Victor Vran—no disrespect intended—turned out to be a better monster-slaying action-RPG than I expected. But what really got my attention was the August 2015 announcement of an upcoming Motörhead expansion, "Motörhead: Through the Ages," which developer Haemimont Games said would be "heavily inspired by and based on Motörhead's history, lyrics and general attitude." 

Virtually nothing more was said about it after that, however, until early last month, when Haemimont confirmed it was still on the way as either separate DLC, or in the upcoming Victor Vran Overkill Edition. Today the studio nailed down the release date to May 30, and put out a new trailer that really needs to be listened to at full volume. 

Motörhead: Through the Ages will run through "the Wörld of Wars, the Weird West and the Dark Ages," where players will do battle with the Preacher, the Führer, and the Queen of the Damned. It will add three new outfits based on the members of the band, new Revolver and Guitar weapon types, new bosses including the Corrupted War Pig and the Orgasmatron, and new eight new Motörhead-themed demonic powers. And on top of all that, it features actor, director, and "living legend" Lloyd Kaufman, who along with Lemmy (of course) will aid players in their quest to resurrect the mighty Snaggletooth. 

Naturally, there will be plenty of Motörhead music, too, although it sounds like you'll have to work to get to it. "Rock out to fan-favorite Motörhead tracks like they’ve never been heard before," Haemimont said. "Activate Monuments of Rock to experience unwoven instrumentals from the band’s original studio recordings, then defeat hammering waves of monsters to complete the song and earn exciting new treasures, weapons, and abilities." 

"In over 20 years of making video games this is my proudest moment," executive producer Achim Heidelauf said, and I'm really inclined to believe him. It's silly, but it looks like a lot of fun, too, and even though it's obviously all-in on the Motörhead, it comes off as a proper expansion rather than just a throwaway novelty for fans. 

Motörhead: Through the Ages, and also the more conventional Fractured Worlds expansion that was revealed in the Overkill Edition announcement, will both be available on May 30 for $12/£10/€12 each. The Victor Vran Overkill Edition will be out on the same day, and will cost $40/£35/€40.

We said in our 2015 review that the monster-hunting action-RPG Victor Vran suffered from "a limp story and weak jokes," but the core combat was so good that it ended up with an 82/100 score anyway. "Thumping skeletons with a hammer never gets old," we said, which is good, because today developer Haemimont Games announced that the Fractured Worlds expansion, and also that Motorhead DLC from a couple of years ago, will be out this spring. 

Fractured Worlds will tell a new story set in a plane of existence that was created by "the collision of several broken worlds," with four dungeons that will change daily, and a separate, endless dungeon called the Fracture. The level cap will be increased from 50 to 60, a new Destiny Card slot will be added, and players will be able to craft and equip a new type of item called Talismans that will change Victor's appearance and combat capabilities.   

Fractured Worlds will be available for purchase as separate DLC, or as part of the Victor Vran Overkill Edition, which will also include the Motorhead: Through the Ages expansion that was revealed in the summer of 2015 and then never heard from again. Why it's taken so long to get from announcement to (pending) release is a mystery, but at least now we know that it's still coming. Find out more about the man they call Vran and his two expan(sions) at victorvran.com.

It's Halloween digital game store sale day I guess, so here's one more, from GOG.com. Their Halloween Monster Hunt discounts loadsa vaguely spooky games over the course of five days, from now until Monday November 2. Today's offerings include The Witcher 3 for a bit less, plus moderately whopping savings on Stasis, Deadly Premonition, the Amnesias, both Alan Wakes and more.

35.09 seems like a lot for The Witcher 3, particularly when I just picked it up on PS4 for 10 less from Amazon, but if you've not played Amnesia, the bonkers Deadly Premonition, and the well-regarded The Last Door and The Cat Lady, you can now pick them up for the price of a bag of seasonal sweets.

I ve been grinding my way through a haunted graveyard and chugging on health potions every few seconds when I have to admit it: I m getting my ass kicked by a bunch of skeletons and spiders. The sword I ve been using for the last few levels seems to have fallen behind the power curve, and I m taking too much damage while I weakly stab baddies to death.

Just in time, I open a treasure chest and find the preposterously named Zealous Executioner s Hammer of Luck. I equip the monstrous two-handed warhammer and take aim at a nearby skeleton, the first of an advancing horde. He explodes so violently that the skeleton next to him explodes, setting off the next one, until the entire group has been reduced to a pile of calcium after one hit. Well, well, well. This hammer is a keeper.

