Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong
MSRP $49.99
“Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong is an intricate narrative adventure game that can be too dense for its own good at times.”
Pros
Long, wealthy story
Strong RPG hooks
Impactful selections
Cons
Dense with lingo
Low manufacturing worth
Flat characters
Have you ever had a dream the place you present as much as class in time for a take a look at that you just forgot to check for? That’s type of what it feels wish to play Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong if you happen to’re not already deeply conversant in the collection.
The narrative RPG from Big Bad Wolf Studio takes place within the World of Darkness, an expansive tabletop RPG universe stuffed with vampires and werewolves. The second gamers start the sport, they’re dropped right into a sprawling world stuffed with invented terminology, warring factions, and political conflicts that require a historical past e book to totally grasp. It’s all just a little overwhelming, however that’s precisely what makes the Vampire: The Masquerade collection such a ripe goal for a story-driven journey. There’s a number of blood in these veins.
Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong weaves a sprawling vampire drama by way of intelligent tabletop RPG techniques that go above and past your common narrative sport. It’s let down by low manufacturing values and dense writing although, taking some energy out of its chunk.
World of footnotes
If you’re not already a fan of the World of Darkness collection, be warned: Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong throws gamers proper into the deep finish. Within moments, I discovered myself proper in the course of a vampire battle being informed to me in an nearly international language.
Literacy isn’t non-compulsory and that makes the expertise much less approachable.
The story takes place in an alternate model of Boston that’s populated with vampire factions hiding from the world. When one of many sport’s factions, the Camarilla, is attacked, the group’s “Prince” sends three of her vampires out to analyze and discover out who’s accountable. It kicks off a protracted and winding 15-hour story that bounces between vampire sects, secret authorities businesses, non secular cults, and extra. It’s as dense as a season of The Wire, and far bloodier.
For newcomers, Swansong isn’t essentially the most inviting entry into the World of Darkness. When the sport begins, gamers will discover a glossary of their menu already stuffed with phrases, characters, factions, and extra. When an unfamiliar phrase pops up throughout dialogue, an on-screen immediate will direct gamers to its menu entry. Some of these definitions are populated with different phrases, which prompted me to get misplaced in a kind of footnote wormhole, as if I used to be studying a David Foster Wallace novel.
That’s all the time anticipated in a tabletop adaptation like this. RPGs like Vampire: The Masquerade have complete lore books, so you must all the time strategy such titles ready for a little bit of a language studying curve. It’s simply particularly sophisticated right here as a result of the dialogue is the sport. In one thing like Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodhunt, you don’t want to know something concerning the world to get pleasure from its battle royale gameplay. Considering that the principle hook right here is selecting dialogue choices, literacy isn’t non-compulsory and that makes the expertise much less approachable.
Though for RPG followers who already know the lingo (seemingly the sport’s major goal), that gained’t be a difficulty. Those gamers will likely be handled to a wealthy, albeit dryly written story that performs like a superb tabletop marketing campaign crafted by a professional sport grasp.
Tabletop speak
Whereas some narrative video games can really feel restricted of their interactivity, Swansong excels at turning exploration and dialog into compelling gameplay because of its tabletop roots. Players alternate between three completely different characters throughout the story, all of whom have their very own talent timber, stat sheets, and character-specific talents. For occasion, Emem can blink bounce to faraway platforms, whereas the pantsuit-wearing Leysha can flip invisible and remodel right into a doppelganger of NPCs.
Conversations are a core a part of the expertise and Big Bad Wolf makes positive they’re all the time participating. Players have two sources that play an important function in chats. Willpower factors are a restricted useful resource that may be spent to extend a participant’s odds of persuading somebody, or “winning” a dialog. On the opposite hand, actions like thoughts management enhance a participant’s “hunger” meter. If a vampire will get too hungry, they gained’t have the ability to carry out Dracula-like particular strikes except they lure an NPC to a protected zone and feed on them — although drain an excessive amount of blood and so they’ll die, completely elevating the world’s consciousness that vampires exist (which in flip makes negotiations more durable).
It’s an ingenious pair of techniques that makes each selection extra impactful. Since willpower is required for actions like hacking safes, I used to be continuously weighing whether or not or not every choice I made was definitely worth the sources. When I wasn’t cautious, the sport made me pay. In one sequence, I attempted to soundly extract somebody from a criminal offense scene with out cops noticing. Unfortunately, I hadn’t saved an eye fixed on my starvation meter as much as that time, which meant I couldn’t merely thoughts management officers into turning a blind eye. I had no selection however to go on a messy killing spree, ending the scene in a spectacular catastrophe.
