Man or Vampire – To Bite Or Not to Bite | Cool Action RPG

Out of nowhere, we were introduced to this game called Man or Vampire. It turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises that we’ve had with mobile games, I can tell you as much. You can play the game for free using the link in the video description, and I assure you that you’re in for a good time.

While mobile games aren’t exactly known for their gameplay or revolutionary features, occasionally a game pops up with clever ideas and a distinct art style. Man or Vampire is such a game, a dungeon crawler or roguelike with a simple yet deep combat system and graphics that are clearly the work of a talented team.

Some games go for a stripped-down style because the artists can’t create a compelling identity to them; others, like Man or Vampire, take a minimalistic approach to it because they are confident in their abilities and are able to deliver a visually stylish game, filled to the brim with character and flair. The isometric perspective may feel like Diablo but has a more cubic style to the maps and heroes, one that is easy on the eyes, with some cool weather and special effects going on. It also helps that your heroes are smoothly animated and have plenty of little touches that bring them to life – kicking objects in their way, chatting about random stuff, lighting up torches, and the lighting is just stunning.

The main gimmick behind Man or Vampire revolves around the central character – you. You are special – alright, let that sink in, feels good, doesn’t it? Your character is both human and vampire and climbs experience levels through one thing only: biting other humans and turning them into vampires. You gain experience points from every bite, while the human team members from your party of four climb ranks through exploration and fighting. However, when you turn a human into a vampire, he won’t gain experience anymore; instead, he will jump to a predetermined experience level while still gaining skill points (to unlock active and passive skills) and bonus points to distribute into his attributes: strength, agility and intelligence.

The differences between human and vampire don’t end there. A vampire may die in battle and resurrect a few seconds later, while a human’s death means that you will only get him back at the team’s camp, using the Coffin of Revival. Quite a stylish paradox, don’t you think?

You recruit heroes on a regular basis through soul searching. When you find someone with a high rank, it’s advisable to purchase him with gold or gems. But if you happen to find someone that is pretty much useless, get him anyway and bite him into oblivion – every character is useful in one way or another, either as a party member or as vampire snack. You have the option to convince someone of your purpose by choosing one of your team members with the higher intelligence, thus lowering the price of the character, but we weren’t quite sure if this actually works or if it’s completely random, as some results seemed odd.

When you have your party of four ready to go, it’s time to get into the adventure mode. Stepping inside of the randomly generated dungeons, you run in the direction of any treasure chests, coin fountains and diverse objects that may conceal coins and other treasure. Every other step you will find a monster and then it’s turn-based combat time.

The combat system is truly ingenious and extremely simple to grasp. Your character has a limited movement range and with each move you can pick an action square, such as attack, heal, combo attack (with a party member), shield and other options. You can also activate your main skill if you have mana available. This approach makes for some fast and enjoyable battles, without sacrificing any tactical depth. Going for a good balance for ranged and melee classes, as well as having a team healer is essential to go far. The intelligence attribute is very important, as it is used to determine which characters go first.

There are other nice touches that add a lot of depth to Man or Vampire. For instance, your leader carries a torch that is not only meant to light the way, but also to take the jump on any monsters. When the torch runs out, it’s the monsters that will attack first, and this has great relevance to the outcome of the battles. You can light the torch in campfires or refill it if you have oil in your inventory, but make sure that you don’t let it go out many times.

Freshly out of a battle, you must keep going, but there’s this object called bat scroll which you can use to auto-explore and auto-battle. Unlike other mobile games, these come in limited amounts and are customizable, so this is more of a convenience item than those auto-battle games. For example, you can determine if each one of your members only uses basic attacks or uses the main skill as well, and to deactivate auto-combat when health is below a certain percentage. While we are generally against most things auto in games, this option feels like a step in the right direction.

Man or Vampire has a lot more to talk about, particularly when it comes to character development. Your main hero is able to change jobs and learn skills from other party members, and each one has an element tree with tons of things to unlock. There is also an affinity system to earn access to more effects – for example, you can offer gifts to Medich, the One-Eyed Cowboy and when you become friends, he will make some bonus damage. If you become intimate, he will gain 500 agility. Hey, we’re not judging!

Besides the adventure mode, there are other modes to choose from, including the obligatory PvP. You can set a defensive scheme for your team, and it all plays out in a small battlefield, but the matchmaking system seems a bit off, as it paired me several times with godlike players. Not cool, man.

One final mention goes to the complete absence of any sort of energy or stamina system. You can play for as long as you want, as the only things that have timers is stuff like soul search or human resurrect. Don’t die and have your team at tip-top shape and you will make good progress. There is a cash shop, but I never felt like it was being shoved down my throat – I was getting gold, gems and items such as armor and weapons at a nice pace.

We still can’t get our heads around the name Man or Vampire – Human or Vampire would make much more sense, but this is an insignificant detail about a game that has a lot going for it. The design is clever, the art style is catchy, and we had a lot of fun playing it. Man or Vampire is available in the App Store and Google Play Store. Give it a try by using the link in the video description, we’re sure that you will enjoy it.