Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong Reviews
Puzzles are sometimes so tricky without any indication of progression that it sometimes gets frustrating, and even during dialogue, the gameplay systems work against you more often than they help you. Moreover, the game also feels very outdated in terms of animation, something that you can hardly look past while playing. If you like a deep mystery and can bite through all those pain points, give Swansong a chance. But for most people, this bloodthirsty adventure won't deliver the euphoria they had hoped for beforehand.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Much like the humble zombie, vampires have been part and parcel of video games for quite a while. As monsters go, they’re quite a versatile bunch who can lend their hand to a multiple of genres. Whether it’s the action-oriented ‘Legacy of Kaine’ series or the terrible (and much) forgotten ‘Vampire Rain’, or even the classic ‘Castlevania’ – each game offers a different portrayal of the blood-sucking undead creature.
Swansong is an excellent addition to the World of Darkness stories. Due to the well-written characters, it's a shame there are a lot of bad animations. Despite all this, we can recommend the game.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong could have been an excellent game. It has great art direction and graphics for what it proposes, but the predictable plot and confusing gameplay can lead players uninitiated into the Vampire universe to quit. Puzzles and investigation moments, despite being the high point, could have been better. With all that in mind, if you are a true fan of the Vampire: The Masquerade universe, it's worth giving it a try, as it was made for you.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Overall, Vampire the Masquerade Swansong appeals to your inner Sherlock who speaks with a silver tongue. The game is most appealing to those who are into crime mystery-solving games. I highly recommend to those who are new to the series to play some of the old Vampire Masquerade games which can be found on the Nintendo Switch and let them experience the dark world of vampires and then let them decide whether or not to play this game.
The world of vampires, the idea of implementing it as a single game was not bad. But the puzzles were unreasonable, and growth system seems failed to mean so much. Also, Poor graphics quality and lip sync interfere with immersion. Lastly, the story can be hard to follow if you are not familiar with WoD.
Review in Korean | Read full review
"Despite all its austere demeanor, Vampire: The Masquerade- Swansong is collectively a conversation simulator, a detective game, a classically styled adventure puzzler or a discount Hitman game. Look how Disco Elysium builds its dialogues around the various perks and skills you unlock, which are used in almost every conversation with the NPCs. Swansong, sadly, delivers neither. Its writing is pedestrian, often incoherent, and its supporting systems are underutilized, adding little flavor to distinguish the three playable characters."
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong has excellent source material and can definitely be a fun experience at times. It might just take too long to fully embrace you.
Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong is a game with many imperfections. For example, the game is visually graphically substandard and the acting of some voice actors is mediocre. The game does have an interesting story for both a layman and fan. In addition, the fan can enjoy the original lore woven throughout the game. The controls are also quite simple. It is mainly a unique innovative mechanism within the conversation system that makes this game.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
For fans of the series, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong would hopefully quench your thirst until the eventual release of Bloodlines 2. However, I feel that newcomers to the series will have varying degrees of enjoyment regarding the lore, and if you’re not a fan of reading, it’ll be a bumpy start. The magic of Swansong is that succeeding playthroughs will definitely get better as you learn more of the lore and paint a complete picture of the whole mystery. If you have the patience for all that legwork, more power to you to be able to unravel every one of its mysteries. It also really doesn’t help that the puzzles are quite obtuse and the visuals aren’t as inviting as something like Vampyr or Detroit: Become Human.
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.
With boring, glacially paced gameplay, janky controls and far too many technical issues wiping out any sense of pleasure gained from playing through to the games anti-climax, I was left wanting.
I just couldn’t bring myself to pick up the controller and play it again. One time was more than enough for me. If the graphics were made for a next-generation console and some combat was involved then maybe I would give it another go.
I really wanted to love Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong. I already am a fan of its setting, desperately want AA video games to rise in prominence again, and love slow burns that are focused on character dialogue and interactions. However, there is just too much getting in the way of Swansong’s success. There is no way of knowing exactly what happened, but the final product is one that I can’t even recommend picking up on sale.
But if you’re looking for Vampire: The Masquerade and you are also old and you don’t want to play a janky battle royale, Vampire: the Masquerade – Swansong is…kinda interesting.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong was created to serve only the die-hard fans of the franchise.
Review in Greek | Read full review
A less-than-ideal cohesive story and poor systems design make Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong a game that perhaps should not have seen the light of day.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong features an intriguing and mysterious storyline that hooks players but its bugs and restrictive nature prevent it from biting quite as deep as fans may like.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong manages to suck almost all the fun out of being a vampire. Billed as an RPG, it functions more like a frustrating puzzle game. Only the most patient players will have the time for it.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong offers us a new installment of the vampire franchise, this time focused on narrative and investigation. Although its gameplay mechanics are interesting and original, and the dialogue system works wonderfully, its numerous technical problems, repetitive gameplay, and uninteresting plot detract several points from a game that could have been better than it is.
Review in Spanish | Read full review