Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong

 PC
User Score
3.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 79 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 79
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 79
  3. Negative: 54 out of 79

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  1. x6po6go6x
    May 21, 2022
    0
    Extremely disappointing. I love Vampire The Masquerade and I was so excited to play this game, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my hopes and expectations at all. It is simply bad. The voice acting is terrible, the graphics are dated, the story is disjointed and boring, and there's no combat whatsoever. To be clear I am ok with the lack of combat if the story is interesting andExtremely disappointing. I love Vampire The Masquerade and I was so excited to play this game, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my hopes and expectations at all. It is simply bad. The voice acting is terrible, the graphics are dated, the story is disjointed and boring, and there's no combat whatsoever. To be clear I am ok with the lack of combat if the story is interesting and engaging. Disco Elysium is probably my favorite game from the last 10 years. But that game had an amazing story with meaningful decisions to be made. Disco Elysium kept you on your toes from beginning to end. That is not the case here. Anyway as if the game-play and story weren't bad enough, then you have to deal with all the force fed SJW BS on top of that. It's truly awful.… Expand
  2. Kharador
    May 20, 2022
    0
    Another SJW (woke) propaganda game. Script is awful, facial animations are terrible and the characters are empty and inexpressive. Pure clichés and poor execution. Run away from this game.
  3. 845JJB
    May 26, 2022
    0
    There is no way to justify this game as a full priced game, the graphics and art style look completely terribly, the voice acting is extremely inconsistent, the "gameplay" is one dimensional, and the story is not engaging at all.
    Starting with the graphics and art style, the characters look awful, making it obvious the game development was rushed to a point that the visual quality    There is no way to justify this game as a full priced game, the graphics and art style look completely terribly, the voice acting is extremely inconsistent, the "gameplay" is one dimensional, and the story is not engaging at all.
    Starting with the graphics and art style, the characters look awful, making it obvious the game development was rushed to a point that the visual quality suffered immensely. For a game with such little game mechanics, for a completely story driven game, you would think the developers would emphasize facial expressions and emotes as a way to help with player immersion, this game does quite The opposite. The characters are as still as a board, while talking a character only moves their lower jaw and occasionally blinks, there is minimal body movement, you would think a narrative game would put effort into implementing body language ques for players to pick up on but there is none of that here. Ultimately when it comes to visuals its just a complete letdown, setting aside the lack of visual cues, emotes, and lack of motion, the biggest disappointment is the characters faces. No way around it, the characters look terrible, the characters would be passable if the game was an early release for the Xbox 360.
    Moving on to the voice acting, I rarely ever find myself be critical of voice acting in games because its usually doesn't detract from the game, but its hard to ignore in this game because of how much the game relies on it and just how bad it is. I'd never admonish a game for not heiring high profile voice actors, but it seemed like the voice acting was just completely sub par. I found myself looking away from the screen during a dialogue scene and couldn't which character was speaking. Characters voices would change depending on the response they gave, and not in a way that seemed intentional at all. The entire game revolves around dialogue and a narrative story, so its again quite disappointing that such little care was given to something that could make or break a game like this.
    Because of the disappointing visuals and inconsistent vocals, you would think this is where the game would make up for it, but no... the game mechanics are just as one dimensional. You have limited speech options, QTE minigames that are accompanied by drawn out repetitive cutscenes, and a very limited "open world" to explore. If you were looking for more about the gameplay from this review, sadly that's all you are going to get... there just isn't much to review.
    The story isn't going to appeal to a large audience, the style was more akin to the CW writing than WoD, so never mind the snarky reviews that accuse players of not understanding the game. The story revolves around an event that ruined someone's party, not really something that seems at all relevant to VtM lore. The player starts out not knowing what transpired, which presumably was designed to peak our interest, but ultimately only does the opposite and promote nothing but indifference. The game makes a big deal about exploring the world and finding information that can help move the story along, but even then it just seems so linear.
    All in all, hard to justify the price tag for VtM: Swansong, Swansong is a full priced game costing 60$, The game is a failed attempt to replicate Telltale with episodes that cost about 15$ each, a 15$ price tag is a lot more realistic for Swansong and in my personal opinion still a major overpay.    … Expand
  4. PresCthulhu
    May 23, 2022
    0
    I have no issues with perceived SJW problems, I don't care if most of the cast is female.

