Victor Vran (PC) Review

Did anyone say Diablo? Ho about Van Helsing?  Well then you’ve come to the right place.

Victor Vran is self-described as “The isometric action-RPG where your skill is just as essential as your character build and gear. Experience intense combat action: dodge, jump and unleash powerful skills to finish off your enemies!” and quite frankly, I was intrigued! I’m a long-time Diablo fan and I’ve enjoyed the Van Helsing games as well, but most importantly I love everything RPG. So with all of these elements combined into one quirky indie game, honestly speaking, I was moved. So I took the plunge.

Was the game worth it? Does it deserve a second glance? Spoiler alert: yes.

Victor Vran is a fast-paced, dungeon crawling, monster killing, treasure hunting gem of a game. It combines all of my favorite aspects of Diablo such as dungeon crawling, level grinding, and equipment hunting with the more unique aspects of an online multiplayer experience that every fan of Diablo should experience for themselves. The gameplay feels extremely smooth as well, and the animations look dazzling. Most importantly though, the game knows when to be tense and grueling.

The graphics of the game are amazingly fluid for such an ambitious project. While I may disagree with the character designs and other aesthetics, such as the weapons and some spell animations, what really matters is the heart of the game – the action! Fighting enemies is fun, challenging and more importantly, engaging. Who would enjoy slaying his or her hundredth monster with the same repetitive moves? (No one, that’s who.) Mixing things up nicely, Victor’s movements are agile and impressive, even though he has what I would describe as the laziest character design in gaming yet.

So what’s with all the hate on some of the character/monster/etc design? Most of what I have in mind are just me nagging with “What’s with this monster? Why does he look like that monster I killed 10 minutes ago?” or “What’s with this sword? Are swords even supposed to look like this?” and when I say nagging, I mean fault-finding.

Generally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with the designs, but there’s nothing special about them either. But if there’s anything about the game that needs to be changed, it’s the cover art and the font of the title. I know, I know, I’m being too picky and I’m totally ignoring the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” rule… but seriously, have you seen the cover of Victor Vran? It’s basically the most unambitious cover in the history of gaming with the laziest character design that is Dorian Pavus trying out a career in Demon Hunting. Anyone else agree? No one? That’s fine too, so enough nitpicking for now.

To summarize: Some of the designs get old fast but, again, I’m just nitpicking and it doesn’t affect this awesome game in any way.

Getting back to the good stuff, the music is incredible! It’s basically a mesh of old-school dungeon crawling music with a few enhancements here and there, and what better way to explore a dungeon or creep towards an enemy (Okay, you can’t actually creep towards enemies since they’re mostly hot on your tail) than by doing it accompanied by an epic score? It’s not the best RPG soundtrack ever, but it’s good enough! And isn’t that all we want nowadays? Good enough? …Just kidding.

One other thing the game has going for it too is the voice acting. Man the voice acting is amazing! I’ve seen a few people compare Victor’s voice to that of Geralt who most recently appeared in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (which coincidentally we did a review of here) and I’ve noticed it for myself every now and then. However, what really makes the voice acting and the dialogue engaging is its wittiness. The writers know how to tickle your senses when it comes to making some pretty meta references to The Stanley Parable, Diablo and Van Helsing, among others, and I loved every second of it.

The premise of Victor Vran is simple enough, and is coupled with a responsive mouse + keyboard, or even with a gamepad. It works like how it’s supposed to either way, and both control schemes feel amazing. The game, as I mentioned above is fast paced and having clanky, unresponsive controls could pretty much determine life or death for Victor, but luckily, the controls are anything but. They are simple to grasp and easy to master, as long as the player dedicates himself to being a strategist as well as an accomplished fighter, because even the simplest of mistakes could cost you valuable time and progression because of death. (Hey, just like Dark Souls!)

The difficulty, for me, is just right as after a certain amount of level progression in the game, the system unlocks a difficulty modifier option wherein the player could create his or her own version of the game which would suit his or her playing style and capability. This is a friendly boon to players as not everyone enjoys the glory that is won in a hard battle as some would probably find more enjoyment in just playing for the story instead of playing for achievements and, again, glory.

The story is simple. You’re a Demon Hunter and you’re out to kill the legions of the undead. It doesn’t get any simpler than that and hey, if it works for Diablo (which is an impressive game in its own right) it should work for Victor – and it does. There are a quite a few optional missions that I consider side-quests scattered around the various locales in the game and some of them actually add to the story making them invaluable and fun for story-driven gamers.

As mentioned above, the writers really know how to write their stuff if you know what I mean. I really loved the wittiness in the dialogue and it actually made the story that much more interesting! Kudos to the writers of this game and if I’d have to mark anything as “the best part” of this amazing game, it’s the writing.

Victor Vran is highly replayable as well (c’mon, try it on a harder difficulty. I dare you! In fact, I double donut dare you!) and really fun – which is what games are supposed to do, help people pass the time and have fun doing it while giving them the satisfaction that is won through Mortal Kom – err I mean in playing games.

One more thing which would add to the total enjoyment factor of the game is its online multiplayer capabilities. Are you having a hard time with a mission? Have some random heroes help you out! You want to play with your friends? Go for it! In fact, Victor Vran on Steam actually has a package for 4 friends! If you get tired of playing alone, kick ass and take names with your buddies before your little band of warriors break-up because of loot distribution or in-party KS-ing. I’m kidding, of course.

Final Thoughts

All in all, a fairly decent concept backed by a pretty okay story, but with amazing music and voice acting, excellent controls, and wonderful story telling and multiplayer. Hell yeah, get Victor Vran is what I say.