Horror games are extremely popular once again, and GiN has been covering quite a few new releases over the past month. Maybe instead of Christmas in July, it’s Halloween over the summer or something like that. In any case, one of the interesting things about many of the recently released horror titles is the fact that they are not traditional scare-fests. Most would fit much more comfortably into a sub-genre, like the liminal horror of Pools or the anomaly-spotting horror found in games like Shinkansen 0 or the I’m on Observation Duty series. There is even, believe it or not, a horror title set in a call center called Home Safety Hotline. Even the more traditional horror releases these days, such as Still Wakes the Deep, often prioritize other elements like the background narrative or character development over pure thrills and chills.
Vampire Therapist, which is available for the PC on platforms like Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store, takes yet another unique path to horror that makes it different from each of those aforementioned titles. It kind of takes a comedic or casual approach that almost pulls it out of the horror genre all together. In fact, if potential players require a lot of blood and gore or scary situations in their horror titles, then they should probably pass on Vampire Therapist. On the other hand, gamers who enjoy story-based adventures but shy away from the darker elements will have little problem here. Other than some of the neurotic vampire characters, there is not much even remotely spooky about Vampire Therapist.
Played like a visual novel where the key gameplay element involves simply talking with other characters, there is never any real danger. In a lot of ways, Vampire Therapist is very similar to another interesting story-based title, Tavern Talk, where the adventure revolves around the main character but most of the real action takes place outside of your direct purview. There is even less choice in Vampire Therapist than in Tavern Talk, as the title makes sure that you don’t get any of the therapy sessions wrong or apply an incorrect diagnosis. Again, this keeps everything casual but limits players to more of a passive role.
That said, like most good adventures where the main gameplay element involves talking with other characters for the majority of the time, the story is quite strong in Vampire Therapist and also pretty unique. Although set close to modern day, players take on the role of a vampire from the Old West named Sam. Apparently Sam was part of a murderous gang of vampire outlaws, which is kind of a terrifying thought. But at some point, Sam decided that he wanted more from his unlife, so he decided to wander alone for about a century contemplating what it means to be a vampire. At some point he ran into a group of enlightened settlers who took him in and accepted him despite the fact that he was a vampire. He lived with them until they all died off of natural causes before moving on.
All that time wandering and living with mortals gave Sam an understanding of vampire thinking, and why it was so hard for him to break his murderous habits. He believes that he can help other vampires reach his level of success and happiness, and he is willing to become a therapist to do so. Thankfully for Sam, by the time he reaches this conclusion, technology has reached the point where computers and the internet are available, and he is able to reach out and find another vampire with the same philosophy as himself in Berlin.
Sam travels to Berlin and meets Andromachos, a truly ancient vampire who used to pal around with Roman emperors and other various historical figures. Andromachos runs a gothic nightclub where wannabe vampire humans dance the night away and freely give their blood to the few actual vampires who come there. Andromachos lives upstairs and runs a sort of clinic helping other vampires through therapy. He even analyzes Sam during their first meeting. This is done as a sort of tutorial to show players how they will be analyzing fellow vampires later in the story. Once Andromachos gives Sam the nod, players will spend most of the rest of the game talking with their own patients.
The therapy part of Vampire Therapist mostly involves talking with your undead clients, all of which have really strong personalities, and trying to spot the so-called cognitive distortions in their thinking. The game defines this as places where a vampire’s thoughts do not match reality. For example, if a vampire says, “I am an ancient vampire, I should live in a castle,” then you would tag that as a Should Cognitive Distortion, whereas if they say, “I have mastered playing chess, but only because I studied it for over 500 years,” you would tag that as a Disqualifying the Positive Cognitive Distortion.
When you select a cognitive distortion, Sam interrupts the conversation and steers his vampire client towards a more positive way of thinking. For the first few hours of Vampire Therapist, Sam gets to pick from about three or four distortions per client, but later on you need to select about five to work with so you can tailor your therapy to each unique client. In this way, you can improve your therapy as you get to know your clients much better over subsequent meetings.
Like with the rest of Vampire Therapist, you can’t really mess up the therapy. If you select the wrong cognitive distortion, either Andromachos will interrupt you telepathically and help you choose a better response, or you will be otherwise put back on track. As such, you can’t ever hurt your clients by giving them bad advice or anything like that. There are also a few minigames to keep things a little bit lively, but here too, you can’t really fail them as you can just try again until you get everything right.
Unlike most narrative adventure titles where you have to read a lot, Vampire Therapist is fully voiced. And the talent that developer Little Bat Games rounded up is impressive.
The incredible voice cast includes Kylie Clark, Cyrus Nemati from Hades and Pyre, Francesca Meaux from Hades, Sarah Grayson from Gone Home and Hades II and Matthew Mercer from Critical Role and Baldur’s Gate 3. Everyone in the voice cast did an amazing job of setting the mood and fleshing out their characters.
Vampire Therapist is a visual novel that is incredibly unique, and that is not an easy thing to accomplish these days. Adding in the incredible voice work, that really elevates Vampire Therapist to a higher level than most similar titles. And at just $15 on Steam, it makes for a really good value too, especially if you enjoy the somewhat intimate, therapy-based gameplay and character interactions that it offers. Vampire Therapist is definitely a title that people looking for something new to play in the visual novel or story-based adventure genre will want to sink their fangs into.