Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Dracula Day: Vampire Game Recommendations


May 26th is World Dracula Day, and so I bring you an assortment of vampire games to enjoy -- even if it isn't Halloween yet.


“Denn die Todten reiten Schnell. (For the dead travel fast.)”
     ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

There are a lot of games out there with vampires in them, so I don't make any claims to having covered all of them. What I've done is take some of the better rated ones (and some that I have enjoyed personally) and settled on a round number of 10. If you're a big fan of vampires, there's a good chance you've played all of these already -- or at least looked at them.


BloodRayne

I haven't played this, I just hear it mentioned often!


Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

I was introduced to the Castlevania series when I was still in grade school back in the 90's, but have yet to actually play any of the titles. I've recently obtained some after enjoying the Netflix anime treatment, and this is one of them.


Code Vein

Futuristic, post-apocalypse vampire game here. Humans are a rare and precious commodity. You and other revenants rely on blood beads that... grow from white plants? Look, I know that's a terrible description -- it's actually better than that. Think of an anime hack-and-slash game where you gather inherent skills because your DNA is awesome and you fight a bunch of mutants. Bonus: Some great character customization options.


DARK

I was terrible at this game, but I enjoyed the premise immensely. It's basically Thief but as a vampire with vampire skills to defeat other vampires and more. There's a story to it, and I never did get far enough to really understand it, but it seemed well made from what I played of it!


The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

This series right here is where my heart is on this list! After playing and enjoying the first game (linked here), I was a legendary backer for the sequel game (name in the credits and a bunch of physical goodies) and bought the third as soon as it was available. For me, the first game remains the best of the trio, but some of the unique characters in the second one were worth it. The third, honestly, just tied up loose ends in the story. But NeoCore put some serious time and love into the series, where not every enemy is a vampire, and there are plenty of pop culture references to enjoy.


Legacy of Kain: Defiance

I had a different title in the list here originally, then decided this was the better quality game to include based on reviews. I haven't played it, but the user reviews speak well of it.


Monster Prom

This one's a bit more of a stretch for vampire games, but... there is a vampire character. Play as a monster, get your crush to go to prom with you. It's a lot of fun!


Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi

I have this title but haven't tried it. Seems to have pretty good reviews. The Steam description, however, sounds like a bad combination of Dracula and Clue.


Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

My only actual experience with this brand is from some bad LARP I was witness to over 15 years ago. The base world it stems from was always pretty solid as far as tabletop RP went, and this game has great reviews.


Vampyr

The set-up for this one sounds like a definite existential crisis, and I haven't played it, but they're obviously confident in their game based on the cost. It's by DontNod, the people who made Life is Strange, so I'm sure the quality is up there!



Want to find some other great games like these? Here's a handy link to searching through the Steam store catalog for the 'vampire' tag.


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