    What I do care about however is still very bad. I was enthusiastic about this one as I am an avid WoD fan. I play the TTG and did play with everything that was available on PC before. I can see how people who have no prior knowledge of the lore could find it extremely confusing, to me this was not    I have no issues with perceived SJW problems, I don't care if most of the cast is female.

    What I do care about however is still very bad. I was enthusiastic about this one as I am an avid WoD fan. I play the TTG and did play with everything that was available on PC before. I can see how people who have no prior knowledge of the lore could find it extremely confusing, to me this was not an issue either. Furthermore I love political intrigue, story driven games, a good mystery and I do not mind fixed characters.

    Why is it still 0 then? I usually don't fling it around, but I think this game is an absolute disgrace to the franchise. It had only ONE job to fulfil and it is worse than many indie entries I seen in decades. First off if you make a game based on social interaction you absolutely cannot make the characters ridiculously animated and portrayed. It takes away from the whole experience. If I say the graphics is a decade old I think I understated it. It looks something from the previous century. Now if it would have been done stylistically it could be forgiven, but unfortunately it is comically bad which takes a lot away from said ONE job it is supposed to do.

    Second the voice acting is passable at best, some important characters have very bad voice actors unfortunately. It doesn't help that the writing of the dialogues are mediocre at best.

    It's a shame and I think entries like this are a plague to the already suffering franchise. I know many people potentially put a lot of effort into this one and I feel sorry for all of them as this is not even a polished garbage in the end, but a harmful unpolished one. Whoever was responsible for this product to be released like this should be deeply ashamed.    … Expand
  5. Miruna1998
    May 29, 2022
    0
    This game is truly awful. It has the worst graphics I have ever seen, an easily predictible and poorly written story, uninteresting characters and boring gameplay. It's not worth even half the price.
  6. VrrKdor
    May 24, 2022
    0
    The game looks awful. Game mechanics and graphics are mediocre but the most destacable is the character design, that is deplorable. The script seems developed from a napkin and game becomes boring, the only character that holds up a bit is Galeb. The discussion mechanic is the worst I've seen in the series and the SJW level is high.
    Also, I found bugs. Victoria Ash DLC caused my entire 2    The game looks awful. Game mechanics and graphics are mediocre but the most destacable is the character design, that is deplorable. The script seems developed from a napkin and game becomes boring, the only character that holds up a bit is Galeb. The discussion mechanic is the worst I've seen in the series and the SJW level is high.
    Also, I found bugs. Victoria Ash DLC caused my entire 2 hour game reset and I really don't understad why, because the content of the dlc it's poor.
    This is not what the fans deserve. If I could take a refund I would take it.    … Expand
  7. gd42
    Jun 12, 2022
    3
    The the developers went out their way to annoy players.
    This game does not respects your time, and it seems some decisions were made purely to annoy players.
    You can't save, can't reload, can't skip dialogue (so you are forced to listen to the godawful voiceover). if you missed something or accidentally clicked on the wrong answer, your only choice is to replay the whole (multiple    The the developers went out their way to annoy players.
    This game does not respects your time, and it seems some decisions were made purely to annoy players.

    You can't save, can't reload, can't skip dialogue (so you are forced to listen to the godawful voiceover).

    if you missed something or accidentally clicked on the wrong answer, your only choice is to replay the whole (multiple hours long) chapter.

    The game has the most unnecessary inventory system, which only makes sense if you use a walktrough and know in advance what kind of event/cutscene/confrontation comes next - since you can't access the inventory during the those and most of the items are single use.

    There is a puzzle where you have to turn multiple discs. I bet that not a single developer or QA tester played this title on PC, because with a mouse it takes extremely long time to make a full rotation, which you have to do several times...

