Life is Strange creators introduce Vampyr – “It’s all about tough, moral choices”

Vampyr is an upcoming title from DONTNOD, the creators of Remember Me and Life is Strange, a game that became one of the most intriguing titles of 2015. The French studio is working on – probably – their most ambitious project yet – Vampyr is going to be an action-RPG game in which we play as a doctor who is also a vampire. Lots of difficult choices and a dark and gloomy London of early XX century await the players. Although not a lot is known about the game itself, we were able to ask the developers a few questions that will shed some light on this production veiled in darkness.

What is the origin of your adventure with Vampyr? Did the publisher come to you with an idea or was it the other way around – you were looking for a partner while having a clear vision of the game?

Philippe Moreau (Game Director): Originally, DONTNOD had this idea of creating a game around the vampire theme. I quickly came up with the concept of a young vampire doctor hero forced to kill the people he once helped in order to survive. I really liked the idea of putting the players in vampire shoes to experiment all the cruelty of this day-to-day condition. Gregory and Stephane then joined the project and brought their respective visions. At the time, the concept was slightly different from today as it was more action-adventure oriented.

When we pitched it to the publishers, Focus response was immediate and enthusiastic. They showed strong interest in working with us and suggested a shift in an Action-RPG in order to strengthen the concept. Albeit it was a completely new genre for DONTNOD, we were convinced we could really make an interesting experience for the players. We decided it worth the try and teamed up with Focus.

The game takes place in London right after the end of World War I, during the epidemic of the Spanish Influenza. Apart from the atmosphere of the game that works perfectly with vampires, how do you want to utilize this setting? Will the epidemic and the fact that we take control of the doctor be tightly connected to the plot of the game?

Philippe Moreau: We chose this interwar epidemic setting because it fits our purpose and storyline. We were specifically interested in all the science progress and discoveries that emerged at the time. It is truly an inspiring period of time that serves our main character development and motivations.

Stéphane Beauverger (Narrative Director): We found it very interesting to create a scientist character who is used to dealing with medical and physical principles, to put him in a situation of deadly epidemic emergency... and suddenly let him discover that some supernatural things lurk in the shadows! Thus, the Spanish Flu epidemic, just by the end of the Great War, is a perfect setting for us, since it is not so common, during this era, to look at the world with a 100% rational attitude.

Vampire-doctor – this definitely sounds intriguing. We will have to break the Hippocratic Oath and kill people… or will it be possible to complete the game without drinking human blood, instead drinking, for example, animal blood? Will it be possible to complete the game without killing anyone?

Philippe Moreau: You will have the possibility to run the game without killing anyone… but will you survive it? We want the players to commit into their Vampire nature to feel what it means in term of sacrifices. When it comes to killing someone in Vampyr, it is all about tough, moral choices. There is no other way to embrace immortality...

Stéphane Beauverger: But what would the fun in playing a vampire game without hunting and killing humans?

Will it be possible to change other characters into vampires? If so, what consequences of such actions will there be?

Philippe Moreau: Can’t say much more about the gameplay features at the time.

Life is Strange positively surprised us all with really well written characters, relations with which really depended on our choices. Do you want to build up on that element of the game? How will the player’s relations with NPCs influence the way we can complete quests?

Philippe Moreau: Yes, we want to build up on what went right with Life is Strange and a big part of the game revolves around choices and consequences that affect the relation with NPCs in a very important way.

Many of the RPGs that came out recently do not offer lots in terms of non-linearity and immersion in becoming a hero. What will be the player’s role in living the story that you wrote?

Philippe Moreau: As a vampire, most of your choices rely on the victims you choose to feed upon. And by victims I mean human beings… Depending on all the killing choices you’ve made throughout the game, your experience will be completely different to another!

Will Vampyr be an open world game or will locations be divided into hubs, similarly to what Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines offered?

Philippe Moreau: Vampyr will be a semi-open world with enough liberty and content to explore London’s street for hours!

The teaser showed a very characteristic art style, reminding me of cutscenes in the first Thief. Can we expect such an art style in the whole game?

Grégory Szucs (Art Director): In a nutshell: The visuals of Vampyr are about realistic rendering creating a unique dark and brutal world with state of the art lighting and post processes with some stylized, think ‘impressionistic’, elements. We consider the art style of the teaser to be continuation and extension of this and you can expect to see more of it in the cutscenes or other storytelling vehicles in the game.