Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong (NSP, XCI) ROM + 3 DLCs

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a role-playing video game developed by Big Bad Wolf and published by Nacon. It was released in May 2022 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S and in September 2023 for Nintendo Switch. It is based on White Wolf Publishing’s tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade and is a part of the larger World of Darkness series.

A narrative RPG spun from the cult role-playing game and crafted by genre experts, places the destiny of the three central characters and the Boston Camarilla in your hands with every choice. Imagine the existence of real vampires, secretive predators thriving within intricate societies, conspiring for millennia.

Now, picture yourself as one of them in Vampire: The Masquerade, inhabiting a world where the boundaries between reality and the supernatural eternally blur. Hazel Iversen, known as the Swan, assumes the role of the Boston Camarilla’s new Prince. She wields an iron fist veiled in velvet, aiming to assert authority and uphold the Masquerade, the vampiric code that conceals their kind from humanity.

Yet, nothing unfolds as intended. Amidst whispers of conspiracies, murders, and power struggles, you must operate in the shadows to safeguard your Sect, thrust into an electrifying investigation that thrusts Boston into turmoil. Step into the shoes of three century-old vampires. Navigate the game as their fates intertwine, grapple with their diverse perspectives, and customize their character sheets to discern truth from deception.

Each character boasts unique vampiric talents and disciplines, enabling individual upgrades tailored to your preferred approach.  Will you opt for intimidation, seduction, or stealth? The choice is yours, as long as you can satiate your unending thirst for blood.

Swansong’s distinctive gameplay underscores the ramifications of your choices, both within the investigation and in your social interactions with other characters. Deliberate over each circumstance, for your decisions wield immense sway over your heroes’ destinies and the future of the Boston Camarilla.

GAMEPLAY

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a narrative-driven, single-player role-playing video game in which the player controls three vampires with different vampiric disciplines (abilities), switching between them throughout the game. The player can customize the characters by choosing to upgrade their disciplines and character statistics to suit their preferred playstyle; this influences character interaction and skills used while exploring the game world.

Such as picking locks and hacking computer terminals. Because the player characters often are surrounded by humans, the player needs to be careful about when and where they choose to use supernatural abilities, to avoid revealing their characters’ vampiric nature. Throughout the game, the characters are put in difficult situations where the player has to make moral choices, with no correct choice.

SYNOPSIS

The story follows three vampires, each about a hundred years old, from different vampire clans with differing views on the Camarilla’s rule: Galeb, an intimidating man of clan Ventrue; Emem, a “seductive Amazon” of clan Toreador; and Leysha of clan Malkavian, who relies on supernatural insight and spreading madness. The three investigate conspiracies in Boston following a shootout, starting with who ordered the attack and why.

Swansong is set in Boston, in the World of Darkness, where vampires exist unbeknownst to humanity. This practice of hiding from humans is called the Masquerade and is upheld by the vampire sect the Camarilla. The new Camarilla prince of Boston, Hazel Iversen, is trying to strengthen Camarilla’s presence by bringing Boston and Hartford together. Although vampires previously had been occupied with rivalry between factions, they have changed focus to trying to survive, following events like the fall of London as a home to vampires, and so the Boston Camarilla wants to ensure that all vampires in the Northeastern United States are safe.

The plot revolves around the aftermath of the violent circumstances of the reunification of Boston and Hartford domains negotiated by Hazel Iversen, the Prince of Boston, and Tremere Chantry of Hartford. Various highly influential members of the Camarilla community were expertly destroyed or captured by a group that appeared to be highly knowledgeable about their quarry’s weaknesses.  Investigations reveal that the culprit of the raid was the Society of St Leopold, a sect of vampire hunters funded and supported by the Holy See, and the Special Affairs Division, a governmental agency with a similar briefing.

Each protagonist has a specific mission to bring the affair to a close. Galeb is tasked with the assassination of Monsignor Stanford, the leader of the Second Inquisition and wielder of True Faith; Emem is required to infiltrate the enemy HQ to corrupt their substantial database of information on vampires, while Leysha pursues her daughter, who was staked and abducted during one of SI’s raids into Camarilla territory. The game features numerous endings, depending on which main and/or side characters survive their ordeals, and what actions they take.