Dying for Daylight

I will start this post about a game with a remark about books and a TV series. I have never read a book by Charlaine Harris and I have never seen “True Blood” which is a TV series based on her stories. This out of the way, I’ll start off with “Charlaine Harris: Dying for Daylight”.

I have a soft spot for anything with vampires (save for sparkling vampires that act like Christian moralists), so a game with a vampire topic will always get my attention. I might not buy, but I will certainly try. I’m also not an early riser and like having five more minutes in bed in the morning, so a vampire acting like me will get some of my sympathy.

But a good game needs more than a sleepy vampire, so what else does the game have? It has a snarky main character and some rather strange secondary characters. It has a story about a potion that will allow a vampire to walk in the sun (hence the title). It has gorgeous graphics that remind me of one of my all-time favourite games, “Deadtime Stories” (which was produced by the same developer). For me, that is enough to buy. Besides, how often do you get such a nice, if lazy bat for loading screen?

Unfortunately, though, the game will be released in two or more chapters – I dislike that in a game, because I like to get the complete story in one go. A sequel is fine – if they put the same amount of thought into it –, but I don’t really like games that end with a big, fat TBC (to be continued) at the end.

I could, however, forgive the game, because the story is still long enough to make a good game out of it. Dahlia (the main character) travels to New Orleans and then onward, looking for those who have a part of the recipe for the potion. On her way, she meets characters like a dead Elvis impersonator who’s still looking for glitter or a cook who promised to cook a dish he doesn’t have a recipe for and is now hiding in his kitchen from a very hungry vampire. There are some people on her – and the owners of the recipe’s – trail, though. Vampires who have no qualms at all about killing those who might share the secret. So Dahlia has two missions instead of just one: find the Cirque Terrible (whose members each carry one piece of the recipe) and stay ahead of a strange brotherhood following the same trail. Not all that easy.

I will be waiting for the next chapter of the game now, hoping that it might be the last and I will learn about the rest of the story. I do not, however, feel the need to read any of Charlaine Harris’ books – or watch the TV show.