Victor Vran (PC) Review

Demon hunter Victor Vran is the only one that stands between those few that have taken refuge in the halls of Queen Katarina and the demons that have destroyed the once prosperous Zagoravian Kingdom. Despite the morbid setting, however, this city's gloomy graveyards, gem-filled mines, and eighteenth century neighbourhoods lean more towards the look of Warcraft III, rather than Diablo III, with everything being bright and colourful and blood/gore nowhere to be seen - not to mention this gothic adventure's comedic undertones.

While the, otherwise generic, one-man-against-demons plot is not bad, it has seen better days, therefore the subtle humour comes as a blessing and spices things up. Examples of this include the name of the soldier in charge of Victor's storing chest being Private Stash, or the skeletons that stun him by dancing to Gangnam Style(!). The one that takes the cake though is, without a single doubt, the hero's inner voice; a one-part malevolent, two-part whimsy narrator, who mocks him, or just makes fun of various gaming tropes.

The basic hack 'n' slash formula has been left intact and the name of the game is simple: kill monsters, find loot. However, instead of focusing on classes and skill trees, this follows a completely equipment-based system that enables changing powers and perks on the fly. In other words, Victor can be anything, any time, with the perfect example of this method being Destiny Cards; items which grant certain passive skills and which can be placed in, or removed from, their corresponding slots.

Ranging from swords, rapiers, hammers, and scythes, to shotguns, lightning guns, and hand-mortars, what the weaponry lacks in numbers, it makes up for in being far more versatile, with each piece of the arsenal granting three unique skills. These skills must be used conservatively, since they have a relatively long, yet completely fair, cooldown time. For example, the scythe stuns enemies, the hammer does AoE damage and leeches health, the rapier causes bleeding or pierces armour, and so on.

Victor's final "trick" comes in the form of Demon Powers; spells that can be collected just like any other item, and which can do all sorts of things, from creating a meteor storm, to temporarily boosting DPS, but only as long as Overdrive is enough, which is like a mana pool, whose refilling depends on the currently used outfit. One provides Overdrive as time goes by, another one when scoring critical hits, and so on. Unfortunately, this is the least interesting mechanic here. These spells are, thankfully, not overpowered, yet they are somewhat simple, unoriginal, and a tad unbalanced, with some clearly more useful than others.

The worst flaw of Victor Vran is that it lacks the depth expected from most of its kind. There are only a few items to "play" with, and the system of advancement used here takes away from the joy of creating unique builds, and since no choice is permanent, it's all a matter of trying out different combinations with the available loot, and on just one character. Speaking of loot, there's no storage limit, and it's possible to transmute/improve items by mixing them, but in the end there's little room for experimentation.

The saving grace of this title is how exciting, intense, and involving fighting can be, with Victor being able to toggle between two weapons, jump over obstacles, and even dodge incoming attacks. Furthermore, while enemies (and their variations) are few in number, each one requires a different approach, and even though they telegraph their moves, keeping eye on a whole battalion of mobs can be overwhelming, forcing a more strategic way of playing, which is something rare in the genre. Finally, not only is it possible to choose between keyboard, mouse, and gamepad, but all three are stunningly fine-tuned. However, it is advised to resist the urge to use the mouse, because the gamepad is probably the best choice here - apart from dealing with inventory sorting, that is.

Apart from the option of Multiplayer/Four-player co-op, levels can be revisited in order to find all secrets and, even better, complete certain challenges which, while usually simple in concept, can be quite addicting and refreshingly challenging. After the final boss, elite challenges get unlocked which are, well, what the name suggests. What else? Items called Hexes can be activated in order to raise the difficulty in a variety of ways, but, quite honestly, all these are nothing more than speed bumps that can't really keep gamers here for long (especially with a level cap that can be reached in about 10 or so hours), and that's Victor Vran's main problem.