Vampire: The Masquerade - Heartless Lullaby is an isometric RPG developed and published by Entalto Studios. Heartless Lullaby is a short game that is heavily inspired by Disco Elysium, which is worth checking out as a brief journey into the World of Darkness, with one night of partying turning into the end of one life and the beginning of another.

Heartless Lullaby was the winner of the Vampire: The Masquerade Vampire Jam contest, where fans had a month to create a game related to the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop RPG. Vampire: The Masquerade uses a contemporary setting, where vampires live among humans, and fiercely protect the secret of their existenc, through a law known as the Masquerade. Heartless Lullaby assumes that the player is familiar with the lore of the tabletop game, so it doesn't have any refreshers on vampires clans or the warring factions in the world.

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The game switches between two characters at different points in the story: a human named Zak Riley, who is just out drinking with his buddy in the Heartless Club before he is dragged into the world of the undead, and Diane, a vampire of Clan Toreador, who has come to the Heartless Club to negotiate peace terms with its owner, who is a member of an opposing faction. By the end of the story, Zak and Diane's lives become intertwined, as an old threat to both humanity and vampire society returns, forcing them to work together.

Vampire the Masquerade Heartless Lullaby Dancefloor

The gameplay in Heartless Lullaby uses the Vampire: The Masquerade 5e rules. The player can access a character sheet, showing the Physical stats (Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina), Social stats (Manipulation, Charisma, and Composure), and Mental stats (Intelligence, Wits, and Resolve). These are used whenever the player needs to make a contested decision, with an element of chance present to determine their success. Diane also has access to her vampiric disciplines, which are supernatural powers that she can call on in dialogue choices. Not all of the mechanics of the tabletop game are present, as elements like feeding and willpower aren't used, but most of them are here.

Heartless Lullaby only has around an hour of gameplay, with the story set entirely within the Heartless Club. There are  a few light puzzles that can be solved, but the bulk of the game involves interacting with NPCs and communicating with the player's inner thoughts. The Disco Elysium with tabletop rules vibe is strong throughout its run time. It's here that the game excels, as the writing and characters are top-notch. It's just a shame that the story is so short and there aren't that many chances to use vampire powers in a fun way, as Heartless Lullaby does a great job of building the world and setting up the story, but it doesn't have the chance to go anywhere interesting before the credits roll.

Vampire the Masquerade Heartless Lullaby Diane Conversation

As Heartless Lullaby was only made in a month, it has a few technical hiccups, most notably in its pathfinding. Characters will sometimes struggle to navigate around obstacles or will slide across the floor to their destination. A lot of the character models are also extremely basic and there are lots of fades to black that are used to hide the fact that a story beat doesn't have an associated animation. Heartless Lullaby does a really good job with its lighting effects, which should be expected from the same team behind NeonHat, but the visuals are rough overall.

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Heartless Lullaby has the potential to be expanded into a full experience that can give Vampire: The Masquerade fans their own equivalent to a Baldur's Gate title. As it stands, the current version of the game is worth checking out as a free title that only takes a short period of time to finish, especially as a taster for the Vampire: The Masquerade games that are coming soon. It's easy to see why Heartless Lullaby won the Vampire Jam, as the team did an amazing job putting together a game in a month, and it will hopefully lead to more World of Darkness content from the studio in the future.

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Vampire: The Masquerade - Heartless Lullaby will be released on PC via Steam on April 21 and is available now for free on PC and Mac on the game's itch.io page. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam code for the purposes of this review.