Vampires Dawn

A series of German RPG-Maker games. While there have been some spin offs, cell phone games etc., the real story mainly centers on Vampires Dawn I and II. As of 2012 and 2016 respectively, there is an English translation for both games.

In a World where vampires used to roam the world freely and prey upon humans as they liked, a brave priest by the name of Vincent Weynard united humanity in a Holy Crusade, driving the blood-sucking monsters nearly to extinction.

Four hundred years later, a young warrior named Valnar is dragged into something he'd never dreamed of when his girlfriend gets captured and butchered by a mysterious stranger he's unable to even harm in battle. Awakening from unconsciousness later, he is mentally disturbed and out for revenge. This makes him an easy target for the manipulations of the vampire Asgar, who seeks the blood of a man who slept with a vampire in order to revive the love of his life, a woman named Alaine, with a dark magical ritual.

Valnar is tricked by Asgar, who, in a rare moment of mercy, decides to turn him into a vampire rather than killing him. Valnar soon wakes up and finds himself to be a slave to Asgar, as vampires are unable to harm their sires. Asgar and Alaine, now revived as a vampire, introduce the fledgeling bloodsucker into his situation as one of the last remaining vampires in the world. As Valnar is unable to forget the issues of the past, Asgar decides to help his slave find out what really happened. And so, the three vampires venture forth into a world filled by monsters and strange people, solving mysteries and unraveling a net of intrigue and manipulation that goes far beyond the bizarre murder of Valnar's girlfriend.

The second game picks up on the first game's Good/With Alaine ending. It once again stars our Power Trio, but also features a new human protagonist, a young woman named Nyria, who mastered the art of knife-throwing and was confronted with vampires at a painfully early age. This time, Asgar ends up being possessed by a ghostlike being that was sealed inside an ancient spellbook the vampires found at the end of the last game. The brainwashed Asgar is then forced to perform an ancient, immensely powerful World Sundering ritual which transforms the world into the state it was long before the Holy Crusade against vampires.

After the ritual is done, Asgar is robbed of his power and discarded by the ghost, who finds a new host. He finds his way back to Valnar and Alaine and the three vampires, now weakened, are able to recapture their castle with the help of a strange creature named Jinnai. Now they find themselves engaged in a three-way war over the dominance of nine castles in the world, whose dungeons each house one piece of a stone tablet that, if brought together, could create the most powerful spell in the world. Forced to either hire an army of mercenaries or create new vampires, the trio has to face both the Always Chaotic Evil Elras Mages, who created the tablet in the first place, and their eternal enemies, the Holy Clan Warriors, who attempt to prevent the tablet from being used. Meanwhile, Nyria is found by one of the Clan's warriors and, through a strange coincidence, bearing their symbol on her armor, is accepted into the Clan. Again, many questions are to be answered through the story and a net of betrayal and manipulative schemes make it difficult to trust anyone.


