Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong Review

Vampires take up a commonplace fixture in our minds, fiction, and popular culture. They’re nearly as huge as zombies by way of what number of totally different genres use them as our mortal enemies. But whereas zombies are good cannon fodder for video games, a very good vampire expertise is way more elusive.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong hopes to alter this by combining a very good story, some likeable RPG parts, and by placing you within the footwear of three totally different vampires to play with. There may be even a blood-sucking mini-game in the midst of it. What’s to not like?

I liked the developer Massive Unhealthy Wolf’s final sport, the episodical story of The Council. It blended fantasy with precise historic figures fantastically and had a really distinctive visible fashion and dynamic RPG gameplay. And immediately, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong feels very acquainted by way of the menus and the seems to be of the sport, nevertheless I feel I might need loved it extra had it gone again to these episodic roots, as a result of there’s a hell of plenty of storytelling available right here and the exposition generally will get in the way in which of a very good thriller; the guts of the sport. 

The story is about in the identical universe because the 2004 sport Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, however you don’t have to have performed that sport to take pleasure in this one. Swansong is about in a Boston Vampire courtroom, like a kind of protected home for bloodsuckers. The place is run by a personality known as The Prince and she or he duties three of her sort on a kind of detective journey to seek out some solutions. The three vampires are the characters you get to play as: Galeb, Enem, and Leysha, every of whom have totally different expertise and talents to play with. Galeb is just like the the Aristocracy of the vampire sect with loyalty to the hierarchy of the system and the notion of what’s proper and flawed. Enem is extra of an outcast insurgent who questions the authority and the entire construction of the vampire order. Leysha – and her daughter – have had issues and we find out about her psychological well-being, haunted by premonitions of what could be to return. It’s an excellent a part of the sport, transferring between these three totally different personalities and seeing the marketing campaign and story by their eyes. 

The storytelling is stuffed with deep lore, sophisticated politics, relationship dynamics, and points that may seize you in from the start – no less than they did for me. Others would possibly discover the pacing an issue and if you’re not a fan of the narrative then you definitely might need a serious difficulty right here. The story is a protracted one, round twenty hours or so, and can take you on a deep journey by darkness, homicide, and intrigue. You should have necessary crossroad selections to make that have an effect on the end result of the narrative and that is employed very effectively certainly. 

Gameplay places the deal with exploration, dialogue bushes, and utilizing your particular talents to form the course of the sport. In your display within the left-hand nook, you may have two stats that are the ability factors, alongside together with your bloodlust gauge. When this begins to flash you actually need to feed on some people quick. This may be executed in Vampire protected areas the place there are some keen human blood baggage wandering round; lure them into a cushty protected space after which the biting begins. What happens now could be a kind of mini-game wherein you need to ensure you get sufficient blood from the sufferer with out killing them, but additionally get sufficient so that you don’t starve. It’s a tough stability. 

Exploration is participating and is all within the third particular person. You stroll round totally different places on this world, interacting with gadgets and items of lore, gathering clues that can assist you in your quests. You find yourself chatting to folks – so much – to be able to get info or persuade a fellow vampire to do your bidding. This generally ends in a bit known as ‘Confrontations’, supplying you with a number of probabilities (three largely) to get the correct info within the dialogue choices you select to get the specified info or end result. Your ability tree upgrading selections will help you on this little sport. 

Every of the three vampires has ability bushes which embody Intimidation, Psychology, Persuasion, and rhetoric. The way you focus every character on this ability tree is as much as you and what you need to strive. The extra you add factors, the extra dialogue choices will open up, furthering the talents you possibly can unlock like hacking computer systems or understanding sure lore for clues. It may appear a bit overwhelming and convoluted at first, however I feel it’s a system that’s attention-grabbing and creative. 

The visible design of Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is one with some nice highlights – specifically the facial animation – together with some good set design in its location. The menus are effectively introduced, clear and concise, though I’ve discovered some clipping in-game, right here and there in terms of the advanced decorations of a few of the characters. A couple of characters don’t really feel proper of their design both; overly fussy. The soundtrack is excellent although, as are all of the voice-over actors who deliver the characters to life. 

Personally, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong may effectively have executed with utilising The Council’s episodic nature, giving gamers the possibility to dive into the sport each few months or so. You see, this story is sort of an in-depth expertise, nevertheless it does often really feel like one thing is lacking, needing a recap. Nonetheless, while you’re totally immersed, the narrative, characters and detective thriller nature of it work effectively. The ability bushes are a very good system too, as are the exploration/puzzle components of the sport. That mentioned, the blood-biting isn’t one thing I notably cared for and will have executed with out. 

In case you are after one thing action-based then I don’t assume that is the sport for you, but these in search of an unique story-based, totally realised, world with a great deal of vampires ought to get taking part in Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong. 

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is on the market on the Xbox Retailer