When comparing Vampyr vs Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the Slant community recommends Middle-earth: Shadow of War for most people. In the question“What are the best Action RPG games on Steam?” Middle-earth: Shadow of War is ranked 32nd while Vampyr is ranked 46th. The most important reason people chose Middle-earth: Shadow of War is:
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders. For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother. Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Compelling approach to choosing your victims
The role-playing elements of Vampyr are the strongest parts of the game. You're a vampire, so you need to feed on blood to survive through killing the various characters you meet. These NPCs are regular townspeople, questgivers, and so on. If you decide to get to know your target better through solving their problems and speaking with them, you earn more experience points once you finally do devour them. This also has the interesting effect of blocking off future story paths and possibly making your city less safe once certain characters are dead, giving some weight to your choices through long-lasting consequences.
Pro Gloomy, foreboding atmosphere in London during World War I
The game's setting is very fitting for a horror story. Set in London during the years of World War I, the city is gritty, dreary, and full of despair, yet there are some bright spots, like the many flavors of characters you interact with. The time period also lines up with the outbreak of the Spanish flu, adding to how drab and creepy the city is. Buildings are run-down, the streets and alleys you pass through are dark and unsafe, and you can never be quite too sure if you can trust the people you run into. The atmosphere is really well-done here, with lots of detail and realism.
Pro You get to meet plenty of different types of characters
The breadth of characters you come across adds a lot to the atmosphere and culture. Since this is in London, you meet both highborn and lowborn NPCs, with certain accents and style of clothes to match their class and status. The people you decide to help through quests have all sorts of personal histories and secrets for you to learn about, adding to the dynamic of whether or not you decide to feed on them for your own survival. Vampyr's diverse characters adds more weight and intrigue to the role-playing aspects, making the game's story much more memorable.
Pro Character connections make for a compelling experience
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders.
For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother.
Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Pro Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood
As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims.
Pro Satisfying combat
Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations.
If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow.
If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc.
Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with.
Pro You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion
As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while.
For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs.
Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands.
Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun.
Cons
Con Combat isn't all that fluid or fun
The hack-and-slash style action combat leaves a lot to be desired. It's not terrible, but it's not good, either. When trying to lunge and attack enemies, there's a strange sensation of your attacks not quite connecting and your overall movements not really syncing up with your button inputs. It's pretty clunky and it lacks a cohesive flow, though there are some cool moments like grabbing opponents to feed off of their blood. If you don't mind how weird everything feels, you might find some enjoyment from the combat anyway.
Con Subpar character animations
The character animations in Vampyr aren't the best. The main protagonist's animations are okay, since they clearly had the most work put into them over the other NPCs. His combat moves lack weight, though, which is part of why the fighting doesn't really live up to much. For everyone else, their movements are stiff at best and wonky at worst, always looking unnatural or weird.
Con Some performance issues
From time to time, you may run into some framerate dips and other stuttering problems. The unstable performance is made even worse by the autosaves that pop up and completely freeze the game for a few seconds. Even though these things don't happen that often, when they do occur, they're distracting enough to pull you out of the moment. They give the overall impression that the game is unpolished.
Con Can get repetitive
The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition.
Con Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay
Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.