Developer: Digitality Games
Publisher: Freedom Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Voltaire The Vegan Vampire – Preview
Fun fact: Right now, there are an estimated 88 million vegans in the world, up from 79 million in 2021. As alternatives for meat increase in variety and quality, more and more humans are changing their diets. And it’s not just humans that do this: there’s a little guy in the monster realm who is set to become a trendsetter as the (under)world’s first vegan vampire. His story is told in Voltaire the Vegan Vampire, a game currently in Early Access.
Voltaire’s unique blend of gameplay is best described as a rogue-lite survival farming sim. Our little vampire friend needs to carefully manage his resources if he wants to live another day (or night). Keeping your crops healthy and safe from the angry critters that roam the nearby woods might sound simple in theory, but almost feels like a full-time job in practice. The Early Access version of the game offers three modes to choose from: Boss Rush, Story, and Farming. The bulk of what Voltaire has to offer is in its Story mode, so we will mainly focus on this mode. The other two modes are locked behind story progression anyway.
When our story starts, Voltaire’s family is enjoying a nice carnivorous dinner at their castle. This isn’t to the liking of our hero, as he pulls out a piece of broccoli, much to the disgust of his relatives. An argument breaks out, and Voltaire is chased out of the castle, and forced to lay low in a house far away. As if things aren’t bad enough, a crow delivers a letter from Voltaire’s uncle, who warns Voltaire about the hardships of exile and the consequences of his choice to become a vegan.
Voltaire’s father isn’t pleased about his son’s disobedience and has dispatched some of his strongest friends to deal with our protagonist. The impending arrival of these ruffians isn’t something to worry about in the early stages of the game, however, as your first priority is filling Voltaire’s stomach with freshly grown produce. Fortunately, a step-by-step tutorial explains how to gather seeds and plant them. There are different plots of fertile soil in the area surrounding Voltaire’s house, and if you venture out a little further, you’ll find seeds from different plants as well as water. Each plant yields different kinds of produce. Some grow quickly but only give a small number of simple fruits, whereas plants that provide a bigger harvest require more time to grow. It’s important to find the right balance, as every action Voltaire takes requires energy, and you’ll need to eat to replenish your health. Early on, your best option is to rely on fast-growing produce, as Voltaire gets hungry rather quickly. Should his stomach run empty, our hero will faint, and wake up again in the middle of the night, surrounded by highly aggressive enemies that will easily overpower him.
After successfully planting fruits and vegetables, night falls. At this time, monsters will appear and they will try to destroy your plants. Now, Voltaire may be a vegan but that does not mean he is a pacifist! In order to protect his precious garden, he’ll fight back against the creatures of the night. Any crops that fall victim to monsters are lost, and especially early on this could have fatal consequences for our hero. In this regard, the game definitely isn’t a walk in the park. The cutesy visuals may hide the fact that you’re going to have to plan things carefully and manage your resources accordingly in order to keep Voltaire fed. The enemy forces are strong and will rush your plants without any sort of warning.
After a couple of in-game days, you’ll have gained enough experience from killing monsters to unlock perks for Voltaire. These can increase your damage output, for example, or make plants grow faster. Perks are tied to a skill tree, which you can reset whenever Voltaire is defeated. This happens whenever monsters manage to destroy Voltaire’s house, after which you’ll need to restart the last in-game day. You’ll lose some of your loot if you decide to keep your current skill tree and if you want to reset it, it will cost you half of what you own.
Now, remember those friends of your father that you were warned about early on? After surviving a full in-game week, they’ll show up at your place, resulting in a boss battle of sorts. The bosses themselves won’t damage you outright, but they will unleash a continuous swarm of enemies that attack the house, or unleash an attack wave that will stun Voltaire or his assets. Should you successfully beat a boss, which isn’t an easy feat, you are then given the choice to relocate, which means you’ll have to regrow your garden from scratch, or you can also decide to stay put. The latter choice lets you keep your garden, but it also forces you to face more robust and aggressive monsters every day.
Relocating doesn’t simply force you to reset your efforts. There are a handful of different areas where Voltaire can reside, and each place offers different perks and traits. Some of these have a better selection of plants, but require more water and energy, whereas other places may be more accommodating when it comes to resource management, but offer a more limited crop yield. Any items you’ve acquired travel with you to a new location, so it’s a good idea to hoard everything so that you can have a head start whenever you relocate. This gameplay loop of moving locations and restarting repeats until Voltaire’s father decides to take matters into his own hands and confront his vegan son. He acts as the final boss, and the fight against him is currently a temporary ending, at least until the full game releases.
To tide you over until this happens, or if you simply want to take a break from the story, there are those two aforementioned alternative modes. Boss Rush does exactly what you’d expect, and then some. This mode really challenges your skills with bosses and stronger enemies appearing more frequently. Farming mode, on the other hand, eliminates the monster aspect entirely and lets you focus on building a successful farm.
The game is a visual treat, with smooth textures and a cartoonish aesthetic that will appeal to grown-ups and younger audiences alike. The cute atmosphere fits the more relaxed farming gameplay, while nightly fights remain spectacular and memorable. The various locations have a different look to them, each containing unique assets that add a distinct sense of identity to each farm you start.
Conclusion
Voltaire the Vegan Vampire isn’t just great conceptually, but the mechanics are actually fun. The cartoonish atmosphere will appeal to players of all ages, and there is an overall sense of pleasantness to seeing your little vampire grow his own farm. Those looking for a more action-packed experience will have plenty to look forward to with the nightly fights, holding their ground against never-ending hordes of monsters, and rebuilding their farm in the aftermath. The core gameplay loop might grow repetitive after a while, so here’s hoping that the full version of the game does shake things up a bit when more content is added. Right now, the focus is managing your resources, energy, and plants, if you want Voltaire to live a long and healthy life, but hopefully, the story expands to introduce more variety.
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