I wanted to love Redfall. I previewed the game almost a year ago today in Bethesda’s dimly lit London studio, and while I didn’t walk away with the highest hopes, a part of me dared to dream that we’d finally get a new, good vampire game. Unfortunately, it largely failed to deliver, and early previews of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 haven’t done much to rile up my inner Beast either. So, when EvilVEvil crossed my desk, I was excited to sink my fangs into a different vampire adventure – and I walked away with my hunger somewhat sated.
If you haven’t heard of it, EvilVEvil is a new vampire FPS game from Toadman Interactive. You’re thrust into the shoes of three members of the elusive Order of the Dragon, a vampiric secret society that’s determined to send an ancient evil called Zagreus back to whence he came. You can choose from speedy assassin Victoria, fire mage Mashaka, or bolshy brawler Leon, each of whom have their own unique powers and loadouts that’ll help you tear through cultists and demons in style.
I chose Victoria as my main given my personal playstyle is very much ‘hit hard and get out fast.’ Carving a line through a group of enemies with her dash is far too much fun – especially given that, when you kill an enemy, text rises from their burning corpse to goad you onwards. There’s a sick satisfaction in watching them crumble to ash in a perfect line, and it very quickly cemented her as my absolute favorite of the trio – although Mashaka’s teleporting and fireballs are pretty useful, too.
The characters also gel together pretty well, making up for each other’s respective weaknesses. Given the heavy focus on multiplayer, myself and my partner tore through the first few missions as Victoria and Mashaka; two undead souls on a mission to – and I quote – “f**k things up.” Initially we had both experienced the same crash when trying to use a lobby code to send out invites, but when we got into the game things went relatively smoothly – although both of our PCs did sound like they were going into lift-off despite both of us running two of the best graphics cards.
Missions typically take between ten and 20 minutes, and the gameplay loop is relatively similar: kill loads of enemies a la Call of Duty Zombies, find some missing items, destroy some portals. You’re forced to think on your feet because demonic enemies and shielded heavies need you to use your “sunlight” gun, whereas normal enemies will go down after a few bullets, but overall the entire experience is ‘shoot first, ask questions later.’ It’s nothing new, it’s nothing spectacular, but at the end of the day, it’s fun.
EvilVEvil isn’t without its issues, though. My gun vanished in the tutorial, my partner experienced some pretty ferocious lag, and oftentimes his crosshair wasn’t correctly placed as a result. This is, obviously, an early playtest, so Toadman does have time to fix these errors between now and the full launch.
Is EvilVEvil a Game of the Year contender? No, absolutely not. What it is, however, is an exciting little adventure where you can switch your brain off and have some fun with your mates – and, honestly, that’s quite refreshing. In a world where quality is oftentimes measured in scope and branching narratives, I’m fine with a straightforward game that does one thing well: blasting vampires.
The closed beta is currently underway, with the EvilVEvil release date set for Q2 of 2024. You can request access via the game’s Steam page, or you can enter our competition for a chance to win a code.
So go on, the Vampire The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 release date is a while away, after all, and the Beast needs to feed. Alternatively, if you’re more Ventrue than Brujah and prefer complex overarching narratives, we have a list of non-FPS vampire games, too.