Gamespace checked out the dungeon crawler Vaporum: Lockdown:

Vaporum: Lockdown – Steam Quick Hit Review

Vaporum: Lockdown is an enticing steampunk dungeon crawler RPG developed and published by Fatbot Games and the prequel to Vaporum. The developers were inspired by the classics of the genre like Eye of Beholder and the more recent Legend of Grimrock.

Follow the story of a scientist trying to escape a catastrophe in our Vaporum: Lockdown quick hit review.

The game features first-person real-time combat that takes place in an enclosed space with clear movement along the grid. At the same time, the game provides players with a unique time-stopping mechanic that allows for safe switching of weapons or a moment to breathe and think through your next steps before the enemy can catch you in a trap.

The steampunk aesthetic of the game adds a certain charm and an air of mysteriousness to the locations. The multitude of talented voice actors is very pleasing to one’s ears and the option for subtitles allows for an easier time to get into the story of the game.

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Vaporum: Lockdown is available now for Nintendo Switch.

Switch was like a second home to Vaporum (our first game), so it should be no surprise that the first console release of our next game, Vaporum: Lockdown, is landing on the Nintendo Switch. We learned a lot bringing the first Vaporum game onto the console, and this time, we decided to port the game ourselves. For a small team like ours, releasing the game on the console has been quite the experience. We hope you will enjoy the game!

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Vaporum: Lockdown is a prequel to the award-winning steampunk dungeon crawler Vaporum. It is a grid-based, single-player, single-character game, seen from a first-person perspective in an original steampunk setting, and inspired by old-school games like Dungeon Master I and II, the Eye of the Beholder series, and the more recent Legend of Grimrock I and II.

Vaporum: Lockdown follows the story of Ellie Teller, a scientist who is a part of a mysterious research project in the middle of an ocean. Following disastrous events, she struggles to survive and escape the tower of Arx Vaporum.

• First person real-time combat
• Unique Stop Time Mode
• Puzzles and level-wide objectives
• Gadget-based RPG system
• Lots of exploration, loot, and character customization
• Mysterious storyline filled with secrets
• Fully voiced main characters
• Immersive steampunk setting

You will encounter nasty enemies with unique strengths and attack patterns. To beat them, you will have to employ a broad array of weapons, gadgets, upgrades, and smart tactics.

Fortunately, there's plenty of powerful toys to play with. Many different weapon types, each with a specific use, synergistic armor pieces, gadgets that allow you to raise your own army of underlings or to manipulate the battlefield, boosters, and more.

Prepare to solve many kinds of puzzles and hazards, using various interactive elements, which will test both your wits and reflexes. The overall storyline will have you piecing together a solution to the main obstacle, where the individual pieces are spread over several levels. You will learn a lot about the world and its inhabitants through voiced dialogs, phonodiaries, and written notes.

Couchpotato spotted some Vaporum: Lockdown reviews:

SaveOrQuit: Not just Grimrock with steam REVIEW: Vaporum: Lockdown

Chalgyr: Sore 8.3/10 Vaporum: Lockdown – PC Review

Screenrant: Score: 2.5/5 Vaporum: Lockdown Review - Steaming Along

3CR reviewed the dungeon crawler Vaporum: Lockdown:

Crawler Vaporum: Lockdown is a Solid Follow-Up

As I found myself getting deeper into tabletop role-playing games, I started to understand the draw behind grid-based dungeon crawlers. Those dungeon crawlers were ever-present growing up, and it wasn’t until decades later that I realized that they emulated a certain style of early Dungeons and Dragons dungeons. I’m assuming it’s be design, but as I DMing my players as they checked every ten foot square for a trapped floor, I realized there were so many video games in which I did the same. Much like CRPGs in the last decade, these grid-based dungeon crawlers are making a comeback. And not only are they coming back, they’re doing it in increasingly innovative ways—both in terms of mechanics and setting. Vaporum: Lockdown is one such title.

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I really enjoyed my time with Vaporum: Lockdown. It’s a solid dungeon crawler, and the best example of the genre I’ve played since Legend of Grimrock. If you are curious, it’s definitely worth a look—and if you’re a fan of this subgenre, it’s a must-have. There are some uneven moments, but otherwise it’s steampunk dungeon crawling perfection.

Score: 3/4

Vaporum: Lockdown will be available today on Steam.

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About

Vaporum: Lockdown is a prequel to the award-winning steampunk dungeon crawler Vaporum. It is a grid-based, single-player, single-character game, seen from a first-person perspective in an original steampunk setting, and inspired by old-school games like Dungeon Master I and II, the Eye of the Beholder series, and the more recent Legend of Grimrock I and II.

Vaporum: Lockdown follows the story of Ellie Teller, a scientist who is a part of a mysterious research project in the middle of an ocean. Following disastrous events, she struggles to survive and escape the tower of Arx Vaporum.

Key Features

• First person real-time combat
• Unique Stop Time Mode
• Puzzles and level-wide objectives
• Gadget-based RPG system
• Lots of exploration, loot, and character customization
• Mysterious storyline filled with secrets
• Fully voiced main characters
• Immersive steampunk setting

You will encounter nasty enemies with unique strengths and attack patterns. To beat them, you will have to employ a broad array of weapons, gadgets, upgrades, and smart tactics.

Fortunately, there's plenty of powerful toys to play with. Many different weapon types, each with a specific use, synergistic armor pieces, gadgets that allow you to raise your own army of underlings or to manipulate the battlefield, boosters, and more.

