 "Tribute to Cannon Fodder in Games - Vampires")
There’s no better way to de-stress than driving a stake through the heart of, or immolating the living dead till they’re reduced to dust. If you enjoy slaughtering the bloodthirsty creatures (I’m not talking about politicians here) of the night, join us today as we pay tribute to them - one of our favorite flavors of cannon fodder. Here’s a list of games in which we enjoyed slaughtering Vampires the most:
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Released: 1999
You play: Raziel
Dark, Gothic and Atmospheric - Soul Reaver managed to pull you into the world of Nosgoth, where the world itself is dead and decaying, forming the perfect battlefield for a war between different vampiric tribes. You played the role of Raziel, a vampire-turned-wraith who, with the help of an ancient artifact bestowed upon him by the Elder God called the Soul Reaver, slays vampires and collects their souls to restore balance to the Wheel of Fate. Raziel is resurrected into a dark and twisted Nosgoth, where his brothers have grown in power, and with every soul of his kin he consumes, he grows and develops new powers. This basically boils down to gaining new and insanely awesome ways to slay his brethren by impaling, burning and eviscerating them using the mighty spectral blade - the Soul Reaver.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption
Released: 2000
You Play: Christof Romuald
Set in the lore-rich and deep ‘World of Darkness’ universe of White Wolf Studios, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption was a deep and engaging RPG that told one of the most brilliant and intricately woven tales you could expect from a vampire slaying game. You played a role of a french crusader named Christof Romuald, who falls in battle, falls in love that is, with a nun named Anezka who tends his wounds. A turn of events gets him involved in a vampire civil war and he get turned into a powerful vampire, to bolster the ranks of one faction. To get to him, when an opposing faction turns Anezka into a ghoul, all hell breaks loose and Christof goes all out to destroy those responsible. The deep skill trees that focused on powers of different covens of vampires, allowed you to diversify your powers so that you could kill the hordes of undead anyway you chose to!
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Released: 2004
You play: A custom made killing machine
If the complete RPG-style of Redemption didn’t appeal to the action gamer within, Bloodlines is for you. One of the best action-RPGs of its time, Bloodlines played out with a close third-person view and a lot more active control over the action than its predecessor. The game featured a perfect mix of a deep stat/skill-tree based system. Active gameplay akin to action games make it far more engaging. Depending on the clan of vampires you selected in the beginning of the game, your powers would evolve and specialize in different areas. You could choose to pick between both ranged and melee weapons, and diversify to slay vampires any way you wanted to. While the game was admittedly buggy, it’s one of the best action-RPG ever made, so if you’re in the mood of skulking in the shadows before you slay vampires, or you wish to jump in all-guns blazing, Bloodlines will please you.
Nosferatu: Wrath of the Malachi
Released: 2003
You play: James Patterson
If you wish to be spooked while slaying your share of blood-suckers, Wrath of the Malachi’s right up your alley. Yielding your sword, a cross and your trusty fists, Nosferatu would have you meander through a spooky, claustrophobic castle labyrinth that was so atmospheric that it would make you pause the game and look over your shoulder every time you’d play it. This gothic-themed first person shooter sees you play James Patterson, an Englishman traveling to Romania for the wedding of his sister Rebecca with a certain ‘Count Malachi’. As you might have guessed, the dude’s a vampire and James’ objective is to rescue his family and slay the spooky beasts skulking around every corner, before Malachi executes whatever he has planned.
Castlevania
Released: 1987
You play: Simon Belmont
Back in the day when vampire slaying options were limited, Castlevania shone bright as a beckon of carnage for vampire slayers all over. This 1987 classic took place in a fictional universe where the vampire hunter ‘Belmont clan’ was locked in an endless war against the immortal vampire lord ‘Dracula’. Armed with his trusty whip, you’d play the role of Simon Belmont who was hell bent on whipping every last vampire till he’d reach the end of his side-scrolling adventure and take on the vampire lord himself. If the whip didn’t satiate your needs, you could always carry one sub-weapon (that you could grab through the game’s six-level long campaign) to add some variety to your fill of vampire-slaying.
If you think we’ve missed out on any great vampire slaying titles, please leave a comment and share your thoughts.
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