Vaporum Lockdown is the latest title in the series by Fatbot Games, and it comes as a prequel to its original dungeon crawler released back in 2017. Much like the old game, Vaporum Lockdown comes with almost the same looking visuals as the last game in the series, with the same grid-based movement mechanics that set the tone for the game. What was interesting back then was its first-person view in the grid-based movement that was a new way of experiencing the game and combating enemies. The review copy for Vaporum Lockdown was provided for PC, which I have to admit makes it easy to move around and fight enemies.
Vaporum: Lockdown comes as a prequel with more backstory to the original game. The prequel comes with many returning features like the Fumium to defeat enemies, unlock circuits, upgrade weapons, and more. Fans of the series or anyone who played the original game won’t have any trouble getting up to speed with the game and its gameplay mechanics or gear. The game begins with a short backstory where you follow the story of the protagonist, Ellie Teller. Ellie who is a scientist is out to find answers on what caused the events in the tower of Arx Vaporum.
When you gain control of Ellie, you find yourself inside the structure, heading deep into the testing facility and towards the teleporter for some tests. You are not completely alone as a character named Ron guides you along the way on the radio. The Arx Vaporum quickly shows its colors when you get to see the first enemies in the game start attacking you. While Ron may call this as something normal yet unusual, you have to fight against Welder Drones, mutated giant Rats, Spiderlings and Roachlings pretty early in the gameplay.
Depending on the difficulty setting of your gameplay, the enemies will be more vicious with their attacks if you decide to play the harder difficulty. The first few types of enemies are pretty easy to beat and dodge in the grid-based pattern. The enemies will either move a step or attack you, which can easily be dodged when you see them preparing to attack. Another way to understand enemy attacks is that each enemy looks for attacks when you aren’t moving, or are slow to react. Without spoiling much of the game, I would only say that these small enemies are the least of your troubles as you progress in the story of Vaporum: Lockdown.
As far as the main character is concerned, you have a plethora of armor, gear, weapons, and circuits (skills) that can make you better in combat, and give you an advantage over the enemies. On the other hand, you have several types of weapons that range from Blunt Weapons, Handguns, Rifles, Energy Weapons, and Dual Wielding weapons. The game doesn’t keep these things away from you and hands you a Wrench that deals 8 damage, while a Footman Pistol is also obtained pretty quickly. You don’t have to worry where to look for weapons, ammo, and other consumables, as they can be found in lockers, chests, enemy drops and ground loot.
Like the previous game in the series, you have the Circuits which are skills or abilities that grant you various buffs. Circuits come in various categories for weapons, gear, blocking, and other abilities such as dodging and energy regeneration. Upgrading these skills require Circuit Points. All of these menus, including your character stats, weapons, circuits, and notes can be found in the Exoskeleton Rig Interface. This is a quick menu that pops up allowing you to view your inventory, manage weapons, or switch them, upgrade or drag and drop items for the story progression.
When not fighting enemies, you will find yourself solving various sorts of puzzles to progress in the game. This can be looking for breakable walls to find hidden paths, dragging large wooden blocks to create paths over deadly holes, looking for keys, or other key items required to unlock doors. The game does not give you hints nor does it mark your location or you. What it does best is gives you a map and the current objective that you need to complete. The real fun of Vaporum: Lockdown begins when you complete the first stage of the game, and when things suddenly go downhill as every robot turns against you and everyone else.
Visually, the game looks pretty similar to the previous game, with the same combat mechanics and enemy attack patterns that you can easily get used to if you have played the original Vaporum. The dialog is pretty nicely done, even though you find yourself pretty alone right from the start. The game runs smoothly on PC, while I did notice a few stutters in the prologue cutscene of the game. The gameplay however ran pretty well and I barely even noticed anything major, thanks to the intriguing story that hooked me instantly.
Final Verdict
Vaporum Lockdown comes as a prequel to the first title in the series, Vaporum. If you were a fan of the previous game, the prequel brings everything good into the new game. The game story has seamlessly tied the both the games together, while maintaining the same level of fun in combat and character development. The dimly lit corridors and the grid based movement makes sets the mood for this dungeon crawler RPG set in the original steampunk setting. If you are a fan of the series, or are just new to the Vaporum series, Vaporum: Lockdown is a great way to experience the story in a unique grid-based dungeon crawler. I would recommend you give this game a try and uncover secrets in the tower of Arx Vaporum.
7.5/10