 * All Men Are Perverts: Nyria is really popular with the (all male) Clan warriors. Her midriff baring armor probably doesn't hurt.
 * Arc Words: Semi-philosophical questions in blood writing will occasionally appear on the screen in particularly dramatic situations.
 * Artifact of Doom: What most people consider the stone tablet to be. Even our heroes have doubts whether to use it or not.
 * Ascended Extra: Pharao Ustra was just a random enemy in the first game, but is a major figure in the second.
 * Badass Abnormal: Pharao Ustra was just another human magic user. He was also strong enough to take on an entire army of Elras (the strongest mages in the world!) and not only win, but curbstomp them.
 * Badass Longcoat: Valnar, Abraxas and Raron, though hard to see in the in-game sprites.
 * Baleful Polymorph: The vampires have a spell that they can use to turn a human into a random useful object. It counts as an evil action, obviously.
 * Battle in the Center of the Mind:.
 * Big Good: Pharao Ustra, according to Jinnai..
 * Black and Grey Morality: While Good Valnar can try to keep human casualties limited, the vampires aren't exactly hesitant when it comes to killing or abusing humans. Asgar in particular loves it. Their enemies are usually worse, though. The Elras are an entire Always Chaotic Evil group, while the humans have a bit of a Knight Templar attitude.
 * Blood Magic: Though it is a subcategory of magic, technically, ALL vampire magic is this, since they cast it from their blood pool.
 * Cain and Abel: Nyria and Jaina. Nyria blames Jaina for the death of her best friend and hates her for it. Comes in somewhat handy when Jaina ends up being an Elras leader's host, allowing for open hostilities. Unusual for the trope, Nyria as the older sibling is the "good" one of the two. In the end, it is never properly resolved though, since the vampires are the ones that beat Jaina, not Nyria.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: At the beginning of VD 2, the Elras talk to an entity called Morlon several times whitout making it clear who they mean.
 * Crapsack World: Pretty goddamn cynical on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Few humans are genuinely good and pretty much all of them are powerless to vampires or Elras.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Vampirism is pretty awesome in this universe. If you're lucky to be part of the lower 3 generations (as our heroes are), there's pretty much none of the typical vampire weaknesses to fear, not even sunlight. And it comes with a lot of cool abilities, such as Immortality, a Healing Factor, increased physical abilities (Asgar at one point tears a man in half), sharper senses, control over lesser undead, an enormously strong affinity for learning magic spells, Voluntary Shapeshifting right off the bat...
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Good!Valnar. Dressed in a black Badass Longcoat, wearing Cool Shades, a White-Haired Pretty Boy who uses Dark Magic and has become scarily good at decapitating people. Still one of the nicest people you'll meet in this world. He is a special case though, since usually in this world, Dark Is Evil. As is pretty much anything else, really.
 * Dead Baby Comedy: Asgar's favorite kind of humor. He even goes so far as to casually rank and criticize his victims' begging for their lives and screams of terror for originality or lack thereof.
 * Decoy Protagonist: Nyria really only exists to give the Point of View of the Holy Warrior Clan and to get some exposition out. She ends up being largely irrelevant to the plot. Some may argue that They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character.
 * Demonic Possession: The three leaders of the Elras Mages magically modified their souls to become "Shadow Ghosts" so their released souls can travel and possess a new body. They can only leave it when it dies, though.
 * Dirty Coward: Several humans once you make your intentions clear, also Sir Aaron, the Holy Clan Warrior leader.
 * Disappeared Dad: Nyria's dad. It's a minor plot point.
 * The Dragon: Abraxas.
 * Elemental Powers: Vampires are born with affinities towards certain kinds of spells. Valnar has Light and Dark, Asgar has Dark, Ice and Blood, Alaine has Fire, Blood and Status.
 * Evil Redhead:  who doubles as a Fille Fatale. Alaine manages to mostly avoid it by really being more neutral than evil. Also, red is one of the only hair colors that never has a chance of being changed if one is turned into a vampire..
 * Exclusively Evil: Elras and almost all vampires.
 * Eye Scream: At one point, the trio encounters an old man who just recently had his eyes gouged out. They can Mercy Kill him or leave him be. Leaving him alive results in Asgar praising Valnar for letting him suffer.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Asgar. Very much so.
 * Framing Device: The story of the games is told by a grandfather to his grandson.
 * Freudian Trio: For Good Valnar, Asgar is Id, Alaine is Ego and Valnar is Superego. For Evil Valnar, either Valnar or Asgar could be Id, the other one Ego, leaving Alaine with Superego.
