Review: Victor Vran

Hungarians from Neocore Games released the first part of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing , which became a sort of gothic-humorous variation on the theme of Diablo . And now they start copying them. In any case, the new action / RPG Victor Vran from the Bulgarian Haemimont Gameslooks much like the twin of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing . In many ways, but not in everything.Indeed, it seems that the authors of the last three parts of Tropico did their own new play as a direct response to The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing . The protagonist, Victor Vran himself, is the same hunter for monsters in a hat who comes to a certain city that has been attacked by any abomination. He also periodically visits the shelter, where rare survivors are hiding - there you can also trade, buy improvements and do "crafting" (more on this later).

From the shelter, the hero goes to different parts of the city to cut, chop, burn, poison, shoot (yes, magic and cold weapons are also neighbors with shotguns and hand grenade launchers) and in all other ways to destroy crowds of vampires, skeletons, lich, spiders, elementals and other creatures. 

And although in general Victor Vran - the game is more serious and gloomy, here too there was a place for irony and snide comments. They are not let go of the ghostly lady Katarina, but a certain voice in the head of our hero. Sometimes he openly mocks, offering to retrain to a pirate or, for example, throwing coins to lure to especially dangerous monsters. 

However, its own Katharina is also here. This is the queen, who, like her namesake from The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, there are very scary skeletons in a dusty cupboard, a heavy burden of the past, which is directly related to what happened in Zagorje. 
However, Victor Vran - the game is not only more serious and gloomy (although without irony, we repeat, it also did not), but, as it may seem, more monotonous. Unlike The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing , there are almost no side quests, moral choice and non-linearity. There are no strategic elements when we send a soldier or his monster pet Chimera to carry out different missions, or we ourselves defend a card in the style of tower defense. There is no constant companion with his skills and abilities.

Side quests are replaced by a system of seemingly primitive "shuttlecies." Find all the secrets, kill 40 spiders with a certain weapon or 70 skeletons in 120 seconds, win the boss, without drinking potions, and so on - for their performance give additional rewards: gold, experience or treasure chests. 

The authors of Victor Vran did not rely on fashionable flirting with moral choice and non-linearity, but on the classic for action / RPG gameplay. And they perfected it better than their colleagues from Neocore Gamesdid . It is somehow more pleasant here, and it is more convenient to "swing" and pass through enemies like a knife through oil.

The sound of the braid or sword with which you dissect crowds of monsters, gradually plunges you into a state of such a fighting trance, from which it is very difficult to get out: you want more and more, well, now, just a little bit, and everything, to sleep. Good management and interface is more convenient here, skills and special attacks are easier to apply, so nothing beats down from the shamanic rhythm in which you cut crowds of enemies into small pieces. 

Therefore, boring seemingly "Challenges" want to pass - you load the level again or return later to finish what you did not finish, find the remaining two secret and finally get your stars and bonuses.

Additional interest to all this gives an unusual role-playing system. All abilities are tied to one of the seven weapons. Everyone has a basic, alternative and special attack. With a hammer, for example, you can soar into the air and deal a powerful blow to the area, with a scythe - turn into a bloody, crippling all around the vortex, and the electromyot allows you to fireballs. Moreover, attacks should be better combined, first, for example, to make the enemy vulnerable to a certain type of damage, and then finish it off.

There are still activated abilities, which give the so-called demon forces. On their use is spent "fury" (more precisely, "overdrive" in this case), which, of course, accumulates as damage is inflicted. On overdrive a lot is tied up in mechanics - for example, periodically we are offered to choose one of three new suits for the hero. And they differ just by the speed with which rage accumulates, whether it is discharged out of combat, and so on. And all this directly affects the technique of passage. 

"Pumping" skills that give weapons or demon forces can be in the process of "crafting" or transmutation: you mix according to the recipes several forces or swords of a certain rarity to get a new thing or strengthen a certain property of the old one.

In addition, you need to strengthen the character passive bonuses, which give the so-called fate cards. They differ in their rarity and effects: one increases the health reserve, the other allows you to freeze your enemies when critical damage is inflicted, and so on. Bonuses from cards are also better combined and combined with active weapons. Periodically, with a new level, we get new points of fate - the more of them, the more powerful cards you can use at the same time.
All this constantly keeps you toned. The whole game you try, experiment with different weapons, forces, suits and maps, pass and pereprohodyte tests. Extra gestures at the same time - a minimum, action and comfort - a maximum. Therefore, it is very difficult to break away from Victor Vran . While this is definitely the best representative of the genre in 2015 year. 

Rate: 7/10