• Log In | Sign Up

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Top Games
  • Search
  • New Releases
  • Daily Deals
  • Forums
AG Stats pixel

Champy the Useless Vampire sinks teeth into Kickstarter

There must be a lot of pressure for the grandson of Dracula to live up to his famed elder's legacy, especially if you have no particularly helpful supernatural powers. But the titular star of Champy the Useless Vampire will get his chance to shine soon enough if indie Swedish developer True Ascension is able to raise enough funds on Kickstarter. 

It's 1891, and after nine centuries of feasting on the blood of humans, Dracula "has lost his immortality and powers." What's worse, "the years he has lived are rapidly catching up to him and threaten to end his existence rather quickly." Suspicious of his rivals, Dracula turns to his disgraced grandson Champy, who was "banished from Transylvania after a series of unfortunate incidents" and is now an art student in Paris. Siezing the opportunity to redeem himself, Champy knows he will need to "find a way to restore Dracula to his former powers or see the Vampire King wither and die. And most likely be blamed for the whole situation afterwards." Unfortunately for our unlikely hero, he is anything but your regular vampire. Not only doesn't he drink blood, he's unable to control people's minds even though he still believes he can. In fact, Champy "only has one power, the ability to turn into a bat." His task is not going to be easy. 

Inspired by a host of comic titles ranging from Discworld 2 to Grim Fandango to The Journey Down, Champy the Useless Vampire is a fully voiced, classic-styled point-and-click adventure with a cartoony hand-drawn art style. Promising "a feel-good vibe and lots of crazy puzzles" with items to collect, combine and use via a simple drag and drop inventory system, the game sees Champy return to Transylvania with his pet zombiefish Zara and attempt to infiltrate a cult that is "focused on the demise of the vampires ... a kind of people's militia without any training." For a brief sample of what to expect, a brief demo is available now that will introduce players to the main characters and basic gameplay as you attempt to free Dracula's butler Franco (who bears a striking resemblance to another famous reanimated monster) from a locked coffin before leaving for Transylvania.

In order to complete the game with the next few months, the developers have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise approximately $8,500 USD by November 22nd. If all goes well, we could see Champy the Useless Vampire released as early as next February for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android platforms. 

continue reading below
Back to the top