Masquerade Vampire: Swansong, review of Big Bad Wolf’s “narrative RPG” set in World of Darkness

It’s almost unbelievable that after the memorable Bloodlines, no one was able to tap into the potential of the universe. Dark world, yet we’re still here in 2022 to regret the glory of the Troika Games, and it doesn’t matter if their kids have more bugs on average than polygons. The point is simple: this game, for all its problems, very well captured the dark charm of the setting, combining its modern sophistication with an excellent mix of gameplay, humor, and well-thought-out narrative, which sadly fails at almost any of them. other next item placed in the same world. With the license shifting to Paradox, fans expected more rosy developments, but had to deal with one disappointment after another, until the sad current situation where it began to settle for products that were consistently between mediocre and depressing.

In this uncertainty, where the hope of a product worthy of the aforementioned intellectual property is fading away, Nacon stepped in and decided to throw a weak light on the landscape with an interesting graphic adventure built around a progression close to that of RPGs. . Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong, that’s the name of the game, even managed to grab us on the first test, displaying the team’s fair passion for the White Wolf-created universe and apparently just enough skill to run it properly.

It’s too bad our optimism has to deal with the facts once we’re done: Swansong certainly lacks what it takes to bring World of Darkness back to the center of modern gameplay, and many of our hopes have been shattered. with not exactly careful management of the elements of the business.

However, this curious adventure offers at least some healthy bread for those who love the original Pen & Paper RPG and could bode well for the future. Let’s see why, in ours Masquerade Vampire: Swansong review.

Narrative: swan dancing between clans

Although described as a narrative RPG, Swansong is a ‘three-dimensional graphic adventure campaign with multiple options structured around three different heroes. Understandably, in a title like this storytelling is the mainstay of experience, and in this case, Big Bad Wolf has decided to inextricably link it to the world of darkness, making sure that all events are somehow connected with the organization known as Camarilla (whose people are to hide true nature). vampires to allow the lords of the night to wield their power behind the scenes).

Certainty should be at the center of every event Hazel Iversen, the prince of Camarilla and the driving force of events, as your alter egos are his subordinates who are dedicated to freeing themselves from his political network: a former Ventrue named Galeb, known for his dedication to the cause and his coldness in the “dirty business”; Emem, a brilliant Toreador who runs some of Boston’s hottest clubs; and finally LeishaA Malkavian to whom madness – a trait of the clan to which he belongs – bestows very useful premonitions.

However, the use of a trio of heroes is not a gimmick that could emulate other titles with similar traits (like Detroit, to give an easy example), but an almost natural way to better summarize a layered universe like Vampire’s. : Playing the role of characters belonging to completely different clans is a great starting point to offer atypical perspectives and various levels of reading of the plot, or even just naturally to add some basic information about the narrative background in the campaign. There is only one small headache: characterization Unfortunately, one of the main protagonists sounded a bit bitter.

That’s not to say that Galeb, Leysha and Emem are terrible characters, it’s clear, but we sincerely believe they represent a reasonable waste of potential, considering their roles and the possibilities of each. Galeb is a cold actor with several faces, Emem is often too childish and impulsive for a powerful vampire who can dominate a city’s nightlife, and there are significant ups and downs in the way Leysha is represented despite personal events. than the other two. In general, he often appears in front of a characterization comparable to the gaming batch of an RPG pen and paper, especially unaccustomed to high-end commentary, and you will understand that this is certainly not a compliment.

Because main plot Saving the shack remains pretty exciting, at least for most of the time, also because of some good bends and junctions that could lead to significant changes in progress. In any case, do not expect perfection in this area either: certain moments clearly “flow” less than others, so that over long periods of time they seem almost artificially drawn; there are some important inconsistencies; at least a few scenes made us drool (not to mention the bullshit) and the ending could have offered so much more. Swansong also has a tendency to overwhelm the player with data and exposure at certain moments; this is worth noting for those who love World of Darkness and want to analyze every single element of it, but not so pleasant for those who just want to have some fun. story written by criteria.

Gameplay: identity lost, diversity found

In short, the narrative in general is only plausible due to the multiple reservations described above. What’s really intriguing is Swansong’s ability to surprise even more. gameplay Given that Big Bad Wolf’s work has been mechanically transformed more times than we’d believe is believable, rather than the sudden turns of the plot. To clarify, the game is already on the base items from the GDR not marginal: real statistics that will be leveled by gaining experience from chapter to chapter, and whose value often provides additional options during key dialogues to achieve positive improvements. Everything is managed as a sort of playbook, with phases of research mostly spent gathering information and clues, intuitive puzzles to solve – often valid, with some annoying stumbles – and comparisons with variable risks that sometimes lead to alarming or significant events if they fail. loss of experience and knowledge. Nothing particularly innovative so far, and in these parts of the adventure progression it’s mostly a matter of logic and careful use of one’s own thinking. resourcesbecause most actions require the use of blood (to make the most of vampiric powers) or will (to increase success rates in dialogue). Still, Swansong shuffles the cards with moments where you have to leverage the heroes’ individual strengths to tackle chapters away from “classic” research episodes. These range from the linear and rosewater version of Hitman, where you have to use Leysha’s invisibility and her ability to take the shape of others to progress, to movement puzzles that use Emem’s speed to reach certain areas, and even stealth moments that are markedly different mechanically. from what we’ve seen so far. In practice, to keep the experience fresh, the developers weren’t afraid to add whatever was on their minds to the game, even going so far as to change the underlying systems.

In all honesty? We don’t care about this idea. It’s true that in doing so the campaign becomes a bit more chaotic and loses its personality than expected, but overall these variations on the theme make it very hard to get bored even though the episodes are pretty “vulgar”. Let’s just say that while the team’s lack of resources was obvious, Big Bad Wolf’s attempt to separate his creatures from their opponents seemed mostly positive to us and made us appreciate the overall experience more rather than ruin it. .

implementation replayability, because chapters can be reworked once completed, but dialogues can only be skipped partially (it’s also impossible to speed up or interrupt them during the first game), and various actions have long-term consequences, which will force you in some ways. Remake all levels from the boss, facing the most difficult events to overcome in the shortest possible time. In other words, if not yet understood, we are faced with a video game that is clearly made with passion for the universe it belongs to, but not backed by too many tools and expertise for an end result that manages to entertain as a whole. it is the target, although often incomplete.

this technical sector suffers from the same curse: stylistically, Swansong is not evil and captures the look of the dark world in a worthwhile way, but disfigures it compared to the work of much more proficient teams, especially due to non-detailed polygonal models and limited animations (which especially negatively contributes to giving heroes personality). On the other hand, there are voice-overs that seem perfectly level to us, with the exception of a handful of voices that are a bit too cartoonish.