Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong Reviews
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.
An engaging experience to sink one's teeth into, Swansong may have its faults, but it offers a blood-curdling plot and amazing characters that simply can't be found anywhere else.
While the game's narrative aspect is truly engaging, it's difficult to appreciate all the dialogue options and plot twists with so many flaws that plague Vampire: The Masquerade ' Swansong. With grotesque facial animations, clumsy exploration options, lots of bugs and a lacking introduction to the World of Darkness, Swansong is a game for die-hard fans who are tired of waiting for Bloodlines 2.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong should have been fantastic, but it wasn't. It has some excellent characters and an array of interesting missions. Somehow, though, it still falls short. With bland conversation and a flat atmosphere, every task is an uphill struggle. It's a real shame as it could, and should have worked well.
Despite its misgivings, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong remains an enjoyable experience. Players use to visual novels and text-based adventures will find a lot to love with this game. Similarly, players who can look past truly horrendous lip synching can revel in the beauty of the unique Deus-Ex type art style. The overall totality of immersion to be found is also immense. The game is slow and deliberate, and while the story really does not touch on any World of Darkness aspects beyond the surface-level, a lot of care and effort has been made to ensure players feel like they are part of the underbelly making up The Masquerade and its many coteries, camarillas, and seedy gangs. There is no denying how rough around the edges the game is, and likely will remain. Despite this, the title knows its place and comfortably fills a gap many Vampire: The Masquerade fans may have as they patiently wait for Bloodlines 2 to divine itself into existence.
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.
"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."
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
Vampire the Masquerade – Swansong is a great introduction to the lore of this world, and despite the issues I had with the facial animations I enjoyed my time here.
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 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
Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong promised to return us to the metaverse of The Masquerade with a narrative title, perfect to know and explore everything it can offer. Unfortunately, it remains in a messy story, perhaps too ambitious for what the study of itself could really give and with a plot and character development that does not offer everything it promised.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
As a newbie to Vampire: The Masquerade, I wasn't impressed with Swansong. There were moments when I found myself enjoying the investigation aspect but these were still marred by technical issues, graphical inconsistencies, and an unsettling atmosphere.
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 sticks to the source material very closely, adding very little to distinguish itself from many other adventure games, except for some bugs and inconsistencies. Only suited for long time World of Darkness fans.
Review in Italian | Read full review
With its gameplay mechanics that are woven into the narrative, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong brings a fresh take on the narrative-driven games genre with its vampire detective title, even if the overall execution could have used some more polishing.
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.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong was created to serve only the die-hard fans of the franchise.
Review in Greek | Read full review
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