Humans are messy creatures. We can love fiercely or devastate others. We can have wildly skewed impressions of others, as well as ourselves. Because we tend to feel things so powerfully, we can often feel lost within our own lives. For many, this is where having a good therapist can do wonders for our mental health. But what about those who aren’t human any longer, but were at one time? Just because vampires feed on the blood of others, does that mean they don’t also deserve some grace and empathy? Vampire Therapist from Little Bat Games explores these questions by allowing us to help immortals work through their complex feelings brought about by their residual humanity.

Aww, you’re no fun!

In Vampire Therapist  you play as Sam, a cowboy who’s a couple hundred years old, who lived during the rootin’ tootin’ days of the Wild West. Relatively young by vampire standards, Sam is seeking fulfillment with his immortal existence by helping much older vampires work through their centuries and even millennias-old emotional baggage. As it turns out, the longer the existence, the more complicated the issues, and the more resistant they are to change.

What surprised me most about Vampire Therapist is the fact that it uses real-world therapy techniques and concepts within the game. I definitely wasn’t expecting this game to be very deep (I thought it was going to be more of a  lighthearted comedy), but while it does have plenty of humorous moments, it’s a far more serious game than I had anticipated.

I will not have any TMNT slander in my office!

Honestly, that’s one of the reasons why Vampire Therapist hooked me so much. It’s shockingly competent with its therapy practices. This is due to the development team working closely with a team of licensed mental health professionals to provide the most accurate techniques and diagnoses as possible. Vampire Therapist presents itself as a cute, somewhat silly visual novel, but it actually treats its subject matter with an admirable reverence. 

The gameplay in Vampire Therapist is also better than what I was anticipating. Since it’s a visual novel, most of what you’ll do centers around reading and selecting dialogue options. Pretty standard fare. However, you’ll also need to listen carefully to what each patient is saying so that you can pinpoint what sort of statements they’re making to better diagnose and aid each individual.

The further you progress, the more you can refine your sessions by choosing the Distortions most exhibited by each patient.

Not everything a client says will reflect some sort of problematic thinking, though. Sam has a power (or sixth sense) that alerts him to when a patient is saying something of particular importance. When these moments occur, Sam will get a pulsing red glow around him, indicating when an input needs to be made on which fallacy statement they’re making. There’s no real penalty for making an incorrect guess, as your mentor, Andromachos, will appear to you (more as a manifestation inside your mind) and will make observations to gently guide you back onto the right track. Aside from that, there are a few minigames , such as neck biting and meditation, but these are quite shallow and simplistic, and don’t add much to the experience.

If only I could tell where the veins are…

The art style in Vampire Therapist is wonderful. The characters are lovingly crafted and well-detailed, with plenty of different facial animations to further showcase the various emotions each vampire is experiencing. While there aren’t many locations, mostly just the therapy lounge, bar, and Sam’s coffin, the environments have so much intricate detail that they’re still interesting to look at.

The vocal performances in Vampire Therapist are wonderful. There some truly impressive voice talent in this game, such as Matthew Mercer, Francesca Meaux, Sarah Grayson, Kylie Clark, and the game’s creator, Cyrus Nemati, as our protagonist, Sam. Admittedly, the music department is a bit lacking, as you’ll mostly just hear some of the same industrial techno in the background. But seeing as how the therapist’s office is inside of a German nightclub (no, seriously), I suppose that’s to be expected.

No joke, I watched an entire episode of The Three Stooges here.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Vampire Therapist. Even though it wasn’t quite the bizarre comedy I thought it was going to be, it proved to be a delightful and thought-provoking time. I would like to take a moment to provide a word of caution though, as if you’re currently dealing with some more serious mental health issues, then this game might bring up some unpleasantness, especially if you haven’t dealt with things properly. That said, Vampire Therapist treats mental health issues with the utmost respect and is a surprisingly deep game that’s worth sinking your teeth into if this sort of thing interests you.

Vampire Therapist is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

A copy of Vampire Therapist was provided by the publisher.