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Vampire-themed games are few and far between, with the recent V Rising available in the genre. However, a decent chunk of them belong under the World of Darkness tabletop RPG umbrella, more specifically, Vampire: The Masquerade. The most renowned entry in the saga would be 2004’s Bloodlines. The now-defunct Troika Games-developed RPG is a cult classic and further games in the World of Darkness IP have since tried to capture the same success.
Nacon's Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is the latest in the franchise to try its hand at bringing the IP to modern audiences. Developed by Big Bad Wolf Studio (known for making The Council), it is a narrative-driven adventure game. It brings over many familiar aspects of the lore and compresses them into a tale that aims to deliver suspense and thrills. But is it a successful return to form, or is the iconic tabletop RPG franchise doomed to mediocrity?
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Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong combines RPG elements with cinematic flair
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Throughout the narrative of the game, players will control three vampires, each from a different Clan: Emem Louis, Galeb Bazory, and Leysha. All of them have unique personalities as well as views on a different matter of subjects concerning their situation. Emem embodies the artistic splendor of the Toreadors. Galeb's Ventrue background portrays his knack for order and law. Meanwhile, as a child of the mad Malkavian clan, Leysha is prone to prophetic visions. With a governing vampiric body called the Camarilla aiming to keep the secrets of the blood-sucking creatures hidden away from mortals, the trio must heed the calls of the newest Prince. After all, a new threat arises against the supernatural undead as their kin are slaughtered at a supposedly secure party, leading to a Code Red.
Yes, there's a lot to glean in the game for newcomers. Swansong is clearly a game aimed at World of Darkness fans. It's obvious with how unabashedly the game will info-dump terms and names. Although it does back it all up with an extensive Glossary that's brimming with details, that sort of approach may drive away some gamers. Regardless, to condense it all in one sentence: players will navigate levels, converse with NPCs and sleuth around for information while solving puzzles or utilizing their occult powers to overcome obstacles.
Set forth on an RPG adventure
In a nutshell, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong can be best described as a Telltale game with tabletop-inspired character sheets. Each character has their own agenda and outlook, and this is also represented by different skills called Disciplines. Each of them helps the character get more proficient with abilities like being able to Dominate foes or use Celerity to slow down time. However, these abilities have strictly specific uses, like Auspex allowing tracking via trails.
Each character also has a set of Attributes and Skills that can be invested in. The former consists of Physical, Social, and Mental. Meanwhile, the latter has several: for example, Dialogue-focused Persuasion or Rhetoric, Exploration-centric Technology and Security, and Knowledge-based Education and Deduction. But how does all of this come together?
A game of conversation, exploration and dice-rolls
Before digging into the minute intricacies of the numbers aspect of the game, let’s cover the more obvious basics. As Emem, Galeba, and Leysha, players will explore 3D environments in order to progress the story. With reports of other vampires of Boston being attacked under mysterious circumstances, they must seek the truth by essentially conducting investigations.
Two key mechanics to manage in Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong are Willpower and Hunger. The former is consumed after using certain Skills while the latter can build up due to certain events or using Disciplines. Hunger can be satiated by consuming the blood of a mortal Vessel. However, this must be done in a Safe Zone and care must be taken to not kill them (though the minigame is fairly easy).
Players can pick from several Profiles to set up certain sleuthing playstyles, but Free is the best option as it allows players to shape their character according to their preferences. Some characters have unique abilities, like Leysha being able to copy costumes of other people using her illusionary magic. But overall, the gameplay loop remains the same.
Each vampire in the game will spend their time running around, looking for clues, hacking computers, and persuading others. At times, performing certain actions or winning Deus Ex: Human Revolution-style debates will grant temporary buffs to the player. They may also equip items and use consumables to aid in their endeavors. Although it's not a bad loop, there's nothing particularly exciting either, especially since it can get a bit dull. Now let’s move on to the good.
The Narrative - A premonition of hope
The narrative is probably the most interesting aspect of Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong. With Hazel, the new Camarilla Prince of Boston on the throne, something sinister is brewing in the background, starting with a shootout. With Hartford Chantry, a group of warlocks allegedly at the center of this conspiracy, the trio of vampires must deduce the true culprit.
