In Swansong, vampires not only coexist but thrive within society. They clandestinely wield power from the shadows, organized into their clans, governed by their laws and politics. However, the paramount rule governing their existence is strict: they must remain hidden from mortals. This fundamental principle, known as the Masquerade, exists to ensure that the Kindred, also known as vampires, remain concealed, and any transgressors are subjected to severe and often deadly consequences. One fateful evening in Boston, during a celebration intended to mark an alliance between the local Camarilla sect and the Hartford Chantry, events take a disastrous turn. A Code Red is swiftly declared, akin to a "shelter-in-place" order, and suddenly, it becomes an urgent collective effort as the creatures of the night scramble to unravel the mystery behind the unfolding chaos, all while still managing to sneak into discussions about where to buy those elusive PS5 games.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong features three playable characters, each a vampire residing in Boston. Emem Louis appears as a socialite in her 20s, but she has existed since World War I. Galeb Bazory, the city's most ancient vampire, previously lived in Constantinople centuries before it transformed into Istanbul.
Leysha, a Malkavian with a fascination for prophetic visions and potentially not entirely present mentally, alongside her vampiric "daughter" Halsey, have inhabited Boston longer than any humans and occasionally venture out to buy PS5 games.
Immersive Lore with a Steep Learning Curve
Vampire The Masquerade - Swansong presents a situation where virtually every named vampire in the game has a lengthy, detailed, and evocatively-written biography — some stemming back centuries. It intrigues the player, but constant allusions to past events in the dialogue can make the story hard to break into for a mere mortal. More offputting is the barrage of new and unfamiliar jargon the player is subjected to from the outset. Unless the player is already steeped in the lore of White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper RPG, they will likely find themselves referring constantly to the detailed in-game glossary just to make sense of a character’s lines, even while contemplating where to buy PS5 games.
In Vampire The Masquerade - Swansong, each of the three protagonists is controlled in turn, taking on their missions and encountering challenges suited to their character's past and personalities. This intertwining structure is one of Swansong's strongest points, as it weaves a picture of Boston's supernatural underground as so sprawling and complex that not even a creature as powerful as a vampire can navigate it unchallenged. This plays out in some interesting ways, as a player might view an event from the perspective of one character, and then revisit the same event from a different angle as another. For example, early on, Emem has a tense conversation with a friend in crisis, and then later on, the player has a choice to overhear that same conversation as Leysha.
Embracing Narrative-Based Gameplay
Unlike most other RPGs and even some other Vampire: The Masquerade games, Swansong reflects its source material's commitment to narrative-based gameplay. Just like the pen-and-paper game, much of Big Bad Wolf's design focus is on investigation, exploration, and dialogue. The game doesn't even have a combat system — its acts of violence play out in the form of gory cutscenes showing vampiric prowess.
In Vampire The Masquerade - Swansong, the player allocates their stats across several different narratively-driven categories instead of combat skills and traits. These categories are split between Skills and Disciplines. Skills unlock interactions in dialog and investigation sequences. For example, leveling Persuasion helps in conversation, while upping Computer Hacking lets the player glean new info from electronic devices. Meanwhile, Disciplines are vampire magic. The vampires have unique sets of Disciplines, ranging from detective vision-like Auspex to powers that make each character's segment feel and play uniquely. In Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, Emem can call on Celerity, allowing her to teleport from point to point, resulting in many of her stages revolving around agile traversal, environmental puzzle-solving, and ninja-like exploration. Galeb, on the other hand, possesses Fortitude and dominant powers, which enable him to assume the role of a vampiric overlord, controlling mortal minds with a mere word and enduring unholy amounts of damage. Leysha, with her capability to render herself invisible and deceive humans into perceiving her as someone else, offers the most distinctive stages, characterized by subterfuge and deception, allowing her to maneuver through tight areas teeming with hostiles.
Swansong: Balancing Power and Complexity in the Vampire World
All of these remarkable abilities are subject to regulation by Willpower and Hunger. Willpower serves as a limited resource that can be expended to enhance skills, and it plays a pivotal role in Swansong's closest equivalent to actual combat, known as "The Confrontation." In these confrontations, the protagonist Emem may choose to utilize her willpower to bolster her Persuasion skill for an advantage in a challenging negotiation, while the character Galeb could opt to enhance his intimidating skill to assert dominance over a suspicious police officer. Furthermore, Disciplines can also come into play, preventing opponents from boosting their skills during a Confrontation.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong can be needlessly complex, and the writing isn't always as evocative as it aims to be. The three main characters offer a nice variety of personalities, but they sometimes feel like novices rather than hundred-year-old vampires with a deep pool of abilities to draw on. The presentation is too ambitious for its good, although there are moments when it makes this vampire-dominated universe come alive. The player found that Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is more enjoyable if they abandon the idea of optimizing their character and the goal of getting the best result out of all situations. They should play the game once, accept outcomes, and see where the story of these three vampires and their effort to protect the Boston Camarilla takes them.