[Want to see more guides like this? Subscribe to GuideRanx for daily new gaming guides.]
Vampyr is the next game from Dontnod Entertainment, the developers behind Life is Strange — and this is a very unique RPG. You’ll fight the denizens of the night, but you’ll also need to talk to the citizens caught in the center of the rising epidemic. Bloodthirsty vampiric monsters stalk the streets while gangs of anti-vampire vigilantes kill anything that looks suspicious. It’s a deadly world out there, and your thirst for human blood makes things more difficult.
London is a living, breathing place in Vampyr, and you can drink the blood of any named citizen. Everyone has a backstory, and killing a single human can cause countless repercussions in their region — if you kill a merchant, you’ll lose your only place to trade, and you just might cause their significant other to fall into despair. Each citizen is a unique character, so choosing who you prey upon is a tough choice.
There are plenty of tough choices in Vampyr. Learn more about this unique RPG with the ten tips below, explaining how this game works, and what we recommend you do to make the game easier.
More Vampyr guides on Gameranx:
- Vampyr: How To Beat The Game Without Killing Anyone | ‘Not Even Once’ Guide
- Vampyr: How To Unlock All 9 Medicines | Cure Recipes Locations Guide
- Vampyr: All Lore Documents | Collectibles Locations Guide
- Vampyr: How To Find The Life is Strange Easter Egg | ‘Unlife Is Strange’ Guide
- Vampyr: Unlock Every Hint With Help From A Fortune Teller | Hint Shop Location
#1: XP Is Your Life Blood
XP is your most important resource in Vampyr. You don’t have to kill, but drinking the blood of the innocent (or not so innocent) is the fastest way to level up. When you go to bed, you’ll be able to pump XP into your different skills. There’s a wide variety of skills you can choose from, and the more blood (XP) you use, the more you’ll level up.
NOTE: Don’t embrace victims you’ve just met! Wait, talk to everyone, learn more about them and complet investigations until their XP / blood level is full. Then drink deep!
If you rush forward on the main quest, you’ll soon learn that the game gets difficult very quickly. Your level is important – the greater the gap between your level and your enemies’, the more damage you’ll sustain in a fight. There’s no armor in Vampyr, so your level is your only defense.
#2: The Epidemic – Don’t Sleep Too Soon
Early in the adventure, you’ll be given a room in Pembroke Hospital. Every hideout includes a bed, but you don’t want to use it everytime you’ve got just enough XP for a new skill. It’s better to wait until you’ve earned a huge amount of XP, then use it all at the same time. Why? Because the epidemic progresses when you sleep.
NOTE: Don’t worry, you can’t lose XP you’ve earned. You can also reset your XP at any time while resting in the bed.
Every time you sleep, you can pump blood into skills and progress the epidemic. The epidemic will get worse (or better) depending on your actions. If you haven’t been offering cures to the sick, the stability of the region will always drop – region stability is important if you want to be safe and have waiting supply of bloodsucking victims, which in turn will help you earn more easy XP. Here’s how it all works.
#3: The More You Kill, The Worse The Epidemic Becomes
To suck someone’s blood, you’ll need to mesmerize your target. If your mesmerize level is the same (or higher) than your target, you’ll be able to mesmerize them and lead them to a safe place. Follow the trail of blood, then you can choose to embrace or spare your victim. If you drink, you’ll instantly kill – leaving a dead body for the region to discover.
By leaving a dead body, you’re making the epidemic in London spread faster. When you sleep, the epidemic will progress, and many, many more locals will come down with sicknesses. There are nine different ailments the local populace will contract, so you’ll need a wide variety of medication to keep the epidemic at bay.
NOTE: Some NPCs are linked. If you kill one of these linked NPCs, the other might respond in an unexpected way. Target NPCs that don’t have friends or family first – and try to pick real scum! There’s usually a couple of truly despicable NPCs in every region.
If you don’t give these people cures, they’ll continue to get worse and spread their sickness – and the stability of the region will degrage. When the region goes below “Critical” – then you’ll lose all quests and the area will be filled with hostile enemies. No more talking, no more bloodsucking. Each region has a different meter, but all the regions you’ve visited so far will progress, even the ones you’re not currently sleeping in.
#4: Staying Alive In Combat (Defense Skills, Offense Skills, Ultimates)
Combat is shockingly tough when you first get started. It’s important to understand the weird level system in Vampyr. You’re not meant to outlevel your enemies – your enemies will almost always be higher level than you, and you can safely fight enemies that are 3-5 levels higher than your character. Enemies that are the same level as you are considered “green” or easy.
To properly survive, there are certain skills and weapons you’ll want to unlock right away. Get the ability to spend blood to heal (blood is your magic meter, below stamina) and then unlock the claw or blood spear ranged attack. Both are powerful attacks, and they don’t use stamina. The Blood Shield ability doesn’t last long, but it is totally free to activate and will stun enemies that strike you.
Fill your meter with four skills as early as you can, and unlock an Ultimate. These skills are also totally free to use – they don’t cost blood or stamina. Use them whenever you encounter tougher enemies. The Abyss Ultimate is the best. You can continue to attack your stunned target while they’re grabbed, and it works on bosses too.