    The XP system is also very unnecessary, you have like 5 occasions to blindly distribute some points before each character's chapter.

    The plot seemed okay until it became too annoying. (I quit in chapter 5). This game could have been "Detroit: Become Human lite", because the gameplay is very similar, but the annoyances get in the way of any enjoyment.    … Expand
  8. GVB
    May 26, 2022
    1
    The game has a few problems: graphic issues, a poor developed narrative and an interesting but not very well implemented RPG system.

    Normally, that would be a 3 or maybe a 4, but i think that: 1) the game is sexist (in our world there are, more or less, 50% women - 50% men, but here 9/10 are women and, while all women are powerful and brilliant persons, most men are servants, blood bags    The game has a few problems: graphic issues, a poor developed narrative and an interesting but not very well implemented RPG system.

    Normally, that would be a 3 or maybe a 4, but i think that: 1) the game is sexist (in our world there are, more or less, 50% women - 50% men, but here 9/10 are women and, while all women are powerful and brilliant persons, most men are servants, blood bags or really, really hateful characters), 2) everyone looks weird (and no, thats not a "VtM thing") and 3) altough it's necessary to be more inclusive in videogames, it feels really forced and overdone here (more than a secret "high society" of Boston, it looks like a session of the United Nations, and that has no sense in this context).

    At least, two of the MC (Galeb and specially Leysha), are tridimensional and complex characters.

    So, if you, like me, are fan of the Vampire the Masquerade universe, and you have already played Bloodlines, try "Shadows of New York" (a fantastic Visual Novel) and two RPG text-adventures much better than this one: "Vampire Night Road" and "Vampire Sins of the Sires".    … Expand
  9. Beast1549
    May 26, 2022
    0
    Нет графики. Нет геймплея. Нет сюжета. Но повестки больше чем эта игра весит.
  10. SeriousGameFan
    May 20, 2022
    0
    Not a very captivating or engaging game. Unless you already are immerse in the lore of VTM, this is gonna be a slog of a game. I don't care about sjw politics or agenda; it doesn't bother me -- I just like good games. To immediately throw around terms like sjw really deflects from the low quality character designs in this game. It's as if the devs plugged in the characters in a randomNot a very captivating or engaging game. Unless you already are immerse in the lore of VTM, this is gonna be a slog of a game. I don't care about sjw politics or agenda; it doesn't bother me -- I just like good games. To immediately throw around terms like sjw really deflects from the low quality character designs in this game. It's as if the devs plugged in the characters in a random generator and said, "good enough". They have random blotches, or are just plain hideous looking. I mean, some of the nosferato or warlocks look better than some "human" characters. To top it all off, they all have wooden expressions and facial animations. Galeb is the only decent-looking character.

    Want to make a game people want to play? Have some decent looking character designs. If you don't, then they better have some good personality to win people over. This game doesn't have any of it. And I know the dev can do it, since they made their previous game, The Council, have a decent looking characters (female characters, at least).

    Now onto the story itself -- it's starts off with a boring investigation about a Code Red that goes off during a Unification party. I don't understand the stakes at hand here, so I don't really care. This is why it's so hard to get into this text-heavy game. Doesn't engage the player at all. There's a lot of politicking going on between factions, but you don't really care about any of it.

    There's also a lot of dumb things in this game that needed to be cut. The first time you suck someone's blood, you've seen it already. I don't need to view the same scene again every time I drink blood, and to play that mini-game that isn't a challenge. It's such a waste of time. Janky controls add to the frustration.

