Ever since Vampire Therapist was first revealed back in January of this year, I have had my eyes on it. It’s no secret that I enjoy visual novels and Vampire Therapist combines that genre with a unique concept, letting you play as the titular vampire dishing out introspective observations. On top of that, the game was also developed in consultation with licensed therapists, grounding the rather fantastical story in a welcome touch of reality.
I got to play a preview build of the game that lasted a little over an hour and gave me a taste of what the game has to offer. The story centers around Samuel Walls, a cowboy vampire who goes on a walk of self-discovery after slaughtering half of the Wild West. At the start of the game, Sam is on his way to meet Andr- um let’s call him Andy. Andy is a much older vampire who will guide Sam on his journey to become a vampire therapist.
Now the game emphasizes at the start that while the therapy in the game is developed to feel authentic, it’s not an alternative to real therapy. That being said, it doesn’t change the fact that I felt myself picking up on terms as I played. Before the game, I didn’t even know what a cognitive distortion was, but now I can name a few of them. The game’s core gameplay loop revolves around listening to others speak and identifying the right distortion, which essentially means you’ll not only have to be familiar with the terminology but also what they mean.
This all puts a lot of pressure on the game’s writing and I liked what was present in the preview. Characters all feel distinct in both voice and personality, and I have to admit that the occasional line of humor did make me chickle at times. Speaking of voice, Vampire Therapist is fully voice-acted, which makes it more immersive as a whole. It’s easier to hear a line of dialogue and identify a cognitive distortion than to simply read it. Not to mention that it makes the game a bit more accessible to players who are new to the genre. (Fun fact: the writing and some of the voice work is done by Cyrus Nemati of Hades and Pyre.)
Speaking of accessibility to new players, the game also has a handy journal feature, which lets you read Samuel’s notes on the various cognitive distortions along with diary entries about each day’s events. These are helpful when you are asked to make a sudden analysis and you can’t remember the difference between a control fallacy and polar thinking. And while we’re talking about side mechanics, there is a biting mechanic in the game that I thought was a bit clunky and could use work before the final release next month.
The last thing I’ll mention is the visuals. The backgrounds for each area look sort of like detailed concept art and it’s mostly fitting for the game. The character art, however, is different. Characters are crisp and detailed while remaining stylized and cohesive. Small touches like highlighting the glow of background light on the character’s back and shoulders go a long way in my opinion. And, generally speaking, I also dig the character designs overall, which were done by Sibylle Hell of Sea of Solitude.
Much like any preview build, Vampire Therapist also features a message in the corner that says it’s a work in progress and that the preview doesn’t reflect the final quality. But the truth is, I kind of hope it does. Obviously, there are things to polish, like a few dialogue exchanges towards the end of the preview, but by and large, I liked what was on display and I look forward to playing more. If I have any reservations about the game, it’s that I hope there’s a strong narrative throughline because non-stop character analysis might start to feel like a chore and I also want to see what happens with these characters. Vampire Therapist comes to PC via Steam on June 17. You can watch the reveal trailer below.
