Combat takes place in real time. Each enemy has a distinctive set of strengths and weaknesses so you have to employ different tactics to beat each one. Weapon types have each a set of unique bonuses and behaviors which adds more depth and thought when choosing what weapons to equip.
Solve intriguing puzzles and level-wide objectives where you have to use both your wits and reflexes. While most puzzles and riddles are contained in a single room, progression objectives can span an entire level or even multiple levels.
Instead of increasing the abilities of your human character, you will improve an exoskeleton rig you wear. The game combines a "you are what you wear" aspect with a long-term development of your exo-rig. The gadget-based system allows you change your loadout of gadgets at any time, giving you a great deal of flexibility to deal with various situations. On the other hand, as you progress, you get to unlock useful circuits on your exo-rig, gaining significant permanent attribute bonuses and passive skills.
Stranded on a small islet in the middle of an ocean, you enter a gigantic mechanical tower. Nothing makes sense to you, but it is all strangely familiar...
Posted on: January 15, 2022
Solarflight
Verified ownerGames: 82 Reviews: 14
A solid game (albeit really hardcore)
Vaporum is - much much like the Legend of Grimrock series - a modern-day throwback to the dungeon crawler RPGs of old. This is most noticeable in how unwaveringly hardcore Vaporum is throughout its game design. Combat is grid-based and real-time, and most enemies' usual attack speed is FAST, so be prepared to do the "side-step dance" to avoid enemy attacks. Personally, I found the pace of combat to be a little too fast for me, so I had to rely on the “stop time” function to get through a number of battles - but this then made the fights too easy (but then again, I’m an old-time gamer, so my twitch reflexes aren't as good as they used to be). Secondly, while I love hidden secrets and puzzles in games, I found many of the secrets in this game to be a little TOO well-hidden: a lot of the secret buttons are so small, and their colour palette blends in so well with their surroundings, that you really have to pixel-hunt to find many of them. Many times I searched the same wall repeatedly before I noticed the button, and this level of pixel-hunting was just not enjoyable for me. All this being said, I did love the game and the style of gameplay it presents. Solving puzzles and clearing out levels was fun. The game is also just dripping with atmosphere; since most dungeon crawlers typically take place in medieval fantasy settings, it was refreshing to have a creepy, abandoned industrial tower as the game’s setting, and the graphics really sell this. I also appreciated that the game devs included some environmental reactivity into Vaporum, as in a few instances, you could use the game’s traps and hazards to your advantage by luring enemies into them. Overall, this was a great game; if they had toned down the combat speed just a bit to make it more accessible, it’d be perfect.
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