Vampyr is narmy, gory, and exceedingly melodramatic. That is to say, exactly what Victorian era vampire fiction should be. The voice acting is superb and dramatic and I enjoyed every instance of Dr. Jonathan Reid loudly lamenting "I CAHN'T believe I'm DOING this" in some dirty London alley every time I forced him to eat a rat. Which was often because I didn't feed on a single civilian.

The game definitely feels more frustrating when playing a pacifist Reid, partly because the player has to be more discerning when selecting how to spend blood points and, more importantly, because there are several civilian characters who would absolutely do London a favor by getting murdered. Still, the pacifist route is entirely doable and sets up a very compelling narrative about a vampire torn between his new bloodlust and the oath he swore to keep as a doctor.

The combat takes some getting used to and I suspect its much easier on a controller than with a mouse and keyboard but by chapter 3 I felt like I had a pretty good handle on combat. It felt good and it was fun.

I love the characters and the relationships presented in this game and while I did enjoy the mechanics quite a lot, I would probably recommend Vampyr for the story alone.