Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is a narrative RPG developed by Big Bad Wolf and published by Nacon. Swansong combines Telltale-style storytelling with the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop game, resulting in a unique gameplay experience that feels like an ironman run of a point-and-click adventure game, where every choice matters and can resonate through the rest of the story.
Swansong takes place in the World of Darkness, where vampires hide among mortals in contemporary times and use their immense political and financial power to keep their existence a secret. Swansong takes place in modern-day Boston, where a party that was meant to align two vampire factions was attacked by an unknown group, resulting in the death of many undead. The Prince of Boston calls on three of her subordinates to investigate the attack and these are Swansong's three protagonists, with each chapter focusing on a different character. The three characters are Emem; a stylish nightclub owner with connections in the mortal world, Galeb; an elder vampire who is trying to win favor with the Prince, so that he can earn the right to sire a new vampire; and Leysha, a member of a clan of eccentric vampires, who has been awoken with fragmented memories of her past.
The gameplay in Swansong is similar to that of the Telltale story-based titles, where the player must investigate locations, talk with NPCs, solve puzzles, and make decisions that affect the rest of the story. What's unique about Swansong is that it ties RPG elements to the gameplay. Each of the three characters has a character sheet, where the player can upgrade their stats and supernatural abilities between each chapter. The player's choice of specialization will determine how they can respond in each situation. This offers a great deal of choice for how the player can proceed through the story, even if it can be frustrating for an ability or power to not be useful during a scene. It bears mentioning that there is no combat in Swansong and the characters cannot reach a game over state through their actions, with the repercussions for actions happening in different ways that resonate through the story.
Swansong has a resource management aspect that is present throughout the game. The three characters have Willpower and Hunger scores, with Willpower being spent in situations where a character enters a conflict, while Hunger is increased whenever they use their powers. When the player enters a contentious conversation with an NPC, they can spend Willpower to increase their chance of winning a discussion, with some conversations happening as part of multi-stage battles. The Willpower system is a great idea, though it can be very strict, as it's easy to blow through it during the early stages of the chapter, leaving the character with nothing to defend themself with in a surprise situation. Swansong would benefit from an easier mode, where the Willpower cost is reduced, as the current cost means that players might want to play things too safe, rather than engaging with the game world.
The Hunger system is a lot more interesting. The vampiric powers that each character possesses are strong, especially the mind control abilities, but it's easy to reach the maximum Hunger limit when using them. The characters can feed on mortals in the game world, as each level has a limited number of designated "Safe Zones", where they can take a single mortal and feed on them, prompting a minigame where they can potentially kill the mortal by feeding too hard. They can also feed on them a second time, but this is guaranteed to kill the mortal. Swansong has a "Traits" system, where a player's actions can lead to passive buffs/penalties that carry over between chapters. An example of this is killing mortals while feeding, which will result in NPCs becoming suspicious of the character and making it harder to win them over in conversation. These concepts combined make for a fantastic balancing act, where the player's actions constantly have consequences. There are dire situations where the player might need some extra blood to power their abilities, but it means permanently marking them for future missions, which is keeping to the spirit of the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop RPG.
The game world of Swansong is absolutely stunning. The same isn't quite as true of the character models, with most of the work having gone into the three protagonists. The rest of the cast have an awkwardness to their appearance which wouldn't be out of place in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, especially in regards to hair texture and movement animation. It's not a dealbreaker, but the NPCs can be distracting at times. One design choice that is distracting is the inability to skip dialogue until the player has completed the game once. This means that the player has to listen to every single voice-acted line during their first playthrough. The voice actors did a great job, but the option should still be there for the player to skip dialogue if they choose. Swansong has a ton of text, with numerous notes spread around the environment that can offer vital clues on how to proceed, so the dialogue can offer a break, but it should be up to the player if they want to listen or not.
It's possible to restart each chapter of Swansong if the player wants a do-over, but that's not the best way to experience the game. Swansong should be treated like an ironman experience, as it is tough on player consequences. Swansong tells an excellent story about betrayal and bloodshed, which can play out in a number of different ways, and the player has a staggering number of options for how they want to proceed. Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong has some design and technical hiccups, but it offers a dark and compelling story that is told in a unique manner, where situations must be resolved through deduction and intelligence, and each choice puts the player further down the path to victory or defeat.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 19, 2022, with a Nintendo Switch port arriving in the future. Screen Rant was provided with a digital code for the PC version of the game for the purposes of this review.