Victor Vran

Developer: Haemimont Games
Steam Release: Jul 2015
Usual Price: £15.99
Hours Played: 26.4
Similar To: Five: Champions of Canaan / Grim Dawn / Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
The atmospheric and frankly excellent Victor Vran is an action RPG up there with the Grim Dawns and Torchlights of this world but packs its own unique punch putting it in a glorious world of its own. Charged with clearing some 40 or so levels, rather than pounding through areas a la Diablo III and the aforementioned games, your main goal is to complete these levels while trying to fulfill one of five clearly defined objectives. This means on one run you may have to equip a certain weapon and focus on killing particular enemies while on another your target might be to kill different enemies within a particular time frame. On another occasion you might have to clear enemies using a set special ability or with hexes switched on ... and so it goes on. In effect Victor Vran is a mission-based action RPG that works extremely well.

BALANCE & PACE
Although aesthetically similar to its modern-day counterpart Grim Dawn, VV has further gameplay tweaks to help make it the fresh alternative that it is. Targeting is different in that it does away with selecting the enemy to attack but lets the auto-aim function do that for you. In this respect, more time and energy is used on choosing the right attack. This, in itself, takes an additional departure from conventional ways in that you equip two weapons (from swords, guns, rapiers, hammers and the like) and attack using one of its three abilities which usually has one uber-attack on cooldown. You can therefore kill using a ranged attack and then, when they get up close, switch to melee and pummel them with your hammer. It's an efficient set-up that works really well and particularly suited to Xbox controller usage.     

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
You play VV in the usual isometric view. When it comes to setting and location it resembles that 17th/18th century Van Helsing look. You begin each game at your hub which is a grand room in some opulent palace. Here, you visit NPCs to trade, stash items for later use or transmute them by forging them together to make something more powerful. There is also a table positioned in the middle of this room where you can view the world map that acts as your level-select screen. Before leaping in, you can view the five objectives and activate certain hexes to make levels more challenging (and receive better rewards). The soundtrack and sound-effects are all well and good but one of the game's main strengths lies in the delivery and comments of the well-spoken and eloquent narrator. 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
You progress through the game by beating and unlocking levels that can be accessed via the world map at your hub. This level-select screen shows the town with areas indicated by a purple dot. Scroll through these with your left-stick and up to five gold stars spring up according to how many objectives have been completed. The stars are also displayed in the top right corner and there are 205 to collect altogether. You can also find hidden secrets. Clicking a level will take you to a further screen where you can review the five objectives and activate any of up to five hexes before jumping in. There is also a main quest or story with a main objective for those who just wish to charge through the game. Unfortunately, navigating around the map could have been more efficient as I found it to be a tad confusing and awkward.       

CONCLUSION

When it comes to indie titles, there are only four premium Diablo-esque style action RPGs that you need bother with: Path of Exile, Grim Dawn and Torchlight II are the well-known stalwarts. Victor Vran can now be added to that list without hesitation. To my knowledge, it is the smoothest and most comfortable one to play on PC with an Xbox 360 controller. It is ideal for both casual and hardcore gamers alike and does a stellar job in keeping the player immersed and determined to accumulate those stars. With destiny cards available to boost certain stats, weapons and abilities plus different special abilities to equip, there are always new strategies to try out and new things to do. With one of the few action RPGs to include jumping, you also have ample opportunities to explore and find secrets. This game is top-notch.