Vaporum - Release Day

The steampunk dungeon crawler Vaporum will be released today:

Vaporum is a grid-based, single-player & single-character dungeon crawler RPG seen from the first person perspective in an original steampunk setting. Inspired by old-school games like Dungeon Master I and II, the Eye of the Beholder series, and the most recent Legend of Grimrock I and II. Stranded in the middle of an ocean, in front of a gigantic tower, the hero has to find out what the place is, what happened there, and most importantly, who he is.

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Key Features

• First person real-time combat
• Puzzles and level-wide objectives
• Gadget-based RPG system
• Lots of exploration, loot, and character customization
• Mysterious storyline filled with secrets
• Fully voiced main characters
• Immersive steampunk setting

Combat

Combat takes place in real time. Each enemy has a distinctive set of strengths and weaknesses so you have to employ different tactics to beat each one. Weapon types have each a set of unique bonuses and behaviors which adds more depth and thought when choosing what weapons to equip.

You will find many types of gadgets: direct attacks, area attacks, offensive & defensive buffs… These gadgets are powerful, but some enemies are immune to certain types of attacks, so you will have to figure out the best way to deal with every encounter the game throws at you.

Puzzles

Solve intriguing puzzles and level-wide objectives where you have to use both your wits and reflexes. While most puzzles and riddles are contained in a single room, progression objectives can span an entire level or even multiple levels.

Character Progression

Instead of increasing the abilities of your human character, you will improve an exoskeleton rig you wear. The game combines a "you are what you wear" aspect with a long-term development of your exo-rig. The gadget-based system allows you change your loadout of gadgets at any time, giving you a great deal of flexibility to deal with various situations. On the other hand, as you progress, you get to unlock useful circuits on your exo-rig, gaining significant permanent attribute bonuses and passive skills.

Story and Exploration

Stranded on a small islet in the middle of an ocean, you enter a gigantic mechanical tower. Nothing makes sense to you, but it is all strangely familiar…

If you want to get into the backstory and uncover the mysteries of the tower, you can delve right into it by reading all the notes you can find. Don't worry, though, you can safely ignore all the text. All major story points are narrated by the main characters and they are fully voiced!

There are many optional areas in the game that you can choose to explore. They usually present some form of additional challenge, but come with a reward too! The tower is riddled with secret passages that contain unique items and notes of its inhabitants, giving you an insight into their lives and events that precede your arrival.

More information.

I have updated the game description - the randomization part is gone.

Excellent graphics, combat looks amazing. GUI is okay, fonts could be somewhat bigger. Verdict BUY! AddictWare!

It's a really good game that I'd recommend if you want something different.

Reviewed by Gamebanshee:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/reviews/1…um-review.html

I'd be all over this if it were turn based, being real time I'm more reluctant to jump in.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I'd be all over this if it were turn based, being real time I'm more reluctant to jump in.

I don't mind it being real-time. After all, LoG 1&2 were geat games and this is in the same mold. What I don't like is that it's a only a single character instead of a party.

As I explained in the other post, the game is enough with one character. Yes, you lose developing a whole party, but trust me, the game is hard as hell and fast-paced. It's about 50% faster than Grimrock 2, if not more, so having a whole party would be nearly impossible with how quickly you have to maneuver in this game. It's like a pseudo-FPS combat. Challenging and fast-paced.

It's still grid-based movement though which is what makes his decision odd to me. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing. It's just not something you see very often. I prefer fully free movement when it's a single character.

I would normally say I do too, until I played Vaporum. The combat works really well. It's fast-paced, intense and really challenging at times. It requires fast thinking and reacting, some decent-to-good keyboard skills and proper knowledge of the environment to use the angles to your advantage. Even Normal difficulty can be really challenging.

I also would recommend a Steam Controller to play it with. Yes, I'm a big fan of the SC for most games, but for this game especially my keyboard skills just aren't quite up to par. Maybe because I'm not used to using WASD + QE in such a fast-paced game, but I made a lot of mistakes with the controls so far in tough fights. I end up strafing instead of turning, etc.. So a Steam Controller would be really nice for it.

I guess technically it's not a blobber, since it's single-character. Might be okay then.

…but is it/does it feel like an RPG even, if you just upgrade your armor? That bit makes me wary…

Originally Posted by Moorkh
…but is it/does it feel like an RPG even, if you just upgrade your armor? That bit makes me wary…

It does feel like an RPG. There is leveling up where you get a Circuit Point to invest in skills, of which there are several, each with diverse skill trees that open up more over time. The loot is also stat-based, with some named items with unique lore as well as unique properties. Like a pistol that pierces multiple enemies, or a warhammer that every 3rd attack deals massive damage. These items are often hidden in the secret parts of a level. The loot is very RPG-ish overall and they also don't overload you with it. It's not like a random generator.

You also can equip various gear, gloves, weapons, shields, new suit upgrades, etc.. You also get a pair of gadgets to use, which is the game's "magic" type system. You can swap those in and out and create different synergies with them. They range from effects like increasing your melee speed when used to lightning attacks that deal area of effect damage and more.

So yeah, I'd say it feels like an RPG for sure.

Thanks fluent. And yet, I find my mouse cursor still hesitating over that "purchase" button…
No party, generic PC, this sort-of RPG aspect… something feels not quite right. Guess I'll have to wait for a couple reviews.

I think it's great. Wrote a review but haven't had time to edit it.