Fatbot Games’ Vaporum is a unique new first-person, steampunk dungeon-crawler. The game combines the old-school first-person four-direction mechanics from old-school dungeon crawlers from back in the 1980s and early 1990s, but with new-school visual effects, new-gen gameplay mechanics, and a whole host of neat little ins and outs to give gamers a very different kind of gaming experience compared to everything else out on the market at the moment.
Vaporum is set in an alternate reality where the main character attempts to find out what’s going on at the top of a giant tower. Players will venture through each floor, encountering traps, puzzles, and enemies they must face off against.
To help aid the player along the way is a steampunk-era exosuit that can be upgraded and modified to suit whatever perils that attempt to befall you during your journey.
What’s more is that players are able to swap between different exosuit settings so that they can easily adapt to the different enemies or stage hazards obstructing their path. You can see how it all plays out with the launch trailer below.
It’s very interesting how they make use of the grid-based viewspace from the old days, where players are able to fight (or receive damage) based on their position on the map.
As you can see in the trailer above, where you stand and which way you face greatly determines how effective you can be in combat. It’s not a typical or traditional first-person shooter or a standard mage-and-blade dungeon crawler. You’ll have to put some thought both into the kind of attacks you’ll be using and where you’ll be using them from.
Additionally, you can also lead enemies into stage hazards or traps, using the environment against AI as a way to progress past more difficult foes. The real-time combat really adds some extra flavor to it because typically games like this are turn-based, so it’s nice to see Fatbot really step outside the typical demarcations set for most first-person dungeon crawlers of old.
You can grab Vaporum right now from either the Steam store or from over on GOG.com as a DRM-free download for $19.99.