Prepare to solve many kinds of puzzles and hazards, using various interactive elements, which will test both your wits and reflexes. The overall storyline will have you piecing together a solution to the main obstacle, where the individual pieces are spread over several levels. You will learn a lot about the world and its inhabitants through voiced dialogs, phonodiaries, and written notes.

Gematsu reports that Vaporum: Lockdown will release September 15th.

Vaporum: Lockdown, the dungeon RPG prequel to Vaporum, will launch for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam on September 15, developer Fatbot Games announced. A release date for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch versions was not announced.

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A new update for Vaporum: Lockdown shows off some gameplay.

Hey, guys and gals!

We'd like to apologize for the radio silence in the past weeks. We've spent all that time working hard to finish the game. Right now, we're polishing the levels, adding last-minute details, balancing combat, and doing a lot of playtesting. As they say, the last 10% of the development takes 90% of the time. But we're getting there!

We'll be able to announce the release date in the coming weeks. We're very careful with picking the best date to avoid releasing the game on or between days shadowed by much bigger mainstream titles, which have moved their dates to September. For such a small studio and such a niche game, it's critical to choose the optimal release date for media coverage.

To whet your appetite, here's a short alpha video showing small snippets of what you can expect in the game:

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For those of you speaking German, here's another video of an interview which we did for GameStar, including alpha gameplay footage:

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We're also considering doing a commented stream of the game where we would answer your questions. So if you'd like to ask questions, please get in touch with us via Discord or other social media!

Thank you for all the support you give us, whether it's the messages on our Discord server or other social media, or sharing our videos and posts.

Wishlist the game now on Steam!

Vaporum: Lockdown will be releasing this summer of 2020.

Hey, fellow crawlers!

We are sorry to inform you that we have to delay the release of Vaporum: Lockdown. This is nothing too special with what's going on in the world, but still, we feel you deserve more than a dry announcement.

Although nobody in our team has been affected by the disease directly, working from home has had a significant impact on the project. It's been a big challenge organization-wise. During this finish-line phase, the remaining tasks tend to be small but many. Which requires more communication than actual work, and that's difficult, as we can't deal with things face to face. No matter, our 5-member team is pushing through the issues as best as we can; it simply takes more time.

To be specific: we're in the last phase of environmental work on levels, scripting / balancing the last few remaining puzzles, tweaking enemy animations & timings, and working on the game's boss fight (which we are very excited about!). Also, some of the nice things like intro & outro cinematics are coming together.

The release day is drawing near, slowly coming out of the mist, the more we work on the game. Our current estimate is that we will be able to announce a specific release date for the PC (Steam, GOG, etc.) roughly within a month, and that it will be released during the Summer of 2020. Consoles will follow shortly after, beginning with the Nintendo Switch (being tested along with the PC version), and then XB1 and PS4.

It's mostly because there are a lot of onboarding steps for each platform, and we can only do so much with such a small team. Originally, we wanted to avoid a staggered release like this, but at least we'll do our best to release on each platform in the shortest possible time. We're not happy with it, but in a team with only 2 programmers, it's virtually impossible to work on the base PC version and all the ports at once, and release the game everywhere on the same day. Such an approach would also cause a significant delay of the PC release, and we don't think that would be fair to our players either.

One of the good things is that the game will be localized in all the languages as in Vaporum - but from day one (of course still allowing you guys to write your own translations).

You can trust that we're doing our very best to make the game a worthy prequel to Vaporum, with all the new features working towards a much better player experience.

Thank you for your understanding! We just can't wait till you lay your hands on the game! :)

Stay strong & healthy!

Thanks Farflame!

A level design contest for Vaporum: Lockdown offers the chance to have the level featured in the final game as well as other prizes.

Thanks Farflame!

Steampunk dungeon crawler Vaporum: Lockdown has been announced, and is a prequel to Vaporum.

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Vaporum: Lockdown is a prequel to the award-winning steampunk dungeon crawler Vaporum. It is a grid-based, single-player, single-character game, seen from a first-person perspective in an original steampunk setting, and inspired by old-school games like Dungeon Master I and II, the Eye of the Beholder series, and the more recent Legend of Grimrock I and II.

Vaporum: Lockdown follows the story of Lisa Teller, a scientist who is a part of a mysterious research project in the middle of an ocean. Following disastrous events, she struggles to survive and escape the tower of Arx Vaporum.

Key Features

• First person real-time combat
• Unique Stop Time Mode
• Puzzles and level-wide objectives
• Gadget-based RPG system
• Lots of exploration, loot, and character customization
• Mysterious storyline filled with secrets
• Fully voiced main characters
• Immersive steampunk setting

You will encounter nasty enemies with unique strengths and attack patterns. To beat them, you will have to employ a broad array of weapons, gadgets, upgrades, and smart tactics.

Fortunately, there's plenty of powerful toys to play with. Many different weapon types, each with a specific use, synergistic armor pieces, gadgets that allow you to raise your own army of underlings or to manipulate the battlefield, boosters, and more.

Prepare to solve many kinds of puzzles and hazards, using various interactive elements, which will test both your wits and reflexes. The overall storyline will have you piecing together a solution to the main obstacle, where the individual pieces are spread over several levels. You will learn a lot about the world and its inhabitants through voiced dialogs, phonodiaries, and written notes.

Vaporum: Lockdown is planned to release in 2020.