Vaporum - Review Roundup

HiddenX

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Farflame spotted some Vaporum reviews:

GameBanshee:

Conclusion

I liked Vaporum well enough, but I didn't love it. The game owes a lot to Legend of Grimrock -- both in how it looks and how it plays -- but it feels like a more simplified, minimalistic version of that game, with significantly easier puzzles. But since Legend of Grimrock 3 might never arrive, Vaporum fills a niche, and it's a perfectly reasonable way to spend 20 hours of your life.
Gamespace:

Our Vaporum Review Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Vaporum. The developers did a great job of updating a genre that has been buried by the sands of time. They took an old-school dungeon crawl, added a fresh coat of paint (no crappy 8-bit graphics here), dropped it into a fresh Steampunk setting, and added some modern mechanics while staying true to the genre. The story was well told, but it would have been better had it been as unique as the setting.

Score: 8.5/10
Bonusstage:

Vaporum is such a refreshing return to form that I completely didn’t know I wanted nor was expecting. By taking two different gameplay ideas – dungeon crawling and steampunk – and marrying them without too many ridiculous offshoot tactics, you get something that’s distilled to a truly solid concept. I can’t tell you how many “steampunk” ideas have been hokey, or how many Bioshock “inspired” games might as well be called “Not Rapture.” And, rather than just be a straight Grimrock variation, Vaporum adds a huge twist on the leveling and combat system without giving up completely on the formula. For a first game, this is an incredibly impressive endeavor, and I’ve invested hours, yet I’m certain I haven’t found everything. By all means, step into your own exo-rig and prepare for an incredible journey, Vaporum deserves your full attention.

Score: 9/10
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I love the visuals, sound, and enemy animations.

I truly hate the side-step combat as implemented. It's like Grimrock in that respect, but to me Vaporum's combat "rounds" are shorter, meaning if you're not REALLY quick at the side-step, you will get hit and you will take damage. Bring multiple enemies at the same time, from different directions, and it's way too frenetic and frustrating (to me, speaking as an old twitch-impaired senior).

This game, in all other aspects, would be the dungeon crawler I've been waiting for, if only the combat was turn-based and more tactical/interesting than just getting the heck out of the way a split-second before the enemy attacks.

The steampunk setting is great and well implemented. Had it been more of a high fantasy/swords and bows type setting I would have been far less interested.

As is, I'm in love with a game I cannot play due to the personal frustrations with the combat.
 
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Vaporum's combat "rounds" are shorter, meaning if you're not REALLY quick at the side-step, you will get hit and you will take damage. Bring multiple enemies at the same time, from different directions, and it's way too frenetic and frustrating (to me, speaking as an old twitch-impaired senior).

That is why I recommend the Steam Controller for this game. It is much easier to control the 6 primary movement keys on a gamepad.

If the game only used WASD the keyboard might be sufficient, but since you have to include Q + E, in combination with fast combat movement and pseudo-FPS gameplay, it makes it very challenging to play on a keyboard if you don't have lightning fingers.

You can also play on a lower difficulty. The game is very challenging.
 
That is why I recommend the Steam Controller for this game. It is much easier to control the 6 primary movement keys on a gamepad.

If the game only used WASD the keyboard might be sufficient, but since you have to include Q + E, in combination with fast combat movement and pseudo-FPS gameplay, it makes it very challenging to play on a keyboard if you don't have lightning fingers.

You can also play on a lower difficulty. The game is very challenging.

Thanks, and (hate to admit it) I am playing on lowest difficulty.

The idea of a controller is intriguing. I might give it a shot.
 
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Thanks, and (hate to admit it) I am playing on lowest difficulty.

The idea of a controller is intriguing. I might give it a shot.

The Steam Controller is king right now. WASD works well on either the analog stick or left trackpad (I prefer the trackpad myself), with strafing being tied to the left and right bumpers. That makes it more like traditional FPS movement from something like the original DOOM games on the SNES.

Much easier to handle the game that way. It's very fun and fast-paced combat but controlling it with a keyboard is just too much for me.

Edit - And I prefer the trackpad because you can set it to where you don't even have to click it to register movement. It's a nice feature to save your from thumb long sessions of jamming an analog stick or clicking a directional pad.
 
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The Steam Controller is king right now. WASD works well on either the analog stick or left trackpad (I prefer the trackpad myself), with strafing being tied to the left and right bumpers. That makes it more like traditional FPS movement from something like the original DOOM games on the SNES.

Much easier to handle the game that way. It's very fun and fast-paced combat but controlling it with a keyboard is just too much for me.

Edit - And I prefer the trackpad because you can set it to where you don't even have to click it to register movement. It's a nice feature to save your from thumb long sessions of jamming an analog stick or clicking a directional pad.

Thanks again. I like too many things about this game not to try it.
 
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Vaporum is a truly awesome game. So detailed and polished. I want to do everything I can to get people to support this company so they can continue creating games. The setting is brilliant.

I find no difficulties with the keyboard. I do not play console games so I am always baffled when people prefer a controller, I find them bewildering and completely annoying to play games with.
 
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I find no difficulties with the keyboard. I do not play console games so I am always baffled when people prefer a controller, I find them bewildering and completely annoying to play games with.

What difficulty level are you playing at? I don't play console games much either but Vaporum is very hard for me with the keyboard. I can type 100+ words per minute and can generally move decently with a keyboard. It's just that adding Q+E to the WASD movement, 1+2 for the gadgets, R for repair kits, Z to switch weapon kits from ranged to melee, etc. was too hard for me. In the heat of battle the game can get very intense. And I am playing on Normal + Elite Mode (of which I still get whooped late in levels regularly and have to restart.)
 
Just like Grimrock I cannot play these games if they are real time.
 
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If this were turn based, I would already own it. I'm waiting to hear from a friend on what he thinks about it, I did like Grimrock but I'm at my limit for twitchy-type games.
 
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