Game Reviews

Lamp and Vamp

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Lamp and Vamp
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| Lamp and Vamp

I'm surprised there haven't been more video games that cast you in the mouldy boots of a vampire.

Not only do you have a rich seam of myth and lore to draw from, but there's that tantalising mixture of intoxicating power and precarious weakness that sets its own (super)natural gameplay rules and boundaries.

Lamp and Vamp does just that.

The game can best be described as Hoplite with stealth. While Magma Fortress's roguelike often required you to avoid conflict, here the evasive mechanics are brought front and centre and highlighted with a marker pen.

Nice long stalk

Your surprisingly cheerful blood-sucker stalks through each simple level one hexagon at a time, aiming for the coffin that marks the exit. As you take a move, so do the level's random allotment of slayers, priests, and will-o'-the-wisps.

Each of these creatures casts a unique spread of light around them. Step into that light, and the hunt is on. Your location becomes known, and any attacks will prove fatal.

Stick to the shadows and you can circumvent the enemy patrol patterns. Alternatively, if you get nice and close while remaining hidden, you can nip the enemies in the neck for an instant takedown and a handy health top-up.

Night moves

The key to progress in this incredibly tough game is knowing how your enemies will move and act (which is helped by a handy bestiary), and plotting how those movements will play out two or three turns ahead.

It also comes down to the skilful use of your vampire's abilities. Besides the aforementioned bite, you can also turn into a bat and jump to a distant square, or turn into fog and pass through solid barriers and enemies.

Of course, both of these abilities sap your health, so have to be reserved for key moments.

Lamp and Vamp doesn't quite have the level of tactical scope and nuance of Hoplite. It simply lacks the range of movement and attacking options.

But Lamp and Vamp's setting and focus on stealth makes it distinctive enough - not to mention fun enough - to stand loud and proud in such company. Or rather, to skulk around the back and go for the jugular.

Lamp and Vamp

A tight, clever turn-based roguelike with a fresh stealth-based twist
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.