    Also, the publisher Nacon is very greedy. If you want to buy the PS4 version, you don't get the PS5 upgrade for free. If you buy PS4, there is no free upgrade which is now normalized, or even an upgrade path. You gotta buy the entire PS5 version. They have a "special" edition, called Primogen edition, that you need to buy if you want BOTH PS4 & PS5 versions. Honestly, the quality of this game is so poor, they really need to be giving out free or discount copies as much as they can. At least they can probably get some word-of-mouth out of it.    … Expand
  11. Sbiritou
    May 28, 2022
    1
    Even if you sailed the high seas to try this "game", you already paid too much. When you think that you've seen the bottom of the world of darkness franchise but they keep digging deeper. A disgrace to titles such as Bloodlines and Redemption.
  12. ventrueBlood
    May 23, 2022
    0
    I can forgive the janky facial animations and old school monkey island style puzzles, but the dialogue is terrible and the story is so weak for a vampire game. I'm a long time Vampire player but really enjoy the 5th edition and had really high hopes for this game. I'm not sure what happened here, but a vampire game has to get the writing right in the plot and the dialogue and this oneI can forgive the janky facial animations and old school monkey island style puzzles, but the dialogue is terrible and the story is so weak for a vampire game. I'm a long time Vampire player but really enjoy the 5th edition and had really high hopes for this game. I'm not sure what happened here, but a vampire game has to get the writing right in the plot and the dialogue and this one failed at every turn. I'd recommend picking up The Council and skipping this one.… Expand
  13. Syrona7
    May 22, 2022
    0
    This game is a cringy SJW fest. It appears that men are almost extinct in this universe. There are 10 female characters for every male character.
  14. Nines88
    May 20, 2022
    3
    I've been playing this game for about 5 hours now and I feel about ready to give my initial thoughts. Lets get all the bad things out of the way first.

    Facial animations, oh boy. Granted everything is handled in engine, but this gives me major Mass Effect Andromeda vibes if not worse. Dead eyes, facial expressions that don't convey whats going on at all, it's terrible. Some of the walk    I've been playing this game for about 5 hours now and I feel about ready to give my initial thoughts. Lets get all the bad things out of the way first.

    Facial animations, oh boy. Granted everything is handled in engine, but this gives me major Mass Effect Andromeda vibes if not worse. Dead eyes, facial expressions that don't convey whats going on at all, it's terrible. Some of the walk animations also makes it seem like the character had an accident in their pants.

    Voice acting, goes from alright to terrible quite often. The worst example is definitely Halsey who's being portrayed by an adult who is seemingly doing their best to have the most annoying voice as possible. Another example of poor voice acting/direction is an early argument between Emem and Dajan, it's just not believable at all, Dajan is especially poor, all though the writing does not help the actor. The overall script can be fine, all though the exposition can be pretty hamfisted in a clumsy way at times, and other at times conflict and argument seems forced to drive the overall narrative forward. Characters minor and big arrive at conclusions not because it makes sense, but because the narrative needs it. Overall bloodlines from 2004 had way better voice acting and probably a smaller budget.

    Seem people have also claimed this game is "SJW Propoganda" and I usually don't fall in line with stuff like that, usually it's overblown and childish. This game though, I can kinda see it. I love representation and applaud it if it feels organic and not forced. This game though feels like it's made from a spreadsheet of must haves, it seems if you take every character in the game and counted them, there would be EXACTLY 50/50 divide of male to female. Yet when you arrive at the Tremere chantry they are all black for whatever reason, that doesn't bother as much other than it seems odd. There is also a very in your face lesbian sex scene based of a memory of when Emem was sired by Hilda, which if it just felt organic rather than "look how god damn progressive we are! we're the first video game to have an explicit gay sex scene!!!" I'd be more fine with that. It just comes at an odd time, seems out of place, so all these little things because of how inorganic they feel takes me out of the narrative which isn't that engaging to begin with.

    Another minor beef I have with the game is that it does not feel especially gothic and the humor from previous titles just isn't there so far.

    Let's go to the things I like. I like the designs of the main characters, they had the most attention done to them clearly. I'm a big fan of the setting, which will probably help me slug through the rest of the game, since I'm starved for new world of darkness games. Leysha is a very interesting character, just a shame a main plot point of hers seem to be that annoying daughter character. Emem also fits the toreador stereotype and I like her a lot. I however haven't made up my mind yet about the game systems, but they seem interesting and to offer a certain amount of replayability. Yet right now I mostly seem locked out of most things.

    Also game, why do you have a skip button/feature if it never works?