#5: Upgrade Your Weapons For Huge Improvements
One of the easiest things to overlook is your gear. Specifically, your weapons – weapons can fall behind fast, but if you plan to play as a modest Vampyr that doesn’t drink everyone’s blood all the time, you need a good pair of weapons to fight with. I recommend using a one-handed weapon and an off-hand weapon with high stun damage. The right off-hand weapon can knock an enemy down after two hits, even if they’re much higher level than you. Drink their blood and use it to heal or fight back. You’ll want to drink lots of blood in combat.
Merchants might seem useless at first, but they’re actually great – they’re the easiest way to acquire weapon upgrade parts. All weapon types require different parts, and you’ll need lots of them to enhance your tools. Get rid of weapons that can’t be upgraded and keep weapons that can be upgraded above their base level. If a weapon can be upgraded to purple (Lvl. 4) it’s worth keeping.
Use merchants to buy the extra parts you need, and upgrade your tools of the trade. A sturdy weapon, an off-hand stun weapon, and a shotgun are a strong combo. I recommend bringing a shotgun into the fight early and upgrading. They’re surprisingly powerful, even against bosses.
#6: Talk To Everyone About Everything (Hints & Merchants)
You’ll find London is a lonely place if you don’t talk to literally everyone. You can’t simply introduce yourself either – you need to check every dialogue option you haven’t yet exhausted. The more you learn about a character and their friends, the more hints you’ll unlock. You’ll also find merchants – they aren’t marked on your map, you just have to talk to everyone to find them – and investigations. The only way to find an investigation side-quest is to talk to people.
To find more hints (and a rare side-quest) you’ll need to check notes. You don’t need to literally read the note, but if you’ve found a note OPEN IT and then close it. You’ll get a message stating which NPC has just unlocked another hint. You’ll also need to talk to the NPC about these new unlocked hints – you can learn more about them or get secret investigations. The more you learn and unlock, the more valuable the blood of the victims will be. Also, helping people out improves the status of the region.
#7: Check Merchants (And Lootables) Daily For New Stock
Every day, merchants and lootables will reset. Enemies will also reset – the Prywen Gaurd have plenty of weapon upgrade loot if you’re looking for it – so make sure to check all the merchants you know. Depending on the level of the epidemic, merchants might have less stock. Usually, you’ll find merchants only have one item each. Those items will restock after a day of rest.
NOTE: You might think junk items are for selling, but no! Recycle your junk at the workbench instead of selling it. The parts / chemicals you’ll find are worth more.
Lootables will also reset. Not all of them – certain “unique” lootables like corpses will never reset, but everything else will. Trashcans, cupboards, random boxes – the hospital is a treasure trove of random junk, and you’ll find plenty of it on your way to the office. Grab as much as you can, the more chemicals you’re carrying, the more you’ll be able to save your shillings and construct all the cures you need to keep a region stable.
#8: Return To The Docks For More Investigations Early On
Very early in the game, you’ll encounter a huge roadblock. The difficulty spikes fast in the main story quests. If you want to keep up without murdering all the Level 1 NPCs in Pembroke Hospital, it’s time to return to the Docks. The southern-most area will feature new NPCs to talk to, new investigations for you to complete, and low-level enemies you can practice on.
Investigations are the best, peaceful way to earn XP without eating civilians. Of course, you can always eat all the civilians in the Docks too.
#9: When You Enter A New Region, Keep These Tips In Mind
There are four regions in Vampyr, and each one has its own ecosystem of linked characters, investigations, and sickness. Keep the health of the area in mind when you first arrive, if it is serious, you’ll probably want to start cooking up cures and handing them out to the sick populace before the situation becomes worse. Sickness breeds more sickness, and the healthier a region is, the safer it will be – and the more you can drink the blood of innocent NPCs.
When you’re far away from Pembroke, it helps to unlock extra hideouts. Usually, they’re located on high balconies – to find them easily, use vampire-vision to spot bright red blood spots. Follow the blood to a door, and you’ll usually be able to access the hideout. If the door is locked, just complete more quests and come back later.
Also, when you hit a new zone or complete a main quest, you’ll often reach an area you couldn’t before. There’s almost always shortcut gates you can unlock. These won’t unlock themselves, so make note of any locked gates you encountered on your first exploration rounds and make sure to unlock them all from the other side. It makes future visits much, much easier to navigate.
#10: Is Your Mesmerize Level Too Low? Complete More Main Quests
Every NPC has a mesmerize level, and your vampire begins at Level 1. That’s pathetically low, and only the weakest NPCs can be mesmerized at that level. There are five levels of mesmerize you can unlock – Level 6 is reserved for plot-specific NPCs that you aren’t allowed to kill – everyone else can be eaten for their precious blood XP.
To actually gain mesmerize levels, you need to complete main story quests. After Chapter 1, every future chapter will include a confrontation with major story character. Depending on how you resolve these encounters, you’ll cause serious repercussions in the community. For me, I was able to convince them with a third option – one that had to be unlocked. Sometimes you’ll need extra XP, other times you’ll just need to unlock lots of hints about the character. Either way, you’ll get an extra mesmerize level, and you’ll have a much wider range of NPCs to hunt.
