Maximum Letdown: Vigil Blood Bitterness (PC)

As I noted in my review of Datura a few weeks back, indie games often use vagueness and minimalism as a means of attracting players. However, there is a difference between using minimalism to benefit the game and being vague for the sake of being vague. Sadly, Vigil (or Victi as it’s known in Europe) does the latter. While it drags players in with its Sin-City-style graphics and interesting storyline, it’s vagueness and frustrating gameplay will turn off players with the quickness.

You play as Dehon, an ancient Darth-Vader-looking creature. Apparently he killed off his father and three of his brothers, and is seeking to flee the palace he resides at as some unknown evil is approaching. Of course fleeing the castle involves solving puzzles and eating corpses. While this would make for a hell of a premise, unfortunately Vigil does not have the gameplay to back it up, instead leaving players with the all too familiar feeling of what-the-fuck-do-I-do-nowitis that comes from exceptionally crap titles such as Datura and Hydlide. The game makes use of a mouse and two buttons. The left click moves your character, and the right click is using for praying and unlocking doors. That’s right, praying. Hopefully the almighty will step in and help out against this evil, then again I don’t think he looks kindly on the whole family-killing-plus-cannibalism-thing.

The game is some sort of adventure game that involves finding clues and solving puzzles. Unfortunately the game’s black and white graphics make it difficult to navigate, and I find myself dying all the time. In fact, it isn’t common to take two steps forward only to discover that you walked into some spike trap or off the ledge. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if you could save during the game, but since you can’t, dying takes you back to the beginning of the current act.

There really isn’t much to say about this game seeing as how I got tired of it within an hour of booting it up. Only reason I even have this game to begin with is because it came as part of a Meridan4 collection pack alongside fellow clunker Space Trader. If you want a horror-abstract-adventure game, go play Amnesia.