Like any ARPG, Victor Vran keeps getting compared to Diablo and Torchlight. It is like those games in some ways: there are levels to grind through and loot to find and weapon skills to chain together. But I think it s more accurate to imagine it as Bastion strutting around in a campy Van Helsing cosplay. Victor Vran s combat requires more involvement than click-click-clicking through Torchlight, and its sense of whimsy separates it from the (sometimes) self-serious Diablo. To be clear, Victor Vran is not as great as any of those games, but it s not bad, either. Played with friends in co-op multiplayer, it s a damn fine time.

No class

Like in Bastion, Victor Vran is an ARPG with all the classes ripped out. The main character, Victor, can equip any weapon and use its two special attacks at any time. There are no character points or skill trees associated with Victor because each weapon is a self-contained class of skills and strategies. Hammers are slow and powerful with some huge area-of-effect moves. Scythes, on the other hand, reduce mobility while attacking but get more powerful the more they re used. Since there s no way to level up as a hammer-wielder, Victor Vran s progression is in finding a better hammer. Or scythe. There are a lot of weapons, and between rapiers, broadswords, shotguns, mortars, and lightning guns, there s a lot of skills with which to work through the neighborhoods of Victor Vran s huge haunted city.

Oh, did I say haunted? It might be cursed. I m not sure it really matters, but the story lost me early on. It s not complex, it s just that there s no reward for following along, and I didn t care. There s a city full of baddies, and it s Victor s job as a capital-H Hunter to clear it out. He is an exorcist in a vest. He is pest control in a fedora. Spending more time than this pondering the specifics seems like a waste of time.

Victor s basic skills can be tweaked and augmented by a selection of two Demon powers—powerful spells with effects that summon meteors, unleash explosive shockwaves, or draw down a roving pillar of fire. Destiny cards modify character stats like increasing ranged damage, increasing health, or making enemies explode on a critical hit. Between weapon skills, throwable grenades, Demon powers, and Destiny cards, there are a lot of tools to fling at the army of the undead. Combining powers with a friend in co-op, wading into a seething pile of nasties and making the whole dungeon go sizzle, is undeniably fun.

Amazingly, all of the skills and spells and boosts and weapons are all nicely balanced. I prefer the sweeping strokes of the broadsword, but I can t say that it actually kills stuff better than the rapier or scythe. With so many moving pieces, I m impressed that everything evens out so well. The downside to this system, though, is that it s heavily dependent on getting a great main weapon. Usually I found my gear through loot drops, but occasionally I had to turn to the incredibly expensive gear vendors in the main castle. If I didn t have cash reserves and failed to get a lucky drop, the game became a slog with an underleveled weapon.

Omniscient

Victor Vran is reminiscent of Bastion in the way its combat and characters work, but it also attempts something similar to the reactive narrator that made Bastion famous. The posh but obviously evil inner voice narrates Victor s travels, commenting on his actions and occasionally taunting him. It s nowhere near as reactive as Bastion s narrator, speaking much less frequently and referencing on-screen events much more vaguely. Though I mostly enjoyed it, I found that the Voice s jokes fall pretty flat when they winkingly break the fourth wall.

Though the narrator does most of the comedic heavy lifting, enemies and puzzles in the game are not without a sense of humor. My favorite moment came when I discovered a secret enclave of enchanted dancers, skeletons wearing wigs and sunglasses and dancing to Gangnam Style. It s a dated joke, sure, but it is achingly sincere and it made me laugh. Eventually, because even cheerfully dancing skeletons are evil, I had to break up 2012 s most irritating viral dance craze with a shotgun.

I never had a crash with Victor Vran, and my PC chewed through dense dungeons and a lot of particle effects without so much as a stutter. I did notice some screen tearing and framerate drops during cutscenes, but these are so brief and rare that it wasn t much of an issue. Maybe I ve been swimming too much in the Early Access area of Steam lately, but it was really refreshing to see an indie game with such a high level of polish applied.

Victor Vran would be a real standout if we didn t already have Bastion s narrator, Diablo s combat, or Torchlight s cartoonishly attractive loot system. It s good while simultaneously being not as good as the games that dominate this genre. Still: all of those games were released years ago, and fans of dungeon-crawling click-em-ups are always hankering for more. Victor Vran will scratch that itch, and might even become a standby favorite when played with friends.