 * In the second game Asgar is Id, Valnar is Ego and Alaine is Superego.
 * Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire: Valnar and Alaine in the second game. Asgar tried it for a while, but it was really more like Isolated-And-Not-Quite-As-Abusive-As-Usual-Neighbourhood-Vampire, but he went right back to being fully evil when Alaine was executed. Vampires in this game tend to get power hungry real easy though, so the heroes are an exception for even considering this trope.
 * Fur Against Fang: Kind of averted, since werewolves are surprisingly irrelevant for the story and the vampires can actually find an amulett that allows them to mind-control any werewolf they encounter.
 * Gorn: As much of it as possible in an RPG-Maker game. Well, it is a game about vampires.
 * Haunted Castle: Used as the party's base of operations in both games. Asgar obtained it a long time ago by killing all the nobles within and turning them into undead guardians.
 * Healing Factor: Common to all vampires. As long as they have enough blood, it even works when they have fallen into torpor. In-game, this translates into regaing a few HP for every step you take. In VD 1, Valnar could find some ghosts in the game world that would improve the speed of this ability.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Nyria fits the definition, though her sword is only secondary to her throwing knives.
 * I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Valnar, towards Asgar. Asgar towards Abraxas. However, part of the curse of vampirism is the inability to harm one's sire.
 * Infinity-1 Sword: The Vampire Weapons are only outclassed by a fully upgraded Doomblade.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: The Doomblade is given to Valnar very early in VD 2. It barely has more strength than a rusty sword, but thanks to its Magikarp Power, it can be upgraded by finding special runes throughout the world, eventually becoming more powerful than the Vampire Blade once all runes have been installed. In the first game, the Demon Summon also counts, but it is anything but a Bragging Rights Reward, being immensely useful for last few battles in the game.
 * Instant Kill: Nyria's signature move is a knife throw targeted at enemy vital spots. Unlike typical examples, it has an awfully good hit rate and no disadvantages (Nyria has no mana or blood points to begin with) other than that you'll have wasted a turn if it doesn't hit. It actually works pretty damn well in battle, so it's anything but a Useless Useful Spell.
 * Karma Meter: Humanity. It can be raised by doing quests and prevented from sinking by only feeding on bottled blood, animals or in battle, while doing lots of evil stuff like stealing people's souls, turning them into objects, sucking them dry or turning them into vampires decreases it.
 * Knight in Shining Armor: What the Holy Warrior Clan sees itself as. In particular, Nyria's supposed Love Interest Asmos, who seems to be one of the Clan's captains or so.
 * Last of His Kind: By the end of VD 1, the heroes are the last remaining vampires in the world. You can change that if you want in VD 2 by creating more vampires for your army.
 * Light Is Good / Dark Is Evil: In the first game, learning light-based spells with Valnar inceases his humanity score, learning darkness-based spells decreases it.
 * Love Interest: Alaine is this to Valnar in the first game. You can build up romance points at some choices with her, or make her hate you, which decides part of the ending. Asgar isn't happy about it, especially since Valnar with Alaine is the canon ending of the first game. Also, Asmos Kleyr seems to be Nyria's love interest, but given the setting, it doesn't end well for either of them.
 * MacGuffin: The stone tablet pieces.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Many. Jinnai is particularly obvious about it. Asgar does not trust him.
 * The Masquerade: People think vampires are extinct since the Holy Crusade. If you do anything obviously vampiric in public, the game will not let you progress until you kill all witnesses. In the second game, if you do that on an open street, bounty hunters will be set on your head. In addition, vampires have several abilities to help them stay unnoticed lore-wise, such as a light illusionary aura that makes them seem warm to touch, hides their fangs etc.
 * Money Spider: Averted. Enemies leave nothing behind but their souls. They can still be traded for money, though.
 * Multiple Endings: See the main entry.
 * Narrator All Along:
 * New Game+: Speeds up acquiring the Multiple Endings.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Turns out that simple iron bars aren't enough to keep one of the three Elras leaders imprisoned.  Great idea, you three!
 * Not So Harmless: Ronak may seem like pure Comic Relief who can only sweep floors and such, but he's still a freaggin' minotaur. Whenever enemies invade the castle, he serves as the last line of defense, tearing them apart or at least making them flee several times throughout the setting.
