Bithell Games announces Vampirium: 1997, an immersive sim where Dracula rules England and you do his dirty work

Bithell Games — the studio behind Thomas Was Alone, John Wick Hex, and Tron: Catalyst — has announced Vampirium: 1997, a point-and-click immersive sim set in an alternate 1990s England where Dracula sits on the throne. The game is heading to Steam Early Access at an unannounced date, with a full release expected roughly two years later.

You play as a descendant of Dracula's empire, sent to assassinate his enemies across a series of replayable levels. The top-down, blueprint-style perspective shows building layouts and enemy positions as dots; interacting with a room or object opens a window of contextual choices — cut the lights, hypnotise a guard, or just pull out a silver katana and start swinging. Time management is a core mechanic, with a clock in the corner tracking the cost of every action. Completing a level the first time unlocks additional tasks, and XP earned between runs lets you tailor your vampiric powers. The full release will add several new levels, new objects and powers, and raise the level cap. Mike Bithell himself narrated an eight-minute gameplay walkthrough showing a mission to eliminate a target named Zsombor — butler and all. He also confirmed on Bluesky that the game is already Steam Deck compatible with hardware-specific settings and runs at 60fps, and that he developed it on his Mac, suggesting the team is very small — possibly just Bithell alone.

Bithell Games has had a rough couple of years. The studio was forced to lay off most of its full-time staff last August after failing to secure a larger-scale follow-up project to Tron: Catalyst, which itself launched in June 2025 and reviewed well. Vampirium: 1997 looks like a deliberate pivot to something leaner — a mechanically dense immersive sim stripped to its essentials rather than a big-budget production. The John Wick Hex comparison is apt: Bithell has form with cerebral, systems-driven games that reward careful thinking over reflex. Notably, John Wick Hex was delisted in 2025. To build atmosphere ahead of launch, the studio released a companion novella called The Last Portrait — eight chapters following an artist commissioned to paint England's monstrous new king.

No release date is set yet, but the Steam page is live for wishlisting. Given the Early Access roadmap promises new locations, characters, and powers over the two-year run, how much content ships at launch remains to be seen.