I saw Mot rhead back in '88, I guess it was, during the Eat the Rich tour. They opened for Alice Cooper and, all due respect to Alice, absolutely blew him off the stage. It was pure, raging rock and roll of the sort that eschews more precise labels in favor of volume, speed, and hard-looking men in dirty denim. I don't recall much about the show, to be honest—1988 was so long ago—but I do remember that it was loud, it was awesome, and that not once did I think, "You know, this would make a really interesting foundation for a videogame expansion in, ooh, I dunno, 2015."

Someone at Haemimont Games did think that, however, and presumably shared the crazy idea with colleagues. And then, instead of laughing and moving on, they decided to go ahead and actually do it. "Mot rhead Through the Ages," the upcoming—and, yes, official—expansion for the action-RPG Victor Vran, will feature a new storyline with new enemies, weapons, and skills, and will be "entirely Mot rhead themed."

"Traverse war-torn landscapes and cities, Wild-West-inspired landscapes and the Dark Ages Castle where the Queen of the Damned resides, all heavily inspired by and based on Mot rhead`s history, lyrics and general attitude," the announcement says. "Mot rhead define the themes of the game as Victor faces evils relevant to our own world—religious fanatics, corrupt politicians and power-hungry oppressive rulers. During these quests he will be supported not only by the newly designed Mot r-Weapons, -Powers and -Skills, but also a soundtrack with over a dozen tracks."

Sadly, there's no trailer or even a teaser video at this point, but Haemimont has released a few images that do a pretty decent job of setting the mood. Not familiar with Mot rhead? I can help with that, too: The video at the bottom is from the early 80s, but trust me, nothing has changed.

The monster-hunting action-RPG Victor Vran is out today, and so is the Victor Vran launch trailer, which features a little bit of story and a little bit of gameplay. But listen to that narration and tell me: Does any of it strike you as a little familiar?

"I hunt demons for a living. It's a lonely trade," the titular Mr. Vran says. "At first, you're the hero. The savior. But when the job is done, things quickly change. People realize you're as much a monster as the ones you hunt."

Feeling confused? Like maybe you're in the wrong game, or perhaps the wrong space-time continuum, one in which The Witcher actually became a top-down action-RPG? There's a good reason for that. "Yes, it is Doug [Cockle], AKA Geralt," a rep for publisher EuroVideo Medien confirmed in an email.

As for the gameplay, there's not a whole lot to see, but it's certainly very colorful. Victor Vran was developed by Haemimont Games, and while it's a departure from the studio's usual stuff—it's best known for strategy games, particularly the Tropico series—the user reviews on Steam seems quite positive so far.

Victor Vran is out now, and is currently on sale on Steam for $18/ 14.

After five productive months spent in Early Access, ARPG Victor Vran is set to officially release on July 24. Developed by Tropico devs Haemimont Games, the game has been feature complete since July 2, so I guess you could go buy the Early Access edition right now if you wanted. 

The ARPG field is a crowded one, but Victor Vran claims to be bringing a "fresh perspective" to the genre. You'll be playing as the titular Victor Vran, yet deep character customisation appears to be one of the game's strong suites. You'll be able to jump as well, which is always nice, if unusual for an isometric action RPG.

The trailer above provides a bit of context for the ceaseless clicking you'll be doing on the game's many and varied demonic enemies. Check out some earlier gameplay footage if your interest is piqued.

Victor Vran is something a little different for Haemimont Games, the studio best known for the strategy/management Tropico series. It's an action-RPG that aims to "bring a fresh perspective to the genre" through unique weapons, powers, and special moves, including the ability to jump.

If you're having trouble envisioning how jumping will work in an isometric action-RPG, fear not: The trailer above is brief, but does include a demonstration leap (followed by a demonstration area-effect hammer-slam) as well as quite a bit of dodge-rolling (roll-dodging?) which is presumably how your in-game avatar will go about keeping himself out of trouble.

Players will be able to customize their Victor Vran experience with a "vast array" of weapons, different outfits, demonic powers, and "fate cards." The game will also support online co-op multiplayer for up to four VVs at once.

Victor Vran is scheduled to come out in May, but prior to that will launch on Steam as an Early Access title. There's also a bit more to see at victorvran.com. And now, screens!