∎ most recent game ∎
reviewed on: 2025 oct 9
october is the time for fmvs, and what better pick than an fmv where you play as a vampire? were the stars not as aligned as they are, i may have torn my hair out over this one, but fortunately for gothos, they were & i had fun! fmv games are always charming, particularly older games where footage had to be compressed to hell to fit on the discs, but i like the unique stuff this one brings to the table. the gameplay loop of having to select an npc to feed on so you don't die of hunger is really interesting, honestly; everytime you move somewhere, your health ticks down, and if it gets to 0 it's obviously game over ... but every npc you meet is a person with a schedule & a personality, so it can be difficult to make the call to kill them so you can carry on. it's surprisingly great tension! ( even if the acting is hammy & the personalities on display are not the most well realized. ) there's also some lgbt themeing going on, which may or may not be sincere ... but at least the stuff i saw seemed nice enough for the 90's. the dialogue system (?) is kind of cool too. you drag left or right on your character's portrait in the UI, and depending on the face they make, it determines both the tone of what they say as well as how intensely they say it. it's more impressive in theory, though ... in practice, it's hard to predict what your character will say, and there's enough inconsistency within the scale that i couldn't ever get a feel for it. story wise ... i mean ... it's kind of awesome that it's a vampire vs vampire story? and that you're a vampire? but that's it. i didn't finish so i don't know where it goes, but what i saw was fun at least. oh, and i like that when you get a "mission" from an npc, or you get an item or something, in an uncharacteristically kind fashion, this adventure game actually made sense as to where you needed to go to make progress. it was delightfully upfront, at least in the first part of the game. biggest gripe i have is that navigating the world is CRAZY hard, because the direction you face is not consistent with what direction you travel ( eg. i go east, but when i load in, i'm facing north ); maps have different perspectives depending on what direction you enter them, as well, which meant that getting lost is way too easy. compound this with the hunger meter that drains every time to click to a new map, and you've got a recipe for agonizing frustration. and ... i guess that's it!! dope little game i'd like to see through someday, if i can help it. for now ... moving on to something else!
october is the time for fmvs, and what better pick than an fmv where you play as a vampire? were the stars not as aligned as they are, i may have torn my hair out over this one, but fortunately for gothos, they were & i had fun! fmv games are always charming, particularly older games where footage had to be compressed to hell to fit on the discs, but i like the unique stuff this one brings to the table. the gameplay loop of having to select an npc to feed on so you don't die of hunger is really interesting, honestly; everytime you move somewhere, your health ticks down, and if it gets to 0 it's obviously game over ... but every npc you meet is a person with a schedule & a personality, so it can be difficult to make the call to kill them so you can carry on. it's surprisingly great tension! ( even if the acting is hammy & the personalities on display are not the most well realized. ) there's also some lgbt themeing going on, which may or may not be sincere ... but at least the stuff i saw seemed nice enough for the 90's. the dialogue system (?) is kind of cool too. you drag left or right on your character's portrait in the UI, and depending on the face they make, it determines both the tone of what they say as well as how intensely they say it. it's more impressive in theory, though ... in practice, it's hard to predict what your character will say, and there's enough inconsistency within the scale that i couldn't ever get a feel for it. story wise ... i mean ... it's kind of awesome that it's a vampire vs vampire story? and that you're a vampire? but that's it. i didn't finish so i don't know where it goes, but what i saw was fun at least. oh, and i like that when you get a "mission" from an npc, or you get an item or something, in an uncharacteristically kind fashion, this adventure game actually made sense as to where you needed to go to make progress. it was delightfully upfront, at least in the first part of the game. biggest gripe i have is that navigating the world is CRAZY hard, because the direction you face is not consistent with what direction you travel ( eg. i go east, but when i load in, i'm facing north ); maps have different perspectives depending on what direction you enter them, as well, which meant that getting lost is way too easy. compound this with the hunger meter that drains every time to click to a new map, and you've got a recipe for agonizing frustration. and ... i guess that's it!! dope little game i'd like to see through someday, if i can help it. for now ... moving on to something else!