Levels are intricately detailed, especially later ones even though they're mostly empty dioramas with static NPCs. At least some of these characters have a semblance of a personality. The playable vampires themselves are interesting, with my favorite being Leysha and her adorable little daughter. Others like the annoying Dajan, cool-natured Hilda, and haughty Berel spice up the cast. Players will also come across various puzzles to solve, like finding codes for locked cases or solving riddles.
Another appealing aspect is the various permutations. There are many choices to make, each with its own set of consequences and story flow. For example, do players help a friend escape the circumstances, risk being a fugitive or take them back to the Prince? The ending of each scenario shows how the vampires performed, what alternative paths could be taken, any failure states that were encountered and grants XP to spend on traits and Disciplines accordingly.
There are also multiple endings depending on which characters are sided with and which ones survive. The development team certainly made the world as interesting as they could, even though the game unfortunately falters in many ways.
Gameplay - Taking an undercooked bite
For all it gets right, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is riddled with baffling design decisions. For starters, the first area is pretty boring and does a poor job of introducing the setting, mechanics, and situation. Players will be suddenly thrust into the midst of it all with newly introduced characters arguing over things that have happened or are happening in the background with not much clarified until a chapter or two later - which really brings in a sense of disconnect.
Additionally, there's the fact that most conversations will lead to failure as the NPCs the vampires will be pitted against have relatively high stats. The RNG nature of the dice roll when a Tie occurs can swing either way and opponents may also Focus (temporarily boosting points in a trait during conversation to gain the upper hand) to increase their own effectiveness. Overall it’s hard not to feel weak despite being a badass vampire with supernatural abilities. To make matters worse, consumables that quench Hunger or restore Willpower are rare in the game, and those that can be found only restore a small amount.
Also, since the game does not allow investing in abilities during gameplay, players must do so at the start of each scenario. The downside here is that it's hard to guess which skills would be needed. On another note, cutscenes are unskippable, and even on replays they can only be fast-forwarded through. Meanwhile, while the writing isn’t bad, it’s not exciting either - it just gets the job done.
Some of the puzzle designs can be particularly confusing, and not in a good way. One of the initial code puzzles had me walking around the room, looking at the nearby point of interest that looked like a riddle. But it turned out that the real solution was in an adjacent room. Lack of a map can also lead to confusion, bumping into static doors to try to get through and explore is the only way.
Visuals, performance, and audio
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is an Unreal Engine 4 game. It presents an appealing artstyle emboldened by the lighting and post-processing that Epic Games' engine is known for. Unfortunately, besides the detailed environments and character models, there's not much praise to offer here. Lip sync can often be all over the place and animations can be fairly stiff too. Facial animation, in particular, sticks out like a sore thumb with characters showing minimal expressions on their dead (or rather undead) faces.
As for performance, the game runs with 40-60 FPS at 1080p Medium preset (with resolution scaling set at max, i.e., native resolution). The game was played on PC with the following specs:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8300H @3.9 GHz
- RAM: 8 GB DDR4 @2666 MHz
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4 GB
- Storage: 500 GB NVMe SSD
Thankfully, there are no technical issues to report; the game sails along smoothly. The soundtrack is pretty decent too, with background ambient tracks fitting the gloomy vibe of the game like a glove.
Conclusion
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is an appreciable attempt at re-reviving the underrated RPG series into a modern video game format. While Big Bad Wolf's latest project has all the hallmarks of a promising adventure, a plethora of issues plague the experience. From poor animation-work and badly designed/balanced mechanics to slow pacing and dull writing, there's little room here for Swansong to spread its leathery wings for flight. What we're left with is an awkward lift-off that falls flat on its face more often than not, despite a gleefully gripping showcase of successful elements like the narrative and lore.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
Reviewed on: PC (review code provided by publisher)
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, XB1, XSX|S, Nintendo Switch
Developer(s): Big Bad Wolf Studio
Publishers(s): Nacon
Release date: May 19, 2022
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