jericho_cross

Yay, another excuse to post to this community!

This game takes your standard soulslike dark fantasy monsters and drops them into a pirate setting. So it has goblins and dragons in a world of pirates. While I usually think of ghosts and sea monsters when I picture this genre, I arbitrarily defined the genre anyway and I say this counts!

There's a demo for Next Fest and while this isn't a AAA-quality game, I still think it's a solid soulslike.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2708040/Keelblade/

Releases December 8, and there's a demo available.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3734220/Guns_of_Eschaton/

Let me start by saying I know very little about Vampire: The Masquerade and I don't play visual novels. But all three Vampire: The Masquerade visual novels went on sale as a bundle for $5 so I figured I could give them a try. Now I want to share my thoughts.

The first game, Coteries of New York was a good introduction to the trilogy for me. I think it set the right expectations. I got to enter a name I wanted my character to be called and I got to pick between 3 different vampire clans. I don't know how much variation there really was in the story, but the game made me feel like I was roleplaying. That is, the game might give me a choice between "be a jerk" and "be polite" and even though either answer would result in me obtaining the same information, it felt like I had agency. The game also ended on a bit of a cliffhanger so I was curious to see where the story would go next. I was surprisingly impressed by my first visual novel experience and was interested to continue.

The next game, Shadows of New York was a total letdown in comparison. Suddenly I don't get to pick a name, I don't get to pick a clan, and instead I have to follow this one specific character's story. Also, rather than giving me a choice between three dialog options anytime a character talked to me, this character always responded on her own. Most of the time when I was given a choice, the result didn't even matter. Like, I'd get to choose what she said to herself as inner monologue but not what she said out loud. Or when given a choice for what to say out loud, my choices were: "What?", "...What?", or "Huh?". So my decision was irrelevant. At the end of the story, my character left the city behind to start her new life with her girlfriend. And I got the "Bad Ending" achievement. I wasn't sure how "they lived happily ever after" was a bad ending so I had to google what I did wrong. Apparently during the game I was given 3 actual choices of what to do. If I chose to hold onto my humanity, this resulted in the "bad" ending. Instead, if I decided to be a jerk and step on everyone in my path, the girlfriend would die but the main character would gain a seat of power. And since I was told her vampire clan were a bunch of back-stabbing self-centered jerks, I apparently didn't roleplay the character "correctly". Bullshit. I don't know much about V:tM but I'm pretty sure a major aspect of it is how long you can hold onto your humanity. So I didn't like this game. The story was fine, but it felt like I had less agency in the game.

The third game, Reckoning of New York, was a bit of a mix between the two. The character's name and clan was picked for me again, but I was given more actual choices that once again made me feel like I had agency. Except there's only one ending to this game so my choices didn't actually matter. Weird. The story is about two characters who were assigned to each other at the beginning of the game and after you finish it, you unlock the ability to play the game again as the other character. I read online that apparently this other character's storyline can have two endings but I didn't feel like replaying the entire game from someone else's perspective just to see how it could turn out differently. I guess I could watch a youtube video of the endings, but I don't actually care that much.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the trilogy. I very quickly got used to a text-only adventure (no voice work at all) and I liked the artwork shown as you moved through the story. Plus, the stories were engaging enough that I was interested in finishing all three games. They're only loosely connected though. In the second game, they mention a weird vampire from a year ago who did some things then disappeared. And that's all the resolution we get from the first game's storyline. Then in the third game, they apparently took the "Good Ending" of the second game because the character you played as is now at a seat of power. That's fine I guess; they had to pick one of the endings to stick with. But this means the only real connection between the games were basically easter eggs so you could play any of the three games in isolation and not lose anything. The first game is definitely the best though.

You can buy the entire trilogy as a bundle, which regularly goes on sale for 85% off. At 4-5 hours of gameplay per game, I don't regret my time (or money) spent. Also, it looks like a new V:tM visual novel will be released later this year, Oaths & Ashes. I'll probably play that too when it goes on sale. So despite my mixed feelings on this trilogy as a whole, I'm still interested in V:tM and visual novels in general to play more of them.