Similarly, the sport ratchets up the stakes in “confrontations” the place gamers must win a disagreement (it’s the closest the sport will get to having fight and it’s a surprisingly tense substitute). Stats and expertise turn out to be particularly helpful right here, as dropping a battle can have a catastrophic affect on the story. Let’s simply say that a few of my characters didn’t fairly get a superbly buttoned-up ending as a consequence of some mismanagement on my half. By the top, I used to be already tempted to begin a brand new file and check out once more with some smarter builds.
Smart tabletop RPG mechanics make every dialog and choice really feel impactful.
The in-depth techniques assist pave over among the sport’s thinner items. Puzzles are usually just a little one-note, often revolving round gamers having to discover a quantity code to open a protected or a telephone. Exploration will get extra rewarding when gamers have the proper stats wanted to select a locked door or restore a damaged machine, however Swansong is just a little too cautious in ensuring gamers don’t miss out in the event that they don’t have the proper construct. On a number of events, I’d gleefully spend some willpower to hack right into a protected or break right into a door as a result of I had the proper specs. Moments later, I’d flip round and discover a code or a key not too far-off in the identical room. Moments like that made my cautious character builds really feel just a little arbitrary, with good stats solely saving 30 seconds of inconvenience right here and there.
Dry meal
While Swansong is flush with intelligent gameplay hooks, its general manufacturing worth makes it really feel like a half-empty blood bag at instances. I heard lots about Boston throughout my journey, however I didn’t get to see a lot of it. Missions happen in small, contained areas that don’t give a way of what the bigger world seems or looks like. Areas like a hospital stuffed with similar rooms or a detail-lacking dock don’t look a lot completely different from the Sopranos PS2 online game.
Maybe it’s the collection’ tabletop RPG origins speaking, however an excessive amount of feels left to the creativeness.
Characters can really feel equally flat as a consequence of some stilted online game writing, voice appearing, and animations that really feel a technology or two behind. I by no means actually acquired a way of who protagonists like Emem have been by the top of the day, as stiff physique language and dry line reads render many of the solid picket. Leysha is the one exception, although that’s because of her extra emotionally charged mother-daughter story that stands out among the many dry political lore.
There’s a basic imbalance on the subject of particulars. Big Bad Wolf has gone to nice lengths to flesh out its world by way of glossary definitions and exhaustive readables scattered all through the world, however that power isn’t actually mirrored in characters or areas. Maybe it’s the collection’ tabletop RPG origins speaking, however an excessive amount of feels left to the creativeness.
Despite its underwhelming technical points, I nonetheless discover myself impressed by the overall scale of Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong. It’s a prolonged narrative journey that’s desirous to discover as many aspects of the tabletop universe as it may well. That makes the general story really feel disjointed because it crams in as a lot lore as it may well, nevertheless it efficiently acquired me curious concerning the World of Darkness setting. Swansong might be a bloody good appetizer for RPG followers who need to persuade their tabletop get together to let their fangs out.
Our take
Clocking in at 15 hours, Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong is heftier than your common narrative-driven sport. It tells a sprawling story set within the World of Darkness that intricately weaves bits of lore and historical past collectively right into a dense vampire drama. To an outsider, its dry dialogue and in-the-weeds language could be a slog to trudge by way of, however good tabletop RPG mechanics make every dialog and choice really feel impactful. It simply winds up feeling just a little too formidable for its britches, as its “AA” technical limitations can’t fairly assist the wealthy image of a vampire-infested Boston it goals to color.
Is there a greater various?
Disco Elysium is the present king of the style. If you need one thing extra on the “AAA” aspect, Detroit: Become Human hits related beats with greater manufacturing worth.
How lengthy will it final?
My journey took round 15 hours and I missed a good quantity of aims and secrets and techniques throughout my playthrough. The sport has over 30 endings as properly, making it a a lot larger worth for completionists.
Should you purchase it?
No. Fans of the World of Darkness universe will eat this up, nevertheless it’s a little bit of a dense meal for many who aren’t already versed within the tabletop collection’ lore.
Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong was reviewed on PC through Epic Games Store.
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