Vitor Vran, o caçador de demônios

Apesar de eu nunca ter jogado Diablo ou qualquer outro jogo no estilo, já vi muitos vídeos e sei basicamente como funciona a gameplay. Ao jogar Victor Vran, você facilmente nota que o jogo se inspira em Diablo (talvez até copie algumas coisas, mas isso eu não sei dizer).

Aqui somos apresentados a Victor, um caçador de demônios que precisa ir até a cidade de Zagarovia para atender ao chamado de uma rainha que convoca centenas de caçadores para dar fim a uma invasão demoníaca e para achar seu amigo caçador Adrian, que desapareceu após chegar na tal cidade.

É ai que a história se desenrola, pois Victor, apesar de ser um caçador, não é qualquer tipo simples que acabaria perecendo igual tantos outros. Através de seu passado obscuro, Victor possui uma estranha conexão com poderes demoníacos (que explica o porque da destreza dele no enfrentamento dessas hordas de inimigos) e também com a "A VOZ" que é literalmente uma voz que ecoa na mente dos cidadãos de Zagarovia e que acompanhará Victor durante a trajetória dele fazendo comentários e tentando tirar ele do rumo, digamos como sendo o anjinho do mal que fica no ombro só falando besteira.

Não posso dizer que a história é magnífica e que vai colar na mente como algo fenomenal nunca antes visto, mas ela não é de todo ruim. Tem suas partes totalmente clichês que com o passar do jogo você começa a deduzir o que está rolando, mas é legal como todos os personagens importantes possuem uma conexão com o pano de fundo. E essa história vai sendo contada através de cenários muito ricos e diversos, alguns com uma pegada bem Van Helsing. Para se ter uma ideia, são mais de 40 desses cenários e cada um tem sua pegada própria, o que é algo que dá uma imersão bem boa no quesito diversidade pois você não sente que esta em um looping.

Apesar do meu pouco conhecimento em jogos do estilo, sei que geralmente você escolhe uma classe para seguir com seu personagem e aqui isso não acontece. Você está livre para vagar matando demônios e variar a gameplay de forma muito rápida já que você pode equipar armas (que variam entre espadas, escopetas, foices, floretes, martelos) itens (bombas, curas, poções que concedem atributos momentâneos) poderes (podem ser habilidades passivas ou não, mas também usadas com intervalos de tempo) cartas de destino (que você equipa para aumentar seus atributos de força, defesa, sorte e por aí vai) e bruxarias (que são feitiços somente ativos nas dificuldades normal e difícil, mas eles aumentam a complexidade das missões em cada cenário). Além disso você possui alguns outros elementos de jogabilidade como a possibilidade de vender e trocar items e de "transmutar" uma habilidade que só desbloqueia no nível 15, mas que faz com que você combine 3 armas ou poderes para obter algo novo e superior, uma espécie de crafting.

Sobre a dificuldade eu já falo logo dos inimigos tbm, pois são MUITOS os tipos. É realmente uma variação muito grande. Alguns você vai enfrentar em cenários diversos e outros são específicos daquele local. Eles sempre atacam em bando, independente do tipo, o que faz com que todas as batalhas sejam um caos na tela e o botão de esquiva nem seja tão eficaz, pois as porradas muitas vezes vão vir de longe, de poderes que são lançados e o jogo não possui defesa, somente ataque e esquiva. Jogar nas dificuldades mais difíceis (e aqui você pode mudar do mais fácil pro mais difícil no menu sem ter que reiniciar) é um desafio bem grande que aumenta de forma vertiginosa. Alguns boses são muito fortes e tiram mt vida, fazendo com que os itens que cura (que precisam de tempo para recarregar, não sejam suficientes) então isso faz com que vc morra muitas vezes e morrer faz você voltar ao último ponto de controle e, se não tiver passado por um, para o início do cenário (mas pelo menos os inimigos já vão estar mortos).

O jogo tem um fator replay muito grande devido aos vários cenários (e você pode zerar a história sem passar por todos) e pelos desafios e segredos que cada um deles contêm. Então isso te incentiva a tentar melhorar seus equipamentos para passar pelas sessões mais difíceis, mas alguns desafios só se mostram enfadonhos tipo "mate 70 inimigos sem tomar um hit".