Starring Hollywood actors Jonathan Bailey, Ella Purnell, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, the Audible Original transforms the classic gothic tale into an intimate, ASMR-style theatrical performance.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Bram-Stokers-Dracula-Audiobook/B0H956N76W

The Dark West looks like it should be everything I want from a Weird West game. It's a top-down twin-stick shooter with action RPG elements. And it isn't a roguelike! Unfortunately, I tried playing the demo a couple months ago and the game just didn't feel "fun" to me. I don't remember any specific complaints I had, only that the moment-to-moment gameplay loop felt tedious. The developers say there'll be an updated demo during the Steam Next Fest on October 19 though so I'm looking forward to trying it again. Hopefully I'll have a better impression this time. I still want to like this game but my expectations are set more realistically now. Anyway, here's a new trailer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3574750/The_Dark_West/

I have no idea if the gameplay will be any fun, but I like the idea of preparing Dracula's castle for incoming attackers in a tower defense game. That's just a fun premise. Releases March 25, 2027.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3295000/ReVamp/

Finally, an excuse to post to this community! I knew this day would come!

I initially defined this "Dark Fantasy Pirates" genre as taking place during the Golden Age of Piracy, and this game takes place in the 1900s, but that'll just have to be close enough. Also, the official description says:

Step into the boots of Draga, a hardened smuggler and pirate first mate whose final heist has gone catastrophically wrong. Trapped aboard the Ormora, a decaying 1900s steamship icelocked in unpredictable waters, you must navigate the labyrinth inside to find your missing crew while fighting a losing battle against the ritualistic, cosmic horrors that have breached our reality whilst losing control of yourself.

Sounds like the perfect game for me to post here!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4810650/Black_Tides_Dragas_Wake/

I tried searching to see if "Black Tides" was the name of some ongoing series and "Draga's Wake" was just the latest entry, but I think this is the first game with that name. I guess the game is made by "A former Rockstar developer who has worked on games like GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2".

Also, this is IGN's video I'm posting and the developer actually commented on the video saying:

Hey @IGN Thank so you much for sharing it really means a lot to us and the team and helps us with visibility. We are unfunded at this point so all the love means a lot.

So I'm pretty sure this game will never actually release. We'll see. I'd love to be proven wrong, this game looks really cool.

The first trailer made this look like a fun little Weird West FPS. This new trailer shows a lot of game mechanics and they all look too complex for my tastes. Check your codex to find each enemy's weak spot? Pick a specific bullet in the chamber for a specific attribute? I'm sure there are people who will love that level of detail in a game but it's too much for me. But hey, at least there's a demo now. Maybe I should try it for myself rather than just complain.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3734220/Guns_of_Eschaton/

Available September 25, 2026 - October 24, 23:59 (JST)

Players who download the game during this period will continue to be able to download and play it after the promotion has ended.

Of the anime I've seen on this list, I agree with their rankings. I'll definitely be checking out the ones I haven't seen.

Hellsing Ultimate and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust are amazing. Definitely watch them if you can.

I know music never gets upvoted here (especially metal songs) but I wish there were more metal songs about vampires.

Let me know if you have any other vampire-related metal songs to share!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/71061864

I was trying to find more retro video games involving vampires (as I tend to do) when I stumbled upon this one. The premise seems straightfoward enough but they made the vampire look like such a creep it really does looking like you're "stalking" these women and not "hunting" them.

Just look at this explanation that comes up before you insert a coin. Look at that vampire!

Anyway, the gameplay is basically pac-man. You move around the maze trying to touch women (like a creep) while trying not to let priests or nuns touch you. But there are so many priests and nuns moving around the stage (and moving faster than you can) that it's extremely difficult. So this isn't a good game but it's certainly an odd one. And I just had to share.

Here's a longplay of the game.