

It would have been nice if the camera was a little closer to the battleground so that I could better see the destruction I brought upon the hive, but I still got to enjoy smearing spider guts around the room.

My task of killing a demon spider led me to its den, and it’s here that I really got to let loose, killing what felt like a couple hundred spiders by the end of the battle. Luckily for carnage-loving folks like myself, ample opportunity is given to shred through dozens of enemies at a time. Having access to devastating weapons that charge up even more powerful demon attacks would be a waste if the enemy placement hasn’t been optimized. These can range from damage buffs, to temporary armor, or to my personal favorite, a room-clearing solar blast from Victor’s hand. If that wasn’t enough, Victor is able to fill an overdrive meter to pull of some incredible demon powers. The breadth of freedom is really quite refreshing, to be able to adjust on the fly based on the environment or the enemy allows for a smooth flow of destruction. The style of play you choose is dictated by the weapon that is equipped, and in many cases changing up the way you battle is encouraged based on enemy placement.Īfter hitting a certain level, Victor earns the ability to equip two weapons and this will allow you to smoothly flow between a ranged sniper and melee fighter with a simple click of a button.

The choice of whether to pound a demon into oblivion with a large hammer, or to fry it from afar with a lightning gun can be done on the fly. Victor Vran differs from other action hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers in that it doesn’t require that you choose a style of play upfront.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting from point A to B alive, other times you’ll need to take down a big bad before moving on. With no shortage of enemies to shoot, bash, or maim, the goal of each level is made clear and its placement shown on the map. Gameplay is done in arena-type areas throughout the city, ranging from the Royal Gardens to skeleton-infested crypts. The two voices you’ll hear the most, Victor and a mysterious stranger, are perfectly cast and a joy to listen to. Over about 10 or so hours, a wonderfully voice-acted and engaging, if not a little cliched, story will take place. Having received a mysterious message via a raven from Adrian, Victor heads into Zagoravia in search of his friend. Among the missing is Adrian, a close friend of the protagonist you’ll play as: Victor Vran. It’s been a year since Katrina, the Queen of Zagoravia, summoned members of the Hunters Guild for help, but those who heeded the call have not been heard from again. Demons have driven the few remaining survivors into a final stand at the castle keep. The city of Zagoravia is on the brink of collapse. Between an interesting story with some great voice acting, mixed in with some fun enemy-shredding combat and basically the hardest battle becomes me trying to turn convince myself to stop playing when it's time to go to bed. Victor Vran is all of these things and more. Follow that up with additional descriptors like dungeon crawler, RPG, demon hunting and a badass hero and you might as well take my wallet right now. Typically speaking, if you begin the description of a game and include the word steampunk, I’m gonna play it.
