STEAMIN' OLD-SCHOOL MODERNITY
Without any memory of what happened, you wash ashore alone on a small rocky island in the middle of the ocean. There, a colossal metallic tower looms against the sky, beckoning you with an alluring light. What game am I describing? Is it BioShock? Is it SOMA? No—it’s Vaporum, a trademark steampunk dungeon crawler with some survival-horror elements and solid RPG mechanics.
Developed by Fatbot Games, Vaporum embraces an old-school, trial-and-error philosophy that borders on sadistic. It often balances precariously between challenging and outright unfair—and occasionally stumbles over that edge.
Although it replicates the tile-based movement of classic dungeon crawlers, it doesn’t strongly remind me of any particular one. First, the setting is unapologetically steampunk, whereas the genre traditionally leans toward fantasy—or, more rarely, sci-fi. Second, movement isn’t instantaneous. Instead, you float from tile to tile, and the same floatiness applies to turning. Third, you control a single character rather than a party, which is another notable departure from tradition.
Upon entering the tower, you quickly discover that it’s on full alert. Security systems and robotic servants attack on sight. As you fight your way upward through twelve levels, you uncover documents and audio logs that piece together past events—including the truth about your own identity and your role in the disaster.
Vaporum strikes a decent balance between story, combat, and devious puzzle-solving, though combat is by far the most engaging element. Sometimes encounters feel absurdly unfair; at other times they’re genuinely exhilarating.
At the outset, you choose one of four combat rigs, each focused on attack, defense, speed, or technology. Before long, you’re swarmed by enemies—lots of them—moving through elaborate animations. Their habit of lying in ambush becomes aggravating fast. Spider droids, flying droids, sentry guns, big droids, small droids, electricity-spewing droids, acid-spitting droids—and the occasional deranged human wearing a rig much like your own.
Combat in dungeon crawlers is unlike anything else I can think of. It feels akin to real-time chess: you move back and forth, side to side, avoiding hits while trying to land your own. The sluggish movement, combined with attack cooldowns, forces constant evaluation. Do you have enough space to maneuver? Should you retreat to a better position? Is there a pit you need to keep in mind?
Fighting a single enemy is usually manageable, but things quickly spiral when several gang up on you.
Enemies feature distinct attack patterns. Some strike only the tile directly in front of them. Others spit projectiles in straight lines across the room. Flame-thrower enemies spray wide arcs, while Big Daddy–inspired minibosses can attack from the sides. Add in different damage types and lingering effects that shrink your safe zones, and combat becomes hectic, tense, and deeply engaging. It demands quick strategic thinking.
A semi–“turn-based” option exists, which admittedly feels close to cheating—but it’s a welcome lifeline when you’re stuck on a particularly brutal encounter.
My biggest frustration lies with the game’s extremely limited healing options. You can’t rest to recover health. Repair kits for your rig are the primary source of healing, but they’re scarce. Combined with the save-anywhere system, this creates a dangerous scenario: it’s entirely possible to save yourself into an unwinnable state with low health and no way to recover.
As a result, it’s often better to reload and retry a poorly executed fight just to conserve health. Later on, you unlock a module that drains health from enemies and transfers it to you, but its usefulness is limited unless you’ve built your character around it.
Vaporum’s strongest feature is its build variety. There’s an impressive range of character builds supported by a large arsenal of weapons and gadgets. By defeating enemies or progressing through the main quest, you earn upgrade points to invest in your chosen skill branches—and there are plenty of them. Blunt weapons, shields, swords, firearms, gadgetry—the options are numerous. There’s even a dual-wielding setup that allows near-continuous attacks with minimal cooldowns.
Gadgets function as a kind of stand-in for magic. Even without an optimized build they’re useful, though unfortunately limited by slow energy regeneration and long cooldowns, often restricting them to a single use per fight. Some temporarily boost stats, others unleash elemental attacks. Against large groups, decoys or charm effects can turn enemies against each other. Gadgets are essential both for patching weaknesses in your build and amplifying its strengths.
I’ve focused heavily on combat because the rest of the game doesn’t quite reach the same level of quality. The story is serviceable but generic and predictable—especially if you’re familiar with its inspirations. I skimmed most of it, aside from puzzle-related content, and didn’t feel like I missed much.
What does shine is the atmosphere. The claustrophobic setting, combined with darkness and the metallic echo of your footsteps, creates genuine tension. You hear something approaching from around a corner, or see the toxic green glow of an acid-spitting spider reflected on cold metal walls—and the unease sets in.
I appreciate efforts to keep antiquated genres alive, but I’m not convinced modernization benefits Vaporum much. The floaty tile-based movement feels like a compromise meant to attract a broader audience, but it slows the game down, and enemies hopping awkwardly between tiles often looks ridiculous. The ability to freely look around, as if in a first-person shooter, adds little of value.
When progress grinds to a halt due to the ubiquitous box-sliding puzzles—made even slower by the floaty movement—I start to lose patience. These puzzles are everywhere: filling floor holes, activating switches, blocking light-sensitive mechanisms, and more. I don’t mind the timing-based puzzles or classic switch-and-button challenges; those fit the genre well. The optional puzzle rooms that unlock secret rewards are often genuinely clever and satisfyingly difficult.
For the strength—albeit uneven—of its combat encounters, I can give Vaporum a modest recommendation, particularly to players who already know they enjoy dungeon crawlers. If you’re unsure, I’d suggest trying a demo (if available) or watching a playthrough of the opening level.
As a dungeon crawler, Vaporum is solid, with a handful of memorable moments and a persistent sense of rusty, gangrenous danger. As a whole, though, it falls between two stools: too modern for old-school purists, and too old-school for modern players.
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