It's an interesting idea. Sort of a stripped down Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. There aren't many quests and little interaction/dialogue with the NPCs. The developer is adding new content and improving the game, so it's a work in progress. You basically wander the city sandbox and try to balance feeding and avoiding sunrise as well as hunters while picking up money. You can also acquire a haven and decorate it.
The game is a little dark and it can be a little difficult to see in some areas (even with the games brightness turned all the way up). The hunters literally come out of nowhere, but it keeps you on your toes. You can't fight them melee, but you can shoot them (and anyone else who attacks you) using a gun you pick up.
For $2 I really recommend the game. If you like VTMB you'll find this has a similar, albeit much watered down, flavor. Hopefully the developer continues to add more content to the game.
***SPOILERS***
Some people like to play these games cold and figure things out. But this game tells you very little and you're not exactly sure what you're supposed to do. Here are 10 tips to help you navigate the game:
1) You have 4 health bars that represent Stamina, Blood, Sleep and Mental Fortitude. Running out of the first three can kill you and end the game. Running out of the fourth stops you from using the computer in your haven. Each time you start a new game, you'll have a different set of levels as well as some cash or no cash in your wallet. Stamina is replenished with random med kits found around town, Blood by feeding (no blood packs), Sleep by returning to your haven and lying on the bed or taking energy drinks from vending machines to give you a partial boost. Mental fortitude is replenished by buying beer at the bar.
2) There is no save button, but you can save by exiting the game. This auto saves your game. When you log back in and select Load Game, no matter where you last were, you will be in your haven and continue your last character. If you get killed, you can use the load game option and you will return as the last character you played minus your money and ammo even if you logged off and shut the game down. If you have a haven and decorated it, you will keep that. If you start a new game, it will overwrite the previous game. So don't start a new game if you want to continue playing the same character. Only one saved character at a time.
3) The space bar turns you into a flying bat, but uses up a portion of blood.
4) When you sleep, your corresponding bar fills up, but other bars decrease, so it can be a tricky balancing act.
5) The time is kept in 24 hour cycles equaling 24 minutes. Sunrise occurs at 8 am or 8 minutes and sundown at 19 minutes. You get a text/verbal warning around 6 minutes. When the sun comes up, you only have a few seconds before it kills you. You need to be in a haven or the bar. You can't sleep or feed in the bar (although there is a dance game and video game you can activate with the E button) so if you're in the bar at sunup and your health bars are low you won't last until sundown. You can always exit and auto save and then log back in by loading the previous game and be in your haven.
6) You can't enter your haven or the bar while being pursued by cops or the hunters. You have to run out the skull timer in the upper right hand corner first. If you kill any cops or hunters or are seen feeding while the timer is running, it starts all over again.
7) Money can be acquired a few ways. What you take from NPCs you feed on. Various money trunks you find scattered around the city. Open them and the money is scattered as gold bricks floating around the box. You can also do one of the missions. One of the homes with a purple aura around the door has a repeatable mission for money. It will cost you the use of some blood. Don't take the mission if you're low. The final way to make money is on your haven computer using the work option.
8) You can pick up a gun from any of the cops you encounter and some other NPCs. You have a max 15 bullet magazine. No reloads until you pick up ammo from an NPC you feed on or kill.You can pick up ammo from NPCs you feed on or shoot that are carrying ammo.
9) You can use the computer in your haven to increase your skill level by using the study function. You can also make money using the work function. And of course, you can buy various things for your haven in the shopping option. Using the computer drains your various health bars and if your mental bar is empty you won't be able to use the computer until you add some juice by visiting the bar.
10) You can buy at least one haven in the city. It also has a purple aura around the door. I think it's available so you have an alternate place to hide from the sun on the opposite side of town and don't have to spend $250 every-time you want to lay low. You can also explore out by the train tracks and in the woods. You'll hit invisible walls when you can't go any further. If you press M a map of the city will appear that can give you a layout of where things are located.