    I can't recommend this game, it doesn't strike me as something that was made with vision and passion, many aspects seem forced. It's not very pretty and so far the script is mostly poor. Unless you love the setting like me and are starved for games that take place in it, stay away.    … Expand
  15. OrionMoran
    May 27, 2022
    0
    Слишком претенциозно. Повесточку завезли, а все остальное забыли.
  16. Griff64
    May 30, 2022
    0
    Made an account on Metacritic *just* to vent about how bad this game is. If it was on Steam I wouldn't have to.

    I'm a fan of VtMB, have been since the 90s (aka, longer than most of the little racists in the comments have been alive, much less played video games, much-much less knowing what the **** VtM is). As such, I am familiar with the franchise. This game has a lot of potential,    Made an account on Metacritic *just* to vent about how bad this game is. If it was on Steam I wouldn't have to.

    I'm a fan of VtMB, have been since the 90s (aka, longer than most of the little racists in the comments have been alive, much less played video games, much-much less knowing what the **** VtM is). As such, I am familiar with the franchise.

    This game has a lot of potential, but it's squandered by bafflingly terrible execution. I'm saying this as someone who's read hundreds upon hundreds of pages of spilled ink about this series. I'M the target demographic, the game is ****

    1) The writing is so-so. It's not bad, not altogether "predictable", or whatever excuses the other commenters have. It's unambitious, safe, and bland. Nothing inherently interesting or surprising. The game also avoids the campiness, edginess, and weirdness that the setting is known for, so you can't even enjoy it in a "turn your brain off" sort of way like Blood Hunt. And if you're writing is weaker than the BR VtM game they shat out a month ago, you're not doing well.

    2) The facial rigs are awkward, and the modelling is clearly done by a team with differing skills, styles, and experience. That said, even the best modellers and riggers on staff are not up to par. Very awkward.

    3) The voice acting is bland or terrible. This is the fault of the voice coach. Not only that, but they consistently mispronounce common terms in VtM. Y'know, a term heavy game that's only going to be played by fans. If the company had a recording studio where the staff could deliver lines in person (likely not done this way because of Covid-19), then perhaps the dialogue wouldn't be delivered in such a weird and stilted away. Tone, expression, and intonation are all over the map, even for certain actors from sentence-to-sentence.

    4) The gameplay is right and truly ****ed. Puzzles and conversation battles end without any signaling to the player. You will often fail and there's nothing you can do about it. There isn't strategy or learning the system. Developing certain talents doesn't pay off in any appreciable way. You need to play the game twice to "game" it by picking the right traits, skills, and disciplines, even then you will fail most of the time. I suspect the dice math is off, as this is a complaint just about everyone is making.    … Expand
  17. kainous
    Jun 18, 2022
    0
    Bad writing, bad voice acting, janky face animations, no saving/reloading, and no skipping dialog. I can't find a single thing I like about this game.
  18. fatabil1ty
    May 22, 2022
    0
    Not only this "game" was released exclusively on EGS where you conveniently avoid visible criticism, it's also full price that looks like a cross between modded Sims and some one man indie with early access No, it's even worse as games like Bright Memory exist. Some might say the visual aspect isn't that important as in this game you spend most of the time waling, talking and readingNot only this "game" was released exclusively on EGS where you conveniently avoid visible criticism, it's also full price that looks like a cross between modded Sims and some one man indie with early access No, it's even worse as games like Bright Memory exist. Some might say the visual aspect isn't that important as in this game you spend most of the time waling, talking and reading dialogues but when you have to look at ridiculously bad character design and amateurish facial animations 90% of the time, something is wrong there. Do yourself a favor read a book instead. As a whole it's a clear example how a game would look like if made by a woke person with no talent and when SJW agenda is more important than actual polish and game quality.

