Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong

Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is an RPG set in the universe of the World of Darkness, and more precisely - in the realities of the tabletop system Vampire: The Masquerade. It was developed by the Big Bad Wolf studio, known for the warmly welcomed The Council, and it was published by Nacon.

Plot

In Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong we go to Boston. In the era of widespread conspiracies, murders and power struggles among vampires, a new ruler - Hazel Iversen called Swansong - led the local Camarilla faction. She dreams of ensuring the safety of all the vampires in the northeastern United States and strengthening the relations with Tremere Chantry (the stronghold of the faction) in Hartford. However, a banquet organized by her, which was supposed to be a new opening in the history of Camarilla, ended with a real slaughter by an uninvited guest.

The main characters of the game are three vampires from different clans: Galeb from the Ventrue clan, Emem from the Toreador clan and Leysha from the Malkavian clan. The vampires decide to investigate the shooting and find out who was behind the attack. In this way, the protagonists get involved in an intrigue of a much larger caliber, and its course will depend on what choices they make.

Game mechanics

In Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong we start by filling up the character cards, adjusting their social and combat skills. Decisions made at this stage will influence available dialogue options and possibilities of solving particular problems by characters.

We control alternately each of the three vampires. The pillar of the game are investigations, which we carry out by exploring the game world, collecting evidence, as well as talking to characters and building relationships with them. In addition, we often have to use vampire abilities of each of the characters. We have to be careful not to violate the Masquerade, and thus not to reveal our true nature in front of humans. As we progress, we develop our character's stats and extend the range of their skills (including more standard ones, such as opening locks with a lock pick or hacking). In addition, we often have to make decisions whose consequences shape the further fate of not only the protagonists, but also the whole Boston Camarilla.

Technical aspects

Graphics in Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong looks rather average. It is in the dark style typical for the universe of the World of Darkness.

Last updated on 25 May 2023