Vampire Therapist – PS5 Review

It’s kind of exciting to see visual novels that sidestep the usual genre trappings. Vampire Therapist comes from Little Bat Games and has a surprisingly mature approach to psychiatry. With insight from a licensed practitioner, this introspective talker offers an entry into the concepts at play and how better to apply them to people. It’s a really novel idea and, for once, I feel it’s aptly placed within the genre.

Sam Wallis is an ex-gunslinger vampire who has given himself decades to self-reflect on his past deeds. He sees vampires as more than just nightlife spectres out of blood. He want to enter into the world of armchair psychiatry so he journeys to Germany to learn the trade and use his new found knowledge to help his fellow kin.

That involves a lot of conversation with his clients about their lives, their hopes, dreams and woes. As a psychiatrist, Sam has to pick apart their statements, associate it with a cognitive distinction and then spur the discussion in a more healthy way. It’s a game created with the assistance of a licensed therapist and it does show. Whilst it appears complicated on the surface, the statements you have to handle can make the answer quite obvious. To me, it feels like a mild training tool rather than a deep dive into the subject.

Picking an incorrect answer doesn’t hold any consequences with your mentor simply asking you to try again. That can lead to moments where you can stay dumb and just hit all the options until you progress. I found it hard to play that way, once I was in the grove. Things like Should Statements stand out a mile and the dialogue does well to set you up. It does pay to listen which is what the role is all about. That said, you could just hammer on the options until the gate opens up. You’ll not learn anything but sometimes I did draw a blank.

To work, it really needs some solid writing and I think Vampire Therapist succeeds. The characters you meet are quite eccentric, often cartoonish and it balloons their traits to high levels. It’s easy to get a sense of what’s eating them and it can feel organic when the conversation leads them into introspection. The ultimate goal is to see your clients off in a new frame of mind and Sam does succeed at that.

Sam himself is amiable and his cowboy get-up leaves him firmly out and place and time. Despite that, he rolls with it. In between sessions, he can talk with the bartender, Crimson about how his sessions went. It’s a chance to vent or feel good about your work. There’s also mini-games that involve biting necks or meditation that barely garnish the main course. They’re too simple and one can be skipped altogether. The meditation sections do have some racing thoughts to eliminate but I don’t feel like it adds to the experience. They don’t play into the sessions and biting necks has no consequence.

Presentation is surprisingly ornate. The backdrops are detailed and the character art conveys plenty of charm. Being almost entirely set within the club, the location can get stale. Sam is either by the bar or ready to roll into bed. It’s all a bit businesslike and you’re effectively following a shrink on his day job. Having a diverse handful of clients does help and they’re voice acted very well. There’s a couple that relish chewing the scenery and inject some life into what could’ve been a more mundane affair.

I think the writing does well to flesh the cast out, even if it does venture into some cliches. When you’re sitting down to pick apart their psyches, attention has been paid to make the conversation flow and not feel like a series of segments taped together. As you gain more cognitive distortions, you can begin each session by taking a handful. That does have a bearing on what the chat goes and does offer an incentive to replay the game.

I’m not a fan of everything Vampire Therapist tries. Setting it within a goth nightclub just leans some of the bar patrons into the sexual side of the vampire mythos. I don’t really need that and I don’t think the game does. They do try to pair characters up as blood partners and there’s definitely an amorous edge to blood drinking. Again, that’s part of the vampire blueprint but it feels strangely out of place in this game. The focus isn’t really on that side of the bar and it just makes those after-work hours feel entirely separate.

Honestly, the focus on the sessions gives the writing some real depth. Vampire Therapist can originally sound like a novelty but the attention to the craft allows for some thoughtful conversation. It could do with some variety of locations and I do find the after-work hours to be underwhelming. Overall, it’s a surprisingly considered eye-opener. I gained some decent insight from this, even if it can be base level.