Despite praising its originality, Andy said Vampyr "tries to do too much at once and suffers for it". To this end, the action role-player's incoming Story mode might help it refocus as it "de-emphasizes combat", allowing for more exploration.
Alongside a host of optimisation tweaks, publisher Focus Home says Vampyr's Story mode "places a greater focus on narrative, allowing players to experience Dr. Reid’s journey with less challenging combat." All of which should make wandering around its atmospheric, early 20th century London streets more endearing.
At the other end of the spectrum, Vampyr is also getting a "cranked-up, more challenging" Hard mode.
"Hard mode makes combat much more difficult," says Focus Home. "Players will receive less experience from killing enemies too, forcing them to rely even more on embracing citizens to grow in power." Andy wasn't overly keen on Vampyr's combat—"[it] feels weightless, twitchy, and unsatisfying"—but if you were, Hard mode is likely up yer alley. You masochist, you.
No hard launch date for any of that beyond "this summer", but Vampyr is hosting a 25 percent sale weekend on Steam. If you fancy that, it costs £33.74/$37.49 till Monday, July 30.
