Checking out Brocula - Preview

We were recently invited by Xbox to check out some indie titles that are coming to Xbox via the iD@Xbox program, one of those titles was Brocula. We got to see gameplay of the title and here from the developers about the game, so let’s dive in.

So what is the game all about?

You are a vampire who has spent the past few hundred years sleeping away inside a coffin in your castle, until one day someone manages to smash into the side of it while driving. Not realising you are a vampire, think they hurt you and get you taken to the hospital, which is just so nice of them. While the doctors there realise you’re a vampire, they don’t care until it comes time to leave and while gold coin was the monetary standard when you took your nap, the world has moved on from there and without money, you can’t pay your bill. The mayor gives you a contact to speak with, in order to make some money, but your castle has also been locked down and needs repairs. So now its up to you to do various things in order to earn money to pay your bill and repair your home.

So a vampire, does that mean you can feast on folks?

No, or at least not that we were shown. Turns out you are more like Duckula than Dracula, which means you don’t need to drink blood of the folks in town to get things done. You can spend time out in the daylight and when the sun sets, you don’t unlock extra special powers or anything like that. In fact you have a stamina meter, which depletes based on your actions, so something akin to Stardew Valley. Over time you will have to embrace your vampiric nature, by hosting sermons within a once-forgotten church, which will give you a boost of power, which will help when you explore an ever changing forest, a dungeon and more.

Ok, no so real super powers, what do you do then?

As I said above, you have to earn money and you do that by picking up little jobs. The thing is as you are a vampire, most of the town that has been built near your castle, doesn’t really want much to do with you, so you have to earn their trust. The mayor gives you an in with the town mechanic and you start there, but from that point on it is entirely up to you on how you build up your reputation. Your daily grind might see you put in some time at the local coffee shop, before returning to your castle to repair what you can, farm the land and just try to restore what was there before. Perhaps the most intriguing part is that all the towns residents have their own hours, some folks won’t be around a set place until later in the day, so working out when to go somewhere, is just as important as decided where to go in the first place.

What else is there to know?

Well, the game sports a visual style that is a mix of Earthbound and Stardew Valley, its colour palette is more the former and the look is more the latter. Beyond that, as a Vampire, you do have an army of bats to help you out, they will carry heavy thing for you, and as they have been awake for the time you were asleep, they know about the modern world. They are going to be your assistants in this new life, explaining how things work, how to do a task and so on. The citizens can provide you new quests or information from just speaking with them, but some won’t be to excited to do that at first, because again vampire.

The game has no release date yet, but once it does it will come to Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PlayStation 5