Dontnod: choice in Vampyr will be "much more brutal"

After the success of Life is Strange, the expectations are certainly high with regards to the next game from Parisian studio Dontnod. Vampyr is a third-person action-RPG set in London during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Against the backdrop of this interesting period of history, the player will take control of a character who has very split priorities. On the one hand he's a doctor - a blood specialist to be precise - helping those he meets along the way. On the other, he's got a thirst for blood to contend with.

During a recent event in Paris we spoke to the game's narrative director, Stéphane Beauverger, who had plenty to tell us about the title and the decisions you'll be making along the way.

"You have complete freedom," Beauverger explained, adding that "you could decide to kill everybody in the game. Or to take no life at all. Except, I would say, no innocent life."

According to Beauverger, the game offers a semi-open world with four districts that the player can explore, revealing different areas in London.

"There will be two main ways for you to explore the city. You will have to conduct investigation to find answers to your questions by talking to citizens, finding clues, talking to the most important NPCs in the game.

"And at the same time you will be hunted down by the vampire hunters who are totally aware of your presence and try to destroy you. So you will have to fight them or to escape them if you can. And of course you will have also to fight very strange, very strong vampire figures."

Dontnod now enjoys a reputation for writing games with a strong narrative twist, this after their work on Life is Strange and, before that, Remember Me. We asked whether there were any elements from those games that carried over into Vampyr.

"We are always trying to create games that put the player in the situation of making [a] choice and then having to face the consequences. That will be the same case with Vampyr. The difference, of course, will be that the choices here is much more brutal, there [is] much more blood involved. You will have to kill.

"The question sometime will be 'will you spare this one, will you kill this one?' The question sometime will be 'who will you kill?' But each time you decide to take a life as a vampire, each time you decide to save a life as a doctor - because you are both at the same time - you will have to face the consequences.

"You will see in the game what will happen to the people you killed, and most important, to the people who knew the victim and will have to survive now without that person."

The game, which Beauverger confirmed will have a branching storyline and multiple endings, will be released at some point in 2017, and it's set to land on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Expect to see more of Vampyr later in the year as and when Dontnod are ready to share more.