To all those who are anxiously awaiting the release of A Vampyre Story (and that’s a great many adventure gamers, as not just any ol’ game is able to dominate the #1 slot in our Hype-o-Meter), I have two words for you:

It’s close.

Well, I have a lot more than two words, as you can tell, for the same reason I’m able to offer those: I recently had a chance to visit with The Adventure Company’s PR guru Suzanne MacGillivray and Associate Producer Dan Dawang, who provided me with a lengthy first-hand demonstration of the upcoming comic adventure that’s now in its final phase of crunch-time technical polishing.

If it seems like ages ago that we first heard of Bill Tiller’s debut adventure with then-newly-formed Autumn Moon Entertainment, that’s because it was. It’s been many years since the original announcement of A Vampyre Story, but its dalliance with an ill-fated startup publisher plunged the game deep into development limbo. Fortunately, where one German company dropped the ball, another was there to pick it up, and under Crimson Cow’s oversight, slowly but surely the game has crept forward to this day. And with release now finally in view, I can say with genuine (albeit still cautious) optimism that so far it looks like it’ll be well worth the wait.

By now you’ve seen the screenshots of AVS, and don’t need me to tell you they’re jaw-droppingly gorgeous. What I can add is that they lose nothing in the translation to final product. If Curse of Monkey Island was buffed up and polished to the best of today’s standards, it would look much like A Vampyre Story (except with pirates). That’s hardly a surprise, of course, with Tiller the lead background artist of that LucasArts classic and now the driving force behind AVS. Clearly he’s brought the same artistic vision to the new project, presenting a colourful world filled with whimsical settings, quirky architecture, and fanciful inhabitants. The heyday of graphic adventures may be well behind us, but I defy even the most jaded gamer not to feel wistfully drawn to the visual design of this game.

Stunning backgrounds aren’t unusual in adventures, but great care has been taken to animate the world of AVS as well. Not so much in the way of background activity, though there’s generally something moving in each environment, but in the actions of the characters. Far too many adventures cut corners in this difficult area, but not so A Vampyre Story, at least in the sections I saw. The opening cinematic alone borders on a short animated film, and the same lavish attention is given to the in-game motions. It may seem a small thing, but there’s just no substitute for watching a bear rug’s eyes following your movements or a giant, newspaper-reading bird poise himself to soil a stone gargoyle. (Okay, so you don’t see every action played out. Phew!) This wealth of animation is one of the reasons the game is taking so long, as I saw a few graphical hiccups even in the demo, and these are the sorts of details still being ironed out prior to release.

Speaking of technical issues, there are a few options for getting the most out of AVS. Unlike many adventures, the game has distinct settings for anti-aliasing, lighting, and even additional ambient animations like weather effects. While not yet finalized, the technical specs for A Vampyre Story will be a little higher than adventure gamers are used to, though even maxed out the game won’t be pushing any high-end computers. Still, these options will help ensure that it’s accessible to a wider range of players.

So what exactly is all this graphical prowess showing off? I can’t answer that completely, as the entire demo was set in only one location, Castle Warg. This castle is the unwelcome home of the game’s protagonist, an opera singer named Mona, who’s clearly in denial about the nature of her thirst for (ahem)… “wine”. It’s 1895, and Mona dreams of fleeing the purple-tinged Draxsylvania and returning to Paris to resume her singing career, and it’s the player’s first task to help her escape her pint-sized, pasty-faced captor, Baron Shrowdy the vampire. Saying “only” one location is misleading, mind you, as the castle is huge and contains a great many environments in its own right. In fact, of the game’s two “chapters”, the entire first half of the game takes place in and around the castle, which gives a better idea of its scope. The rest of the game reportedly takes players to locations like a cemetery and small village before finally arriving in Paris.

Along for the ride, quite literally, is Mona’s friend and sidekick, Froderick the bat. Like any good sidekick, Froderick provides a significant portion of the game’s comedic moments, ever quick with a quip. He travels around on Mona’s shoulder throughout the game, and although you can’t interact with him directly, he is available for use as an inventory item, where he’s a necessary part of solving several puzzles. I only saw a few of the game’s 25 or so supporting characters, but they clearly look to be an eclectic cast of offbeat personalities. From Barb (groan!) the Iron Maiden to Ozzy the fountainhead (whose spot-on impersonation of the singer fortunately poses no threat to Froderick), the secondary characters represent a lighthearted assortment of oddities.

As with any comedy, the jokes are sometimes hit or miss, but even in the demo there were plenty of chuckle-worthy moments. While not quite self-referential, it’s clear the developers were having fun with the conventions of the horror genre and vampire themes in particular, but anything and everything can be the object of tongue-in-cheek fun. The castle’s rats, for example, have names like Frank and Dean and sound like they’re straight out of Jersey. (If that example doesn’t ring any bells, obviously I’ve just dated myself.)

You’ll hear several other very different accents in A Vampyre Story as well. Presumably the fictional Draxsylvania is somewhere in Eastern Europe, but the accents of the characters in the demo alone included British, American, Mona’s French, plus whatever quasi-language Mr. Osbourne speaks. They may be a little overdone at times, but the vocal performances sound professional, which is always important but moreso in a comedy that depends so much on timing. Even the lip synching is good, and when you can nail lip synching on a cartoon bat, you know you’re doing something right.

Gameplay in A Vampyre Story is very conventional, but with a few tricks up its cloak. The game is entirely point-and-click, but makes use of the “verb coin” type of interface, where holding down the mouse button over a hotspot reveals use, talk, or examine options. There’s also an additional fly option, as Mona can turn into an adorable little bat herself at will, though this is used only for places Mona can’t reach by walking. Which is too bad, since she won’t run at all and walks very slowly. Fortunately, the space bar can be used to skip directly to her destination, plus skip dialogue. Conversation is carried out in straightforward dialogue trees that you’ll exhaust in their entirety, and while some responses provide player choice, the differences are mainly cosmetic. Many of the topics are non-essential, but you’ll want to click through everything just for laughs and background details.

The environments also have a fair bit of interaction to offer, though some have more than others. One particular torture room has at least ten different objects to poke, prod, and gawk at. I can’t say if they’re all necessary, but there’s plenty to keep players busy in any case. The game is largely linear, but smaller tasks can be done in varying order. Puzzles consist predominantly of inventory applications, which include another increasingly popular variation on traditional formula, as AVS makes use of “ideas” as inventory. Here the feature is fairly limited, used mainly for items which are too big or troublesome for Mona to carry around for no apparent reason. Ideas can even be modified in the inventory by combining them with other objects, which is a nice touch. My early look suggests the concept may be a little underused, but it’s still an admirable attempt to bridge the gap between excessive linearity and preposterous scavenger hunting.

While obviously vampire-themed, it should be noted that there's nothing at all scary about this game. If there’s one thing people might fear, it’s Autumn Moon’s claim that AVS is only the first part of a trilogy. Rest assured, however, that not only is A Vampyre Story reportedly a fairly lengthy game in its own right, but it’s a standalone adventure that won’t leave players hanging. No, all the hanging is being done now as we await the final version of the game. There’s a bit more waiting ahead of us, but the end is in sight, so it shouldn’t be much longer now. Me? I’ve had my first taste, and am thirsting for more.