As with any game, there are many playstyles for Vampyr, but for a moderate playstyle, you have to carefully watch what you do. It makes it easier, but also harder for you to survive in the harsh conditions in London, surrounded by gangs, religious fanatics, and other vampires, but it helps to at least have pointers. Here are thirteen tips to help you with Vampyr.
1. Keep those blood levels high
In most situations, this is a no-brainer if you want to survive, but in Vampyr it’s especially important. Most abilities require blood, and if you can’t use any abilities, then you’re in big trouble more often than not. You can get blood either by biting the throat of stunned enemies or, to Dr Jonathan Reid’s dismay, picking up rats on the street and sucking them dry. He will say something about it every time, but it’ll be worth it because you’ll have replenished your blood levels. You’ll usually find a bunch of rats near a boss level, like the inconspicuous version of potions at the end of a dungeon (unless you spot them with your vampiric senses, which make them bright red).
2. Don’t just kill everyone
Even if it may seem like a fun thing to do, or you’re looking for ways to get more XP fast, it’s never a good idea to just go ahead and kill anyone. Not only could you possible have whole districts on your conscience, but you have to get the timing of each murder right to provoke only small reactions and also to get the biggest benefit from it all.
3. Always be on the lookout for hideouts
Hideouts are your bedrock in London. They’re the only place where you can upgrade your weapons or use your XP. They’re littered all around the city and can really help you get ready for a mission. Sadly, there’s no fast travel here, even between the hideouts, but it’s always good to not have to take a detour to get to a hideout before you go where you need to go.
4. Stunning
Whether you’re using a two-handed weapon or a one-handed and an off-handed weapon, you’re inevitably going to utilize stunning. In some situations, it’s more useful than others, and the further you go on, the more likely you are to do more normal damage than stun damage, even with heavier two-handed weapons, but stunning can save your life. It gives you a split second to either focus on finishing an already beat-down enemy or turn to a different one and pummel them to the ground.
5. Talk to your late-night snack?
Even if you’re planning on going to the all-you-can-eat citizen buffet, you should at least have the dignity to talk to your food. Even if you don’t feel like it, you should at least consider the XP benefits of talking with the people you’re about to feast on and anyone that could be connected with them. The more you know about someone, the more XP you get.
6. Chomping at the bit(e)
What’s quite helpful, especially when you’re fighting a group of enemies at the same time, is the ability to stun them. Once you’ve done so, you can suck their blood, and while you’re doing that, you’re invulnerable. Well, the better phrasing would be that enemies won’t attack you while you’re sucking their colleague’s blood, but de facto, it means that you’re invulnerable, which is especially helpful to get a quick breather from enemies that use fire or the cross.
7. Pick your poison
You can have up to four weapons equipped at any time. Things like stakes and guns are usually off-handed weapons, whereas swords and other sharp metal objects are more likely to be one-handed. You can also equip a two-handed weapon, but this takes up two slots, leaving you with space for only one other one-handed and off-handed weapon.
8. Hansel and Gretel
On top of finding out as much as you can about possible snacks, it’s also in your best interest to be nice to them and heal them whenever you get the chance, even if only for the sake of fattening up for the biggest possible XP bonus. Being nice is mostly necessary when you have a dialogue option that matters, but all in all, it’s not the worst choice either way. You definitely won’t get as much XP if you feed on a sick citizen, though.
9. Dodge
Out of all the possible things you can do in combat, probably none of them are as important for your survival as dodging. Not only does it only cost you a bit of stamina, but it’s a pretty effective way of making sure you’re still on your feet when someone else goes for you if you’re fighting a whole group of enemies.
10. No need to stop while healing
For healing, as with some other unlockable abilities, it might seem like you need to stand completely still for them to work. Thankfully, this is not the case, and you can activate the healing ability while running around (although trying it while attacking is pushing your luck) and get back in the fight in a matter of seconds.
11. Sidequests = sidearms
Sidequests can be quite important in Vampyr (provided you haven’t slaughtered all of London yet). They help you get new parts, more XP, more money, everything that could help you stop the Skal scourge plaguing the city and those pesky vampire hunters, too. They also help you get hints for some citizens, making it doubly as important if you don’t want to miss out.
12. Balance
Provided that you neither want the city to go to shit or the game to scale way past your level, you’ll need to find a level of balance between the number of times you go to bed and how much you help around the city, because it’s not likely that you’ll always have the right ingredients for the right medicine ready to be found. You also want to be able to use the XP you worked hard to get, so you have to find a frequency that fits your playstyle.
13. Holy shit!
Out of all the things you want to avoid most in Vampyr, fire and holy symbols are at the top of the list. If you’re fighting a group of enemies and there are enemies that use these in the group, you’ll usually want to take these out first to make your life easier. Sometimes, if the other enemies are much faster, you’ll go for those first, but most of the time, crossbow bolts that are also on fire are quite a high priority.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
