Interface and Sound

Get a New Mouse, Son

Vampire has a serious personality conflict here. Here we have the perfect RPG system for a slow, thought-out RPG and yet, Nihilistic throws Diablo.. .er.. Redemption at us. Combat can turn into an insane-click fest like in Diablo. While you can simply hold down the button to attack, the moment you get hit you will have to re-click to start attacking again. Personally, I just found it easier to keep clicking."

Happy man

It's a bonfire

There's really not much to interface with... basically point and click. There are a few commands which might be useful, mostly keyboard shortcuts to various sub-screens, but that's it. Being this simple, the interface works nicely and is quite intuitive, except for one small detail. Say you've got a vial of holy water. You want to throw it at somebody, correct? Well, first you need to pick it out of your inventory or a quick slot then find your target and click on him. Easier said than done. In fact, even trying to swing your sword is easier said than done.

Hmm, the victim of his feeding is invisible

A glowing wall?

With the 3D camera, close quarters and hair fights, you'll find yourself lost quite a few times since the monster you were clicking on 3 seconds ago got replaced by your buddy Wilhelm and you're no longer attacking. With experience this can be avoided but, given the AI's predisposition for screwing up at the worst moments, it's impossible to completely avoid the problem.

There are a few cool features included in Vampire. You have only 5 quickslots in the inventory, but they auto-replenish. So if you use a bottle of vitae, another will be taken from the inventory if possible. Very, very convenient.

What Buck's nightmares are made of

Night is oppressive in the World of Darkness

Sound Off

The sounds and music in Redemption are excellent, taking a backseat only to the graphics. Everything from ambient music and background sounds up to combat effects and speech is rock solid. There are a few 'weak' voices but when put up beside 90% of other games out there, Redemption has awesome speech.

Environmental effects are absolutely necessary for good gameplay, since hearing what's ahead is a lot more important than seeing it just because by the time you see it, it's already too late. Nihilistic uses just about every sound API in existence to provide all users with 3D sound - from Microsoft's own DirectSound, to A3D and EAX up through the excellent Miles Sound System.