We Need Grave Dirt! A Vampyre Story

We Need Grave Dirt! A Vampyre Story

It's all about the stove.

I’ve just played through the demo for A Vampyre Story after I heard it was done by the Monkey Island chaps, which, while I’ve never played (please, no stones or arrows), does send pleasurably tingles down my newly awakened appreciation for adventure games (after playing The Longest Journey). This is taking the comical route of placing you in the ridiculous proportions of a newly turned vampi(y)re named Mona, with her bat pet/friend called Frederick. Impressions through the jump.

I think the story of A Vampyre story is that Mona has been turned by some strange ghost creature called Shadey because she were a famous singer, and he fell in love with her. He wants to keep her in his castle so he can fawn over her or something, and she’d rather not. So you start the game outside the gravedigger’s hut, trying to find some grave dirt from your grave so that you can survive the coming day. Only as soon as you go inside Shadey turns up and locks you in the house. In true adventure gaming style, you have to use the contents of the single room to create an escape.

That’s about it for the demo. It’s just that one room, a few cutscenes and a cliffhanger-ish finale scene where Mona is left in a mildly perilous situation before you’re presented with an advert for the full game. The actual adventure elements are reassuringly logic based, so you won’t have to do too much thinking outside the box to complete the puzzle. The story would seem to be rather well done, from what little you can garner, and the voice acting is good, if mildly annoying on Mona’s part, which is a problem as her’s is the voice you will hear the most, what with her being the main character.

There’s a very ‘children’s film’ feel about the whole thing, which means the jokes are not too subtle, and the problems never really seem that dangerous. Of course, this is an extremely limited view of the game, and it does grate slightly that they didn’t give at least a little more of the game to play. As it stands I can neither recommend or warn against purchasing the game, because there’s only been the one puzzle. It could be the best in the game, or the worst, and either way, it’s sufficiently satisfying.

If you’re more ready to take the plunge, you can buy the game here(there doesn’t seem to be an option to buy it directly), or download the demo here.

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