    It would be dead on arrival on Steam but on EGS, paired with some trash DLC's it has a slight chance to make at least even and fool clueless people because of the sheer license, legendary Bloodlines from 2004 and even canceled Bloodlines 2 which some people still waiting for.    … Expand
  19. GreenField
    May 23, 2022
    0
    I love V5 and was really looking forward to this game. But it’s a complete disaster. The writing is so infantile I’m surprised anyone from the books was involved. Especially Matthew Dawkins, so I can only assume all of his content was cut or maybe only in the PDF. Though that was also disappointing given its poor layout. Barely a hundred words per page swim in an ocean of messy graphicsI love V5 and was really looking forward to this game. But it’s a complete disaster. The writing is so infantile I’m surprised anyone from the books was involved. Especially Matthew Dawkins, so I can only assume all of his content was cut or maybe only in the PDF. Though that was also disappointing given its poor layout. Barely a hundred words per page swim in an ocean of messy graphics with nearly zero useable ttrpg content. Also the depiction of Malkavians as mentally broken is very off note and depressing. Coupled with the D tier graphics and game breaking bugs. I wish I’d given it a pass.… Expand
  20. Fanchylul
    May 30, 2022
    3
    Какой-то лайф из стренж в вампирской тематике, не то что я ожидал от этой игры. Плохо нарисованы лица, нет лицевых анимаций, сюжет супер душный, нет интересных персонажей. Короче вообще не за что зацепиться
  21. Arkane7
    May 21, 2022
    1
    I played the original Vampire The Masquerade Redemption two decades ago which was a awesome title. This however, is a sequel in name only. The writing is atrocious as are the characters. Graphics are serviceable as is the voice acting which ranges from extremely cheesy to average. The gameplay is pretty unbalanced and repetitive. Give this one a pass and rather play Redemption or Bloodlines.
  22. Nemhainn
    May 22, 2022
    1
    I wanted to play the game but I saw that it was an EGS exclusive... shame. I'm tired of games being hostage to EGS so I won't play them and I have to let EGS know that some people don't accept their policies.
  23. StarkAgentos
    May 21, 2022
    4
    Нереально скучная игра. Она состоит из одних лишь диалогов, которые тупо ни о чём. Сюжет для меня тут какой-то неинтересный.
  24. 404UserNotFound
    Oct 9, 2022
    0
    BOOOOORINNNGGGGGG. It's a very boring game and nothing but a game of chance.
  25. gertrudabrazorf
    Aug 1, 2022
    0
    this game is an insult to Detroit Become Human. as i said in my previous reviews "nothing can condone making sh*t and pass it for a VIDEO-GAME". Honestly i am bored with the video-games of this decade...
    i will remain playing retro-games. i do not want to sound like a Boomer but that is just the way it is. Now i am sorry but I'm gonna go play Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991
  26. Wandoggy
    Jun 13, 2022
    0
    Обожаю вампиров от Тройки. Поиграл в это поделие 20 минут и удалил, персонажи убоги. Видимо, единственное, для чего создавалось это, лизнуть обиженным меньшинствам.

Awards & Rankings

69
#69 Most Discussed PC Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 55 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 55
  3. Negative: 4 out of 55
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 29, 2024
    40
    It's a never-ending story, a game with too many half-baked ideas, where the story and mood of the series just hold the door to correctness and superficiality without a deeper gameplay experience or at least uniqueness. [Issue#320]
  2. KeenGamer
    Jun 20, 2023
    70
    Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong offers a captivating story with some truly rewarding moments when you figure out the more difficult and obtuse puzzles. The story and lore holds the game together, as without it the game could be quite boring. It's a visually strong game with some flair to the cinematography. It's certainly not for everyone, as the game has no combat and is driven almost entirely by reading and dialogue. However it's sure to be enjoyed by fans of investigative storytelling.
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  3. Softpedia
    Jun 6, 2023
    75
    Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a good game for fans of World of Darkness who are willing to invest time and energy to solve its puzzles and experience the narrative. The game 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 years old vampires with a deep pool of abilities to draw on. The presentation is too ambitious for its own good, although there are moments when it makes this vampire-dominated universe come alive. I found that Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is more enjoyable if I abandon the idea of optimizing my character and the goal of getting the best result out of all situations. Play the game once, accept outcomes, and see where the story of these three vampires and their effort to protect the Boston Camarilla take you.
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