I love the recent wave of games where learning is part of the experience. Games like Animal Well, Tunic, Fugaz, and more all require you to explore and experience the game in order to learn its secrets. Now, Over the Moon Games has released a new game in this similar vein (pun intended) with a twist.

Vampire Hunter: Nightrise is available now on PC. In this first-person vampire hunt, you’ll have to explore a castle and learn its secrets before you can defeat its master. Here is what the press release says about the launch:

“Over the Moon Games [yesterday] released Vampire Hunter: Nightrise, a first-person vampire hunt through a shifting gothic castle, on Steam for $14.99, with a launch discount for the first week of 10%. A free demo remains available.

Pitched as ‘Castlevania meets Tunic,’ Nightrise drops the player into a vampire’s castle with a single goal: Reach him before nightfall. The catch is that the castle itself is the real opponent. Rotating fireplaces, moving bookshelves, watching portraits, and hidden passages are open from the start, but they only give way once the player understands how the place works. There are no keys, only knowledge.

Combat is built around a stake launcher that pins enemies to walls, fires through flame to ignite them, and turns the castle’s own furniture into ammunition. Underneath it all, the player’s faith works as a literal resource that the castle constantly tempts them to trade away for power, quietly shaping how the story ends.

It is a complete, single-sitting experience of about three hours, with no filler and no open-world bloat, and it leans on atmosphere and dread rather than gore.”

John Warner, developer at Over the Moon Games, commented on the learning nature of Vampire Hunter: Nightrise, stating, “In Nightrise, almost everything is open to you from the very beginning, if you know how to reach it. There is something deeply rewarding about learning to overcome an obstacle instead of just finding a key. It creates a real sense of power and wonder. We took huge inspiration from Tunic in that respect, and from Outer Wilds.”

I’m very intrigued by Vampire Hunter: Nightrise. I love taking the time to explore a game, finding all the tiny secrets that help you understand what makes it tick. Let us know what you think of Nightrise in the comments below.

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