 * Off with His Head: The only trustworthy way a vampire can be killed permanently. Everything else, he will just fall into torpor until his body has fully healed him, provided he has enough blood. Being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice in the heart is instantly paralyzing, though.
 * Our Souls Are Different: Every enemy (no matter what kind) leaves a soul when he's defeated. In the first game, they can be traded for status upgrades, in the second for magic spells.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: As already explained above. For instance, they don't have to sleep in coffins, but it's the only comfortable place for them to sleep and it helps them in regaining health.
 * Prolonged Prologue: Vampires Dawn 2 is right up there with Kingdom Hearts II in terms of prologue length.
 * Random Encounters: Played straight in the first game, averted in the second for most of the world, where enemies are visible on the map, but played straight for the World Map.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: All vampires gain red eyes upon transformation.
 * The red part increases in size, if they are possessed by Shadow Ghosts.
 * Restart At Level One: Justified. The vampires start the game at the max level of the previous game and with a set of spells. Then Possessed!Asgar drains Valnar and Alaine of all their power to fuel his ritual. When that isn't enough, he does the same to Asgar's body as well.
 * The Reveal: Many of them. There is actually an evolving cutscene that gets repeated six or so times in the course of the story, each time revealing a bit more of what really happened back then.
 * Same Character but Different: In the first game, Alaine is quite content with her being a vampire and all that comes with it (while not necessarily evil), but in the end chooses the good side because of Valnar. In the second game she's suddenly a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, while Valnar turned into a I Did What I Had to Do guy, basically reversing their roles.
 * Save Game Limits: Vampires Dawn is rather infamous for making saving possible only at certain plot moments or with one-use Saving Stones, presumably to prevent Save Scumming. However, an infinitely durable Saving Crystal can be obtained in both games, in the first it is the reward for the New Game+, in the second, it can be obtained with a special code at the "cheat tree" in the castle garden (or by choosing Easy difficulty).
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: The three Elras leaders' Shadow Ghosts were sealed into their own magic book by.
 * Sequence Breaking: Since you keep most items, you can skip most parts of the first Game in New Game+ mode and go to Tranak followed by the final dungeon as soon as you get the Bat spell.
 * Spider Sense: Vampires have a neat little ability that manifests in skulls appearing in the corner of the screen. It tells them when enemies in a region are too strong for them and can also warn them of particularly strong individuals (i.e. bosses).
 * Summon Magic: Vampires in the first game have the ability to temporarily summon a creature in exchange for souls. This includes Dem Bones, golems and a demon. They usually stay in the team just long enough for one fight.
 * Sunglasses at Night: Valnar, being a relatively weak 3rd generation vampire, permanently wears sunglasses in the first game to deal with extreme light. In the second game, he is strong enough not to need it anymore.
 * Taken for Granite: Valnar and Alaine early in the second game. They get better thanks to Asgar.
 * Team Pet: Asgar's comically incompetent servant, Ronak the Minotaur. Seemingly one of the only creatures in the world he has a soft spot for.
 * Telepathy: Vampires can read minds.
 * Twist Ending: Many of 'em in the second game.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Vampires that don't have enough blood anymore will fall into a frenzy. Subverts the actual trope in that they don't become much stronger. They also can't be controlled by the player anymore and only attack with the default weapon attack command.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: All vampires eventually learn to turn into a bat and a wolf (though the wolf-form was absent from the second game). Asgar also was born with the ability to turn into mist, which he also was unable to regain in the second game.
 * Weapon of Choice: Valnar uses a broadsword, Asgar a saber. Alaine uses claws (artificial ones, not natural ones). In the second game, the mercenaries and vampire companions one can pick up also have weapon preferences. Mercenaries also use sabers, the Vampire Warrior uses swords, the Vampire Mage uses staves, the Vampire Lord uses maces. Werewolves use their claws.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy & White-Haired Pretty Girl: Vampires of later generations, including Valnar and Asgar, may face various forms of having their hair bleached upon transformation.