Victor Vran não é um jogo excelente, longe disso, mas não é uma tragédia como eu já tinha visto antes em alguns comentários no YouTube quando ele foi dado nos Games With Gold do Xbox anos atrás. Ele possui uma história que até certo ponto te entretem, com inimigos muito variados, gameplays satisfatória e cenários distintos. De fato uma experiência que foi positiva e que me fará mantê-lo baixado no meu xbox para, uma vez ou outra, usar todo o potencial de Victor Vran em caçar demônios.

Ainda vou continuar jogando, mas por hora aqui no site, finalizado e registrado.

Started out fun enough but does that thing that the ARPG genre does which is just make the enemies take more damage without giving you enough upgrades to keep up (and the game seemingly scaling by your progress made through the game rather than the area you're in). The last boss was an absolute fucker as a result. I didn't like the way the game seemed to reduce enemy counts later on in favour of big damage sponges which would slow other otherwise weaken your character.

There's still plenty to like though; it's got that slightly wonky Eastern European humour and the base combat's pretty fun, swapping between weapons.

Played with my kid and we had good time.
Compare to other hack and slash games, this game is "more action, less loot and character customization". It gave us a nice fresh experience.
However as we play casually, each fight was bit too long and felt bit tedious (I guess it is because we didn't spend time for side tracking and grinding).

息子と一緒にプレーしました。
ローカルCo-op可能なハクスラという事で、そこそこ貴重な存在ではないでしょうか。
ゲームプレイですが、アクション要素多めで、アイテム取集とキャラビルドの要素は控えめです。
小さい子供とのCo-opなので超カジュアルに進めてましたが、終盤はキャラの育成が追い付いていないのか敵がかなり硬くなってちょっとダレました。

This is a game concept I'd been looking for for a while: a Diablo-style ARPG with a bigger emphasis on the action portion. I love the deep character building and variety of gameplay styles of Diablo, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and so on, but sometimes, some of those games devolve into idle button clicking to grind and farm higher. A more tactical take on the genre would be a breath of fresh air. And so this game is.

It introduces dodge rolling (don't say Dark Souls!) like in Dark Souls, (fuck!) a new WASD and controller-friendly control scheme (Diablo-style click-to-walk is also an option, but this game is frankly not built for that), and even a jump button. Also like Dark Souls (sorry) your abilities and playstyle are determined more by your weapon than your class. The result is a game that asks more of your attention and dexterity, but unfortunately, it dials back the other parts that make the best ARPGs just that.

Remember how I said weapons dictate your playstyle more than class? This is the result of the classes being pretty simple in effect and not too engaging. There aren't a whole lot of stats to tinker with on level up, and most of the "building" comes in a set of cards you can pick for your character that provide passive stat boosts alongside the affixes on your gear. Yes, this puts more Action in Action RPG, but it severely cuts down on the RPG side. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of possible ways to play, but unless the game introduces serious complexity that I haven't yet discovered down the road, it simply doesn't have the depth to compare to most of its competitors in that regard. While streamlining can be nice sometimes, it feels like there's very little class or character fantasy to latch onto and say "this is MY character, and they reflect how I want to play the game." The result is that the customization which does exist in this game does very little to capture the imagination and encourage creative new ways of playing.

The weapon you wield mostly decides what attacks you'll have access to, not you, the player. There are no multifaceted skill trees like Diablo 2 or skill astral cartographies like Path of Exile. Just you, a weapon, and a few other details you can tinker with. There are just few enough points of customization that it almost felt arbitrary what I picked since the odds of them actually coming together to make a build that was meaningfully better were so slim. Maybe in the endgame this becomes relevant, but if any ARPG should have exciting leveling, it's this one, since it promises more engagement no matter what your build is. The problem is that you're not promised anything particularly exciting for hitting the next level.
Luckily, the core gameplay loop is pretty fun.

The action combat works, though it will depend heavily on how you click with your weapon of choice. (I really expected rapiers to be fun, but honestly, they feel slow and clunky compared to the big AOE of a shotgun, chunky swings of a scythe, or chain lightning madness of a lightning gun.) It isn't the most exciting action gameplay, but it works well enough to be engaging for a bit, if not exactly addicting. The enemies have a solid variety, and unlike certain games in the genre, have a variety of abilities, behaviors, and playstyles that are worth considering while you play. It's not a game about simply one-shotting or getting one-shot. Still, it isn't quite as satisfying at its core as the addition of first-person shooting to the loot-grinding ARPG formula in something like Borderlands, and it lacks the joyful simplicity of clicking on dudes in Diablo, but it really is a good time in moderation. Having both a jump and a roll does feel redundant, however, and with the isometric view, jumping is a bit awkward and has a habit of getting snagged on the level.

