Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong

While its limited presentation is a let-down, its narrative ambitions largely make up for it. Worth taking out for a drink and seeing where things lead. [Issue#16, p.120]

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong does wonderfully with creating an engaging atmosphere and has some legitimately creative ideas, but its overall execution still leaves much to be desired. I can appreciate an entirely combat-free RPG, but I think that you’re going to have to do more than occasionally let players unlock certain dialogue choices or bypass locks by leveling up specific skills. I’m not too worried, though. This series has been going on for a long time, and while this game may have Swansong in its title, I doubt it’s the last Vampire: The Masquerade game we’ll be seeing. And, hopefully, the next one will have just a little bit more polish.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong has players step in the shoes of three different vampires to solve a mystery, building upon the wealth of Vampire lore, but doesn’t have much bite. The approach of making the game be entirely driven by conversation and investigation is an interesting alternative to countless vampire games that are essentially bloodbaths but doesn’t come without concessions. The emphasis on role playing and character choice helps recreate the feel of the tabletop/LARP games, but the poor puzzles and mediocre script hurt the pacing and overall experience. Fans of White Wolf’s World of Darkness will likely appreciate the work that went into bringing the role playing feel to a video game while they work to solve the mystery, but those who want something with a little more action would be best served waiting for Bloodlines 2.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong does an admirable job of bringing the World of Darkness tabletop experience to video games. Anyone who has been a fan of or curious about Vampire: The Masquerade but perhaps struggles to get a gaming group together, or wants something to do between sessions, will find Swansong a welcome substitute. The strength of the narrative-based gameplay, bringing a rare weight to choices, successes, and failures, will give any fan of narrative or adventure games something to enjoy, even if the tedium of exploration will likely wear on players at least a bit. Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong could have used another coat of polish before being released, but it does enough right that I hope to see the team behind it get another crack at the World of Darkness.

A solid classic RPG that doesn’t really do anything outstanding, but enjoyable if you like the universe.

Swansong's biggest problem is that at times it's perhaps not as clear as it could be about what you're actually meant to be doing or how to bypass certain problems, and you'll find that it's trial and error that gets you through. There's also a couple of technical issues, including one in which we spent ages wandering around trying to solve a puzzle only to reset the game and discover that the solution to the problem hadn't loaded the first time around. Not cool.

Galeb, Emem, and Leysha have compelling enough stories to keep players invested despite these problems, even if it is difficult to find your next destination at times, or you find that you have built each of them in the same way. I know this game has the potential to rise above and give fans an exciting vampire narrative.

Vampire the Masquerade Swansong is a top-tier narrative-focused adventure set in the World of Darkness that offers complex characters and a fascinating world. However, performance issues on PS5 mar what could have been a sublime experience.

Swansong is clearly an ambitious and passionate game. Unfortunately, it's also not a great one, due to a rollercoaster of a narrative with more lows than highs, weak production values, and some baffling choices here and there. It's still a pretty enjoyable experience, especially for fans of the World of Darkness, but this universe deserves more.

Ultimately, Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong only partially honors the name it bears.

Vampire The Masquerade Swansong sticks to the source material very closely, adding very little to distinguish itself from many other adventure games, except for some bugs and inconsistencies. Only suited for long time World of Darkness fans.

Swansong will be compared to Bloodlines, and that’s inevitable even though this is not the same kind of game. Unfortunately, Swansong wants itself to be compared to Bloodlines and doesn’t really make a stand against its older sire. A mess of RPG and adventure mechanics boil down to luck, and with weak voice acting and not very Camarilla vampire models, Swansong leaves a lot to be desired. If you’re looking for an adventure akin to Life is Strange, you’ll surely find it here. But if you’re looking for a World of Darkness RPG with deep and charismatic characters, better hope Bloodlines 2 comes out soon.

As a newbie to Vampire: The Masquerade, I wasn't impressed with Swansong. There were moments when I found myself enjoying the investigation aspect but these were still marred by technical issues, graphical inconsistencies, and an unsettling atmosphere.