Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong Review – A Sharp Narrative Bite

They secretly live among us as vampires. They own fast cars. They live in penthouses, Lord over us. These nightwalkers are extremely refined and will bite your wrists when you feed them, keeping you alive for the next meal. Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong explores the nightwalkers’ place in our world through a nicely designed narrative lens that embraces player choice in deep and satisfying ways.

Within the opening seconds of play, we learn that the vampires’ Boston Camarilla is on high alert; trouble arising moments after crowning a new prince to oversee their operations. You have to dig into the mysteries to discover who and what caused it. The next 20 hours will be filled with noteworthy discoveries.

Find clues, blood trails and other evidence to help you uncover gruesome crime scenes. You will also have to question intelligent individuals who will do anything to make your life easier. Many of these narrative beats are very rewarding with unexpected twists that leave you feeling like you actually helped solve the puzzles. It’s like being a skilled vampire using dark powers to achieve desired results.

The cryptic story is told through three distinct vampire characters, all at least 100 years old and each with their own perspectives on the society’s hierarchy. It flows smoothly between the three main characters. Some scenes allow them to explore their own worlds, while other situations unite them in the pursuit of the same goal.

EmemLouis is the most energetic leader. Emem Louis is a strong leader, able to visualize clues linked to all five senses and can easily control conversations. She also has the ability to quickly find hidden secrets that will lead her to deeper understandings. Leysha can also be fascinating, but she is soft-spoken as well as forgetful. Leysha is able to disguise herself or imitate other people in order to hide her presence when she investigates. Galeb Bakory is the weakest lead, struggling to make an impact due to his gruff personality and less dynamic scenario designs.  

Vampires, as they are known in video games and movies, can be monsters who use their supernatural powers and teeth to rip apart living creatures. This narrative RPG shows us a completely different aspect of vampire might. The three main characters solve the majority of their problems using conversations and deduction. Although they do still eat rats and humans to fuel their tanks, most of the gameplay is conversation-based. As wild and exciting as it sounds, getting into the head of a vampire is a great experience. The unique invitation only gets more exciting when you discover that vampires can prey on weak-minded people with their special gifts.

You can bring out the vampiric power of vampires with deep RPG systems that manipulate dialogue. You can choose which vampires have what abilities and you can increase or decrease these capabilities throughout the game. The vampires have the ability to use psychology, intimidation and persuasion to help the story move in new directions. However, this is only possible if they are skilled enough.

Success is not always automatic, even if you meet a certain skill level in a conversation. Talking to people (both vampiric and human) can make you look foolish. While you can use your willpower to improve your chances of success, your opponent has the ability to do the exact same. It is important to weigh your aggressiveness in these discussions, and pay attention to the real stakes or benefits. If your willpower runs out early on an investigation you may have to either play safe or search the surrounding environment for any consumables you might need. Vampiric power usage is an important part of character development. If you achieve success, you will receive additional skill points. This reward system is a great way to tie in with gameplay’s heart.

When both characters apply the same amount of skill – both delivering +3 in intimidation, for example – the success or failure of that narrative choice comes down to a dice roll. To determine whether you succeed, you actually watch a die roll across your dialogue box. This is a very intense moment and one that occurs quite often. It just goes to show how challenging and dynamic these conversations can be.

Big Bad Wolf Studio’s dialogue system is outstanding. I expect to see it used in future games by other developers. You are constantly rewarded by both the backend RPG system and the narrative script. They do a great job in giving life to each character.

Sometimes a seemingly normal conversation may become intense, and even escalate into a fight. These are known as confrontations. They force vampires to use all their talents to reach a set number of success. Every confrontation has its own win conditions. For example, “you cannot fail twice.” You don’t have to fail again; it just means that the story takes a different turn. Although I do not know the exact differences between each ending, I was able to see dramatic shifts in setting and flow when I replayed a few missions. Although there are many possible endings in the game, I am only able to speak about one.

They study crime scenes even when the vampires don’t speak. RPG abilities, like the ability to pick locks and use sophisticated electronic equipment, enhance these moments. Higher education and deductive skills help to make educated decisions. You also have unique character-specific abilities. Emem has the ability to teleport with a power called Celerity. Leysha uses her stealthy skills to uncover hidden areas where others are unable. Big Bad Wolf is a great game that doesn’t oversell solutions. It pushes players to look at documents and dissect evidence to uncover clues in hidden rooms. While the investigations are not as interesting as the conversation, they offer plenty of enjoyment when investigating blood-soaked crime scenes.

To replenish your hunger, you can feed on people (another way to control ability use). The feeding brings out the well-known vampire quality. However, it is at odds with investigative flow and feels awkward. And don’t expect to be dazzled by the visuals. While the visuals look great, most of the animations you see are very mechanical.

Swansong this year is the Forgotten City. It’s a compelling narrative adventure, and it rises no matter how many chances it has. Player choice is front and center, and it’s nice to see these decisions turn into little games that carry significant narrative weight. Rarely has a game allowed me to re-run a situation to correct bad choices as this one. Swansong will make you pay for any mistakes that you make and is an ideal game to have watercooler talks with those who’ve played it.