Another strong point of Diablo (and some other great ARPGs) has always been its compelling lore and powerful atmosphere. This game's story is largely a matter of generic cliche, though if you're not annoyed by the narrator, you might find the tone to your liking. It's pretty enough to look at. It's neither as colorful as Torchlight nor as dark as Diablo, but it occupies a comfortable space in between. The lead is also voiced by Geralt of Rivia, which is a fun touch, but unfortunately he doesn't have all that much personality. It's pleasant, but it won't keep you in the world unless the gameplay hooks you.

These are all fairly early impressions, but after a few hours, I think I'll only come back to this game when I'm in the mood. I might beat it eventually. I probably won't replay it or proceed very far into whatever endgame content it has. But at its core, it is a good game. I do wish more developers would try to find ways of adding tactics and engagement to this genre, but this one feels like an incomplete first stab at that. The first hour or so was exciting, honestly, but after that, I realized how little I was looking forward to progressing, since it seemed like there wasn't much new to see. Still, I've enjoyed it so far and might come back to it and find I was missing out on what makes it great.

If you're turned off by ARPGs that feel like brainless farming, or if you love the genre but want to see it taken in a different direction, try this, but maybe get it on sale. It's not the future of ARPGs, but hopefully it's a slight premonition.

Then again, if I want a dead simple ARPG with rolling, maybe I'll just play Minecraft Dungeons.

There's the bones of a good ARPG here. The story is pretty standard, world overrun by evil and YOU get to save it, though with a vampire flavor. The gameplay itself feels pretty good as far as mechanics go, and it has a neat approach to builds. Each class of weapon has a specific skillset and they all feel unique and fun enough to play. The crux of your build comes from a tiered tarot card system, with each card having different effects. It's fun to play around with at first but I found it hard to really utilize in a playthrough because you have so few card slots and so few discipline points (you have a cap on these points, and each card costs so many) to really work with.

The game had two primary issues for me, one big, one small. To start with the small, there is so much CC throughout this game. Basically every fight I found myself getting annoyed because of constant knockbacks, stuns, or pulls, and slightly related is that there's a lot of enemies that will randomly turn invisible in a fight due to two affixes, hitting them in that state seemed like a complete coin flip, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.

The bigger issue, however, is the way scaling works. Scaling feels absolutely awful in this game, and it works in a way that you almost feel progressively weaker rather than stronger. The way the developer explained it is that enemies have set stats, but as you level, they are granted new affixes that make them stronger and those affixes have varying levels of difficulty themselves. I get the idea behind it, to have some modicum of challenge across the board, but it just really hampers gameplay and slows every fight to a crawl when combat just gets longer and longer as the game continues on.

I was so annoyed by it on my first character (who made it up to the final boss, but couldn't beat it) that I made a second one (to make use of the knowledge gained on my first playthrough) and ended up beating the game in nearly half the time by actively skipping content like challenges and farming and instead just rushing the final boss, and at five levels weaker. I can appreciate trying to take a unique approach, but it really just turned the game into a chore.

That said, it's a fun enough game. If you're a fan of ARPGs, I'd say it's worth a shot at the very least and it's generally pretty cheap during sales. Just be prepared for an odd difficulty curve.

Victor Vran is a decently fun game, that tries to do a few things differently resulting in a streamlined ARPG.

There are no classes or skill threes, you are Victor Vran the monster hunter and your abilities are attached to the weapons type you wield, of which there are 8 (10 with the Motorhead DLC), 2 demon powers that burn a special resource akin to adrenaline, and a set of cards that grants a few perks, but overall it's not super versatile when it comes to build variety.

It's not a bad game, had my fun with it but it's clearly an indie ARPG done on a small budget. It's not something I would return for multiple runs as the lack of variety really hurts it.

As I see it, Victor Vran's simplicity is better suited for beginners of the genre, particularly those who feel other games are too overwhelming to get into. The downside is that everything lacks a certain depth, don't expect the gameplay to feel fresh for hundreds of hours like other titles in the genre can.