To do this you have to periodically sneak one of several designated humans into private spaces and suck as much blood as you can without killing them, which is yawn-inducingly simple to do. Unfortunately, this is far from the best.ĭespite the lack of fighting, you still need to sate your character’s bestial thirst – more specifically, you need to maintain their Discipline bar, which is like a mana bar that powers vampire abilities. This isn’t a death knell by any means, since the best RPGs can get by without the need for constant action. There’s no combat here whatsoever, just cutscenes where combat takes place in scripted displays of vampiric fighting prowess. There’s no shortage of supernatural violence in Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, but not in the way you’d normally expect for an RPG. Worldbuilding is certainly helped along by the lore-rich codex, if you take the time to read it, but even after spending significant time gaining an understanding of the vampire underworld the first few legs of the story are still rather uninspired and uninteresting until you’ve had sufficient time to shape it around your choices.
VAMPIRE COMBAT MUSIC FULL
All three characters have their own unique backstory related to where they sit on the Camarilla’s hierarchy, and at least they’re each decently voice-acted, but it’s still jarring to be dropped directly into each of their stories at full speed ahead without establishing the stakes of the vampire world that are so quickly threatened by the Second Inquisition.Īs a result, any emotional connection to be had with the cast of vampires only begins to form in the last quarter of Swansong’s 20-hour story – well after you’ve already made most of the decisions that would determine each character’s fate. Still, he isn’t all that relatable, and for a good chunk of time, most of the conversations feel like walking into a party where everyone talks to each other but no one talks to you. He’s the Camarilla’s point man (if you’re familiar with Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt, Galeb is the equivalent to that game’s Ventrue Enforcer class). None of the three playable characters – Leysha, Emem, or Galeb – really felt like an “in” for me, though I did enjoy Galeb’s general badassery. From the first scene, you’re barraged with jargon-rich dialogue spoken between characters who already know what’s going on – and who already have a history with one another – but don’t know you.
If you don’t already have an emotional investment in Vampire: The Masquerade’s world, Swansong does very little to pull you in. Hold on, I thought the whole titular Masquerade was about hiding the existence of vampires from the public for this exact reason? If he were a better villain, he’d tweet about them. In virtually every scene he shows up in, he spouts some euphemism about ending the vampire reign forever, and then he begins speaking Latin until he gets dramatically ferried off-screen.
Its villains are a generic group of heavily armed religious fanatics in police uniforms that unironically label themselves the “Second Inquisition.” And if that wasn’t enough to make your eyes roll, it’s headed by Stanford, a guy whose monologues are so predictable and one-sided that he fails to be seen as anything other than a cheesy cartoon villain. Instead, Swansong quickly positions you as the downtrodden, misunderstood hero of its grimdark underworld. It’s always a treat when you get to play the clear villain of a story. Things kick off as you step into a fancy pair of vampire shoes and head on down to the Camarilla, an upscale vampire court seated in the heart of Boston.
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