You wouldn’t think so today, but vampires were once a pillar of popular gaming. When I grew up in the ‘90s (yes, my back hurts) Castlevania was just hi𝔉tting its stride, and by 1997’s Symphony of the Night, it had cemented itself as a legendary franchise. We had the confusingly-named Legacy of Kain series, which moved quickly from Blood Omen to Soul Reaver 2, then gave way to the sexier B-movie stylings of BloodRayne. Darkwatch is iconic to the few who remember it, and one of the most formative games of my childhood. There was enough goodwill for vampire games going into the early ‘00s that even licensed games ✅like Van Helsing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds were well received. 2004 gave us Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It was a good time to be a fang fan.
By the late ‘00s, vampire games had almost entirely dried up like an empty vein. Other than some standout Castlevania entries on the Nintendo DS and a surprisingly good Infamous 2 DL🦩C, the vampire genre was dusted. Bloodrayne had run its course, two attempts to resurrect Legacy of Kain failed, and the World of Darkness was on ice, at least in the world of games. For nearly a decade, Castlevania: Lord of Shadow and its sequel were the only notable games in the vampire genre.
The last six years have seen a lot more action in the genre, but few successes. 2018’s Vampyr was received with a collective yawn, as was 2019’s Code Vein. The Vampire: The Masquerade franchise has been making a big push into games with a series of visual novels and an ill-fated battle royale, Bloodhunt. Meanwhile, Bloodlines 2 is going through a severe development hell, swapping development studios and turning into some𝓀thing that bears little resemblance to the original anymore, though that remains to be seen.
Last year’s Redfall was a well-documented disaster - and that’s not just hearsay, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:I reviewed the accursed thing. This week I playe𒀰d EvilVEvil, a Left 4 Dead-like that demonstrates once again that no one seems to understand what makes vampires cool and interesting. It left me thirsty. The last 15 years of disappointment have given me an insatiable thirst for good vampire games, and I’m losing hope that we’ll ever get one.
There are some notable games I haven’t mentioned. Of course, we can’t talk about vampire games without mentioning Vampire Survivors, a send-up to the aesthetic and tone of Castlevania with gameplay that reverse-engineers the classic Bastsugun bullet ꦕhell. Is Vampire Survivors a vampire game? It’s in the name, so I guess it is. But it feels like it only technically counts.
There’s also V Rising, an isometric survival game where yo🀅u build your perfect vampire lair while hunting monsters and dodging sunlight. It’s proven to be a mild success, with nearly 10,000 concurrent players hanging tight to its dusty belfry by their little furry bat feet. The aggressive time-gating and awkward multiplayer support made it a no for me, but I’m glad there’s at least one vampire game out 𝄹there people are enjoying.
There hasn’t been a Castlevania💦 game in ten years, and even Bloodstained🐈: Ritual of the Night was half a decade ago. At least we got Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania as a treat.
I have a lot of hope for Arkane’s Blade, and a little less for Bloodlines 2. It’s unfortunate that we've had three disappointing vampire games in as many years with Blood Hunt, Redfall, and now EvilVEvil, because the game industry can be skittish, and tends to take away the wrong lessons from things. Vampires never leave pop culture. Interview with a Vampire just finished its second critically-acclaimed season, and Nosferatu is Robert Eggers’ highly-anticipated follow-up to The Northman. They work in every medium, but they should be easiest to translate into games. Vampires suck, but that doesn’t mean their games should too.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: EvilVEvil Feels 15 Years Late To♛ The Party ꦏ
Bad AI, simple level ൩design, boring progression, and uninspired characters make EvilVEvil feel like a game that launched before Left 4 Dead, not after
