BioShock meets Legend of Grimrock: Steampunk dungeon crawler on Steam for just $2
In Vaporum, you play as a nameless protagonist who wakes up with no memory on the shore of a mysterious island. Looming ahead is a massive mechanical tower – the heart of the adventure. Your mission is to explore its depths, unravel its secrets and face strange machines and hostile automatons to piece together your lost past. The journey takes you through a maze filled with enemies and puzzles, navigated step by step in classic dungeon crawler fashion.
Vaporum skips traditional character classes and instead centers its progression around the Exo-Rig – a mechanical suit you can upgrade and customize with different abilities to suit your playstyle. This flexibility is key, as each enemy comes with its own strengths and weaknesses that require thoughtful tactics to overcome. A time-stop feature pauses the action whenever you stand still, giving you room to plan your next move and respond strategically. Visually, Vaporum leans into a dark steampunk style, blending industrial grandeur with crumbling machinery in a way that calls BioShock to mind.
Strong gameplay mix, somewhat monotonous later on
Vaporum was developed by indie studio Fatbot Games and released in September 2017. In 2018, the German gaming magazine GameStar reviewed the title and described it as the best dungeon crawler since Legend of Grimrock. The review praised its satisfying mix of real-time combat, puzzles and exploration, as well as its compelling story and timeless visuals. However, some criticism was directed at the lack of variety later in the game. If you want to see for yourself, here’s the video review (English subtitles available via auto-translation):
Since its launch, Vaporum has received over 900 user reviews on Steam, with 84% rating it positively. The reception on Metacritic is a bit more reserved, with a Metascore of 75 and a user score of 6.8. This is mainly due to the repetitive gameplay and the somewhat unbalanced difficulty levels.
90% discount on Steam
Vaporum usually sells for around $20 on Steam, but until April 21, it’s available at a big 90% discount for just under $2. According to SteamDB, such a high discount is not uncommon for the game. The last time it was this cheap was during the Spring Sale in March, so if you’re not ready to buy it now, chances are you won’t have to wait long for another deal.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
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