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Vaporum : Lockdownis a raw submission to the recently revitalized musical genre of grid - based RPGs , and a prequel to 2017’sdecent but blemished effortVaporum . Vaporum : Lockdowncontinues the vogue gear up by its harbinger and the popularLegend of Grimrockseries of bringing back the honest-to-god - school , puzzler - focused style of RPGs with 3D graphics , voice acting , and new mechanics . Vaporumdid minuscule to revolutionize the musical style when it released three year ago , and its prequel continues in the same trend of being a upstanding , serviceable , and mostly everyday effort from developer Fatbot Games .
Vaporum : Lockdown ’s influences , beyond the obvious tributes to older RPGs likeEye of the Beholder , are legion and varied . The dark steampunk setting is remindful ofBioShock ’s Rapture . The tarradiddle of a skill test gone wrong , leading to fights with robots , monsters , and inter - dimensional demons , check a lot of the same box as the originalHalf - Life , too , among the dozens of other game with a similar premise since . Fatbot Games does not shy away from the game ’s influences , andrevisiting the games of the pasthas been largely successful in some recent lawsuit . However , Vaporum : Lockdowncan feel a little too familiar , particularly compared to its forerunner .
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The biggest machinist unequaled toVaporum : Lockdown , introduced in a eyepatch to its precursor , is the Stop Time musical mode . act like a mixture ofSuperhotandFallout ’s V.A.T.S. scheme , break Time style freezes meter until the player actuate or performs an action , allowing for a more strategic coming to armed combat rather than the tight - step , dodge - rivet veridical time fight . This allows the player to swap out weapons and anticipate their foeman ’s movement and conduct , which is an piquant choice . The game also features teaser and many hidden secret to reward the more inquisitive with better gear wheel and other assorted dainty .
This brand of RPG rarely bestow a focus on its floor , butVaporum : Lockdowndoes put effort into its narrative . The game is a prequel toVaporum , so those fresh to the series have a good entry dot , and those who played the master copy can learn about the upshot that led to the Arx Vaporum ’s destiny . government note are scattered about that fill in gaps in the lore , and the sense of secret portmanteau nicely with the many secrets and puzzles scatter about the level . Characters are also fully voice acted , an impressive feat for an indie secret plan such as this , although neither the carrying out nor the story will win many awards .
Overall , Vaporum : Lockdowntakes an " if it ai n’t broke , do n’t posit it " approach . Not much has changed since the original , and it does n’t offer up a different experience toLegend of Grimrockbeyond a different setting and focusing on one participant role instead of a party system . To anyone look for more in this genre , or maybe look toscratch aBioShockitch , the secret plan will serve its purpose admirably . But for anyone who require something new , did n’t love those games , or never go out the appeal of grid - based RPGs in the first lieu , there is n’t much thatVaporum : Lockdownhas to offer that will change their mind .
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Vaporum : Lockdownreleases September 15th on PC , with Mac and console versions to come later . Screen Rant was reach a Steam Florida key for the aim of this followup .
