Voltaire is the second title released by the hands of the Digitality Games studio and presents itself as a mixture of two very different concepts, but which together go hand in hand in a very pleasant way. This mixture is between an Action-Roguelike and a Farming, in the “peculiar” locality inhabited by Dracula, Transylvania.
The story is simple, Voltaire, Dracula’s youngest son, feels the need to change his eating habits to a less carnal one. He decides that going Vegan is the best option for his future. Dracula is not pleased to see that his son is ignoring family customs and decides to remove him from his household. Seeing himself excluded from the family, and with no money to buy food, Voltaire, with the help of his uncles, Frank and Stein, decides to start his own vegetable plantation, which is quite different from what we are used to seeing. At least in my case… That, or I have to start eating more vegetables.
Divided between 8 different biomes, the player will step into the shoes of this little adventurer who will have to plant, water, explore and fight against hordes of enemies tasked with destroying his home, at Dracula’s orders. Each biome will have 7 different days that always culminate in an encounter against the Boss of that location. During the day it is necessary to explore the map, which although reduced, presents some points of interest. It is possible to collect seeds, to later plant in the place assigned to this activity, to collect vegetables that grew outside the planting area, to collect water, yes to collect, since even this is a mini activity where it is necessary to run after the evil ones. drops of water and for lovers of fishing activities, fishing with friend C’thul. Remembering that this activity requires specific foods since C’thul is very selective and does not eat just anything.
Each activity is equivalent to spending a portion of the energy, although different between them. You will need food to recover your energy, whether it was planted, or just harvested off the plantation. The important thing is to always keep some food in your pocket in case you need to continue your activities. If for some reason the energy ends up being all consumed, Voltaire will wake up inside his house during the night. There are two periods of the day, the day, which allows the player to explore, plant or fish without any kind of time pressure, as in other titles of the genre, and the night, which is when it is necessary to defend both the plantation and the house where Voltaire live.
An interesting point is the implementation of Veggiepidia, where it will be listed, as soon as it is discovered, the plants and the enemies that they attract during the night. This way it is possible to somehow program the run against enemies, since it is possible to have an idea of what kind of enemies we will have to face. Divided between faster or slower enemies, enemies with more life or that apply more damage, there is a satisfying variety of different encounters that make this period of the night more desirable. But it can quickly go wrong. It’s just that sometimes having a plantation full of shoots isn’t always the best option if you can’t defend it in the best way. To help with this demand, there is the possibility of planting plants that will help defend the property. Here it is also possible to make a small distinction between plants that attack close, or plants that have range and therefore attack further away. It is important to understand these mechanics to proceed with a plantation that is richer in defense options.
Regarding the combat, everything is quite intuitive, although sometimes the attacks are not very explicit in the place where they are being delivered, it occurred to me several times to miss the enemy and not quite understand why. It is possible to use upgrade points in the skill tree and build the gameplay mode that most interests you in each case.
Another very rich point, but in laughter, are the farts present in the lines. What’s the use of having super helpful uncles but no brains, right? Uncles Frank and Stein steal the spotlight for the funniest of this title.
Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire, presents itself with a simple but very interesting concept that promises many hours of fun. It should be noted that this is a title that is still in early access, what will come in the future only the producers themselves will know.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game for PC provided by Freedom Games.]
