The kingdom of Zagoravia finds itself overrun with multiple types of demons and the call has gone out for dungeon hunters. The latest in an extensive line to answer the call is Victor Vran...

Victor Vran: Overkill Edition is an action role-playing gothic cyberpunk game from developers Haemimont Games, who are probably better known as the developers of the Tropico series of games.

You play Victor, so there are no classes to play with. You get a dungeon hunter and that’s it. I don’t think that this is a problem as a lot of gamers would only predominantly play a single class.

The game is presented in a diabloesque isometric format, however there are a few nice tweaks which makes the game stand out from the competition. Firstly, there is the option to jump. This may not sound much but as Victor can jump over obstacles he has the option, if a suitable barrier is available, to place himself outside of the combat area, allowing the player to gather his thoughts.

It also allows you to access seemingly inaccessible areas and the game also throws in some puzzles which require you to jump to discover secret area of the map. Victor can also dodge, but if all else fails and you have run out of potions, each area has a rejuvenation statue, usually in areas overrun by demons.

The world is broken up into large single areas, with dungeons attached. As Victor, your job is to clear these areas and the game sets certain challenges, kill x number of demons in x amount of time, find x number of secrets, that sort of thing. So, the game doesn’t just suggest exploration, it is a cornerstone of the whole experience. Each of the completed challenges gains Victor various rewards, from money, XP to weapons.

Through exploration Victor can find gold, used to buy and craft things and you can pick up more weapons. You're likely to spend a long time comparing stats on weapons or discovering the joy of coming across a particularly rare item. Victor is restricted in the amount he can carry so there is a lot of comparing weapon stats and flogging off the dross. Weapons offer a basic firing attack as well as a couple of specials which can be further combined for even better bonuses and effects. Victor can also own and upgrade destiny cards which, like his different outfits, give various passive advantages.

There are a number of difficulty setting and obviously the higher the difficulty the better the rewards, against this, the higher levels can feel a bit manic when you are being swarmed. I found it better to level up Victor, his weapons and cards at a normal level of play before increasing the difficulty, it would be a brave player that just jumped in at the game's higher levels without preparation. This does mean that if you're obsessed on always getting the best stuff the game has a lot of replay value. Of course, if you can’t do it alone the game supports cooperative multiplayer.

I didn’t think I was going to like this game and when I first played I didn’t. On replay, once I had got used to the HUB, where you buy, sell and upgrade you weapons, I discovered that it was quite addictive always roaming the various areas trying to find a weapon which was better than the one I already had.

If you don’t mind the endless number crunching, some may even actively enjoy this, there is a lot to like about Victor Vran.

7

Charles Packer