I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am always waiting for the next vampire game that I can get my hands on so it should come as no surprise that I have been following Draculesti for some time now. I was very excited to hear the game would be at PAX Aus again, with its rich and delicate art style with gorgeous colours and details, along with outstanding designs for Dracula and all those others living in his house. While Dracula is a focal point in the story, there are more supernatural beings lurking around the castle and some of them even have routes!
Draculesti is a romantic horror visual novel following lawyer R. M. Renfield as he tries to establish alliances with other characters in Dracula’s castle. There is romance to be found, certainly, but most of all Renfield just wants to find someone who can help him survive his current ordeal. The writing does a great job of establishing the uncomfortable, supernatural presence in the castle and puts you in Renfeild’s shoes as he tries to navigate his complicated relationship with each of the characters.
There are currently four different characters available for Renfeild to cozy up to including one of Dracula’s wives who is already itching for divorce, a ghost that is haunting the halls of the castle (the devs also told me that this one is for the Astarion girlies, so he might be my favourite), Renfield’s ex-boyfriend and boss, Jonathan Harker and of course, Dracula himself. Each character route has it’s own separate narrative and Renfield’s relationships with the characters he is not pursuing changes depending on the route, meaning it’s impossible to guarantee who is friend or foe.
The art is suitably gothic and absolutely bleeding with charm; all the characters are incredibly expressive and even the backgrounds are gorgeously detailed. The game also uses lots of pans and zooms during the narrative dialogue sections that keep everything moving even if you are just reading expository narrative. Draculesti utterly oozes gothic romanticism and it’s impossible not to be sucked in while playing.
The release date for Draculesti is yet to be announced, but a demo for the game is currently available on Steam. If you’re looking for a suitibally gothic experience with plenty of gay vampires, Draculesti is definitly a game you should be sinking your teeth into.
About the Author
Bree Maybe
she/they
Bree somehow managed to weasel her way into a game design degree, hasn't stopped playing Skyrim since it first came out and never shuts up about Nagito Komaeda.
