Vigil: Blood Bitterness

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Vigil: Blood Bitterness is a single player arcade role playing game with a horror theme. It was developed by Meridian4 and was released on June 29, 2007. It received neutral reviews from critics and negative reviews from players.

"Vigil: Blood Bitterness" is a gothic horror adventure game with point-and-click playability and a dark, disturbing story. As the character Dehon, you must reveal the secrets of your past, exact revenge, and ultimately seek freedom in an ancient civilization filled with ritualistic killings and blood lust. The game features 3D graphics with a unique black and white art style, dynamic camera, and puzzle-solving.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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15%

Audience ScoreBased on 107 reviews

graphics10 positive mentions

gameplay5 negative mentions

The game features a unique and captivating art style that draws players in.
The dark narrative and atmosphere create an oppressive yet enjoyable experience.
The lore and worldbuilding are intriguing, offering a surreal adventure.

The game is plagued by technical issues, including a requirement to download a demo of another game just to launch it.
Gameplay is frustrating due to poor controls, confusing puzzles, and a lack of clear instructions.
Many players report that the game is unplayable on modern systems, with broken cutscenes and frequent crashes.

graphics
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
50%
22%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the unique art style and atmospheric visuals reminiscent of "Sin City," while others criticize the technical execution, describing the graphics as jagged, low-resolution, and plagued by bugs. Despite the captivating aesthetic, frequent crashes and gameplay issues detract significantly from the overall experience, leading some to recommend simply watching a playthrough instead. Overall, while the art style shows potential, the game's graphical performance leaves much to be desired.
- “The minimalistic style of the 3D visuals is tonally spot-on, and the character/environment designs are solid.”
- “The art style is the reason I bought this game; nothing else.”
- “It's too indie to understand, but the art in the game is good, combining contrast and minimalist concepts resulting in beautiful graphics.”
- “The graphics are awful - not awesome - and are a real and violent insult to Frank Miller and Sin City (including all sequels).”
- “After you finally get it running, it's just confusing and barely playable due to many graphical errors and hiccups.”
- “The resolution is bad, the graphics are bad, and it seems it's meant for a computer made in the prehistoric era.”
gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
50%
42%
The gameplay has been widely criticized for its lack of progression, frustrating mechanics, and poor technical execution, leading to a disjointed experience filled with arbitrary challenges and cryptic clues. Players report that the game often feels tedious and poorly designed, with vital elements obscured and little guidance provided, resulting in a frustrating and unenjoyable experience. Overall, the gameplay detracts significantly from the otherwise appealing atmosphere created by the game's visuals and music.
- “No other game quite has the gameplay or graphical stylings that this does.”
- “There's no sense of progression or accumulation of skills/knowledge; the only generally-consistent mechanic is doors, everything else is some weird one-off mechanic that you struggle to figure out and that never comes up again.”
- “Gameplay is nothing more than an exercise in frustration, as clues are cryptic without being logical, solutions are arbitrary and often linked to timers tuned so short that anything less than following the developer's intended path and timing, without an angstrom's width of deviation, will result in certain death and banishment back to the last checkpoint.”
- “Even the gameplay itself is badly polished with little explanation as to what to do and how to play the game!”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The story in "Vigil: Blood Bitterness" is criticized for being underdeveloped and primarily focused on lore and worldbuilding, lasting only about half an hour. Players find the narrative presentation tedious, relying heavily on text dumps rather than engaging environmental storytelling, which can lead to confusion about the plot. Despite its unique art style and atmospheric potential, many players feel frustrated and opt to watch the story online instead of experiencing it in-game.
- “Vigil: Blood Bitterness combines a unique art style for gaming with some interesting sounds and wraps it around a bizarre story.”
- “A damn shame because it has such a promising storyline with a thick and unsettling atmosphere.”
- “The story itself is not really amazing; the focus is mostly on lore and worldbuilding. The whole thing lasts like half an hour, if it's not breaking for you, of course.”
- “Environmental storytelling is completely eschewed in favor of tedious text dumps.”
- “It takes a minimalist approach to design and story, so much that it's hard to tell what to do or what's going on at all.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its dark narrative, haunting visuals, and immersive music, creating an oppressive yet enjoyable experience. However, some reviewers note that while the atmosphere is compelling, it is undermined by poor gameplay and technical issues, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these shortcomings, the gothic presentation and intriguing lore contribute to a rich and engaging atmosphere.
- “The dark narrative and atmosphere make for a very oppressive but enjoyable experience.”
- “Which is a shame, really, because besides that it has nice puzzles, great atmosphere, and its overall dark gothic presentation is very good.”
- “A damn shame because it has such a promising storyline with a thick and unsettling atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere built by the lore, music, and visuals is pretty nice; however, the gameplay and technical aspects are quite poor.”
- “It's a damn shame because it has such a promising storyline with a thick and unsettling atmosphere.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game is described as minimal and ominous, effectively enhancing the atmosphere, but the limited number of tracks leads to repetition and annoyance. Additionally, technical issues such as audible popping during transitions detract from the overall experience. While the music fits the setting, it can become overwhelming during gameplay.
- “The atmosphere built by the lore, music, and visuals is pretty damn nice.”
- “Music is minimal and ominous, fits the setting.”
- “Nothing worked and I just kept dying out of nowhere while this spooky volume-increasing music played in the background.”
- “The small number of music tracks and audio cues quickly become repetitive and annoying.”
- “There's audible popping when music and sound effects are abruptly stopped or switched.”
- “Nothing worked, and I just kept dying out of nowhere while this spooky, volume-increasing music played in the background.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is plagued by severe stability issues, including frequent bugs, unplayable videos, and confusing controls, leading to a frustrating experience for players. Many reviewers strongly advise against playing it, even if offered for free, due to its broken state.
- “Drawn in by the interesting high contrast art style, this hot mess of a buggy game fails to play its videos and offers nothing but frustration.”
- “Don't touch this broken, buggy game even if you get it for free.”
- “This game is extremely buggy.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is largely criticized for being minimal, with reviewers noting a lack of coherent themes or messages throughout the narrative. This results in characters that feel underdeveloped and unengaging.
- “Minimal plot and character development, lacking a coherent theme or message.”
- “The characters feel one-dimensional and fail to evolve throughout the game.”
- “There is a significant lack of depth in character arcs, making it hard to connect with them.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is characterized by tedious text dumps and repetitive gameplay, leading to a frustrating experience. Players find the environmental storytelling lacking, with cutscenes that contribute to the overall tedium rather than enhancing the game. While the unique art style is noted, it does not compensate for the monotonous grind.
- “Environmental storytelling is completely eschewed in favor of tedious text dumps.”
- “Crazy, upsetting, bemusing video 'quirks' aside, the game has a setting that becomes tedious within minutes, with headache-inducing cutscenes and nothing in particular to recommend it other than a unique art style that you can appreciate from the screenshots.”

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60%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews

Vigil: Blood Bitterness review
Gamesradar.com
60%

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Frequently Asked Questions

Vigil: Blood Bitterness is a arcade role playing game with horror theme.

Vigil: Blood Bitterness is available on PC and Windows.

Vigil: Blood Bitterness was released on June 29, 2007.

Vigil: Blood Bitterness was developed by Meridian4.

Vigil: Blood Bitterness has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its graphics but disliked it for its gameplay.

Vigil: Blood Bitterness is a single player game.

Similar games include Necronomicon: The Gateway to Beyond, Alone in the Dark, Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Day One: Garry's Incident and others.

Vigil: Blood Bitterness

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