes highly recommended despite being a little simplistic overall. Aside from a lack of local multiplayer, a camera that’s perhaps too far away at times and no other characters to choose from there’s little else to complain about here making Victor Vran well worth checking out.
Score 8.5/10
