Having been plagued with many run-of-the-mill adventure titles as of late, gamers have been itching for the next great adventure game. Well with Autumn Moon Entertainment’s A Vampyre Story, gamers better be ready for a fascinating journey through a gothic castle filled with gargoyles, ghosts and vampires.

Playing as Mona De Lafitte, an opera singer turned into a vampire by Baron Shrowdy Von Kieffer, you must escape the baron’s gigantic castle in Draxsylvania. Potentially, A Vampyre Story is going to be the first episode in a series of games so there’s no definitive end to this chapter of the story. The basic premise is that she doesn’t want to be a bloodsucker but by the end of the game, you might just see her giving into the craving.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the game is that Mona might urge you to turn off the game due to her voice. Mona isn’t the most beloved lead character due to that it’s as if she’s a carbon copy of Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit gone to the extreme with an annoying voice to boot. On top of that, the jokes aren’t exactly fresh or new – Ozzy Osbourne not being topical anymore – A Vampyre Story tries a bit too hard in the comedic department. Mona does have a bat sidekick named Froderick but if you can overlook his cheesy lines and appreciate the dialogue, you’ll enjoy his presence thoroughly. Overall, if you’ve ever watched Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein and enjoyed it, A Vampyre Story may be right up your alley.

It’s reminiscent of point-and-click adventures from the glory days, so if you’ve enjoyed the old classics, then be prepared for A Vampyre Story’s homage to the golden days of adventure titles. Autumn Moon Entertainment, the developer, followed a simple formula with the gameplay; trailing Mona around and picking items up around the world by throwing them into your coffin inventory, A Vampyre Story is a basic adventure title all the way through. Not all items in the world can be immediately picked up as many of them are used later on in the game. Mona will let you know when it’s appropriate to use the object and will teleport back to the item to carry on her quest to escape the castle. This is a nice change in inventory management as gamers normally have to pick up every item along their quest rather than backtracking to find it again. Still, you may find it annoying to have to watch the cut-scenes where she teleports back to the item and collects it for your mission.

If you’re scared of getting stuck or lost in this gigantic castle, then there’s no need to fret as the puzzles are pretty straightforward to figure out. Puzzles are easily solved by talking to NPCs or just simply examining your surroundings. As you move throughout the castle, you’ll meet a lot of impressionable characters that’ll stick with you after completing the game. The high number of conversations you have throughout the game is impressive and will win you over with how entertaining they are.

The visuals look like their ripped right out of a cartoon that you’d see on the Cartoon Network or on the Saturday morning block. Character design and backgrounds are beautiful in comparison to the latest adventure title’s I’ve had the pleasure of playing through. The graphical appeal should keep gamers coming back for more while wading through the predictable storyline. Outside of the graphics, the music and voice-acting help round out an outstanding adventure title. The atmosphere is only furthered by the musical score. It’s eerie at times while also being lighthearted – a job well done by the developers.

The biggest culprit that holds A Vampyre Story from being even more enjoyable is the voice-acting of Mona – it’s unpleasant on the ears. If, and when, the next episode in this story occurs, I’m crossing my fingers that they find a replacement. They also need to improve the depth of the story; the plot wasn’t overwhelmingly exciting. But at least the story was full of puns and comedic characters to become involved with. Being able to complete the title in little under nine or so hours, gamers won’t find A Vampyre Story a nuisance due to that it’s over before you know it.

Gameplay: 7.5
Even with Froderick the bat assisting in a few puzzles, the gameplay is pretty standard fare.

Graphics: 8.9
Adventure titles haven’t looked this good in a long time as the art is beautiful along with the environments they created to walkabout.

Sound: 8.0
The soundtrack takes the classical route with different themes for every area. It’s too bad that Mona has such a painful voice-actor representing her throughout the game.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 8.5
The classic route of a point-and-click adventure isn’t exactly the most original idea, but A Vampyre Story does the genre justice with humor and attractive art.

Overall: 7.7
If you’re looking for a rousing time full of charm and humor, A Vampyre Story provides a tremendous amount of both.