Supernatural Splinter Cell: DARK Is A Vampire Stealth RPG

When I first saw the words "vampire" and "RPG" appear in DARK's elevator pitch, my brain immediately made a mad dash down the portion of memory lane marked "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines." But then my incredibly rare T-Rex-like vision disorder cleared up, and I saw other words skitter out - for instance, "stealth-action" and "RPG elements." So no, this probably isn't the long-awaited successor to Bloodlines' bloodline, but the RealmForge-developed, Kalypso-published vampire, er, chokeslam sim could be interesting.

So the focus appears to be on either stealth or action (or both - depending on how you evolve your character). Kalypso boasts that you'll be able to "use powerful vampire abilities and hard-hitting melee attacks to defeat dangerous enemies - turn into a puff of smoke and disappear, or close with your foes in an instant." AI's apparently also a major selling point, but that's a bullet point that's shot developers in the foot far too many times for my liking, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

The plot, meanwhile, centers around "unraveling the mystery behind a global conglomerate that seems omnipresent and all-powerful." Sounds kind of Deus Ex-ish on paper, huh? But then, anything can sound Deus Ex-ish in half a sentence. For instance, if I'm running late while attempting to pick which clothes to wear, I usually tell my friends I'm "locked in desperate struggle between augmenting my body and preserving my brittle human soul." It's also how I justify showing up without pants.

It all sounds interesting, but I can't claim to be familiar with anything on RealmForge's resume, so we'll see. DARK's currently slated for an early 2013 release. And me? Well, I think I'm currently slated for my annual Bloodlines replay right now. So I'm gonna go do that. Yay vampires!