Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong Reviews
Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong is a flawed game for sure, with some rough visuals and a gameplay loop that certainly won’t be for everyone. However, if you are looking for a compelling vampire mystery and don’t mind quite a few annoyances that are usually present in modern AA games, then there is a lot to like about this flawed, but certainly captivating detective adventure.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong really shines when it comes to resource management and confrontations. You'll be on the edge of your seat, waiting for the opportune moment to use that skill you’ve been holding off on or keeping your hunger low so you can control your victims. Take this with a grain of salt though, because there are potential game-breaking bugs that could alter your enjoyment of the game.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong tells an incredible story, one the player can truly influence, but it falls short in many of the efforts to translate the World of Darkness into video game form. A must-play for fans of the universe, but fans of the narrative-driven RPG may find more frustration than enjoyment.
Ultimately, Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong only partially honors the name it bears. The narrative sector stands on discrete levels, even if the main plot struggles to take off in the initial stages and the characterization of the protagonists can be said to be successful almost only for Leysha. The past of Galeb and Emem do not capture the audience properly, which will hardly feel the due empathy towards the characters, also due to facial animations that are too rigid.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite some interesting situations and engaging puzzles, Vampire: The Masquerade Swansong fails to get off the ground, much less stick the landing. It’s slow and obtuse where it should be visceral and emotional. The writing is pedestrian and the characters are the dullest vampires imaginable. Whether or not they drink your blood, they definitely suck your ability to enjoy the game.
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.
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.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong has an interesting story that may please RPG fans, although graphically it is below expectations.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong does an admirable job of bringing the World of Darkness tabletop experience to video games. Anyone who has been a fan of or curious about Vampire: The Masquerade but perhaps struggles to get a gaming group together, or wants something to do between sessions, will find Swansong a welcome substitute. The strength of the narrative-based gameplay, bringing a rare weight to choices, successes, and failures, will give any fan of narrative or adventure games something to enjoy, even if the tedium of exploration will likely wear on players at least a bit. Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong could have used another coat of polish before being released, but it does enough right that I hope to see the team behind it get another crack at the World of Darkness.
While I do think that my teenage self would have been way more hyped about getting to experience a vampire-filled adventure of Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong’s caliber, I can confidently say my adult self was also quite amused. I really liked what this game’s story had to offer, and to be honest it has been a while since I had to think so hard about the hows and whys of the choices I wanted to make in an RPG. I could have done without the tedious and buggy gameplay and the oftentimes janky visuals, but when the credits rolled, that wasn’t at the forefront of my mind at all. Instead, I thought about how I wanted to play the game again and go back and do things differently.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Swansong makes choices and concessions that are necessary to deal with the expectations. It does a great job bringing the atmosphere and the aesthetic that one would expect from a World of Darkness title, based on previous games or sessions of the TTRPG. On the other hand, it works as an investigative game for players who are new to the series. Even so, it falls short in some areas, like some obtuse puzzles and bland characters incapable of expressing themselves. At the same time, these aspects only make the existence of a sequel or even a series of mystery games in the Vampire: The Masquerade world more exciting.
Slowburner detective about vampires. For those who values story and characters more than game mechanics.
Review in Russian | 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.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong has players step in the shoes of three different vampires to solve a mystery, building upon the wealth of Vampire lore, but doesn't have much bite.
Gripping supernatural subterfuge meets perfunctory mechanics. Worth it to explore the World of Darkness, though.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong offers a fascinating story and great characters, but pixel hunting and insipid puzzles are really dissapointing.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Swansong's biggest problem is that at times it's perhaps not as clear as it could be about what you're actually meant to be doing or how to bypass certain problems, and you'll find that it's trial and error that gets you through. There's also a couple of technical issues, including one in which we spent ages wandering around trying to solve a puzzle only to reset the game and discover that the solution to the problem hadn't loaded the first time around. Not cool.
Within the opulent comforts of the luxury apartments and exclusive private clubs of Boston, Swansong positions high society politics as a game played by the rich, a realm that’s far outside the influence of the working class and the poor. To be invited into such an exclusive circle in Swansong is a frankly riveting proposition—I can’t deny that there’s a thrill, verging on tabloid-level curiosity, in mingling with the distastefully powerful, uncovering their dirtiest secrets, and conniving with the Prince of Boston. But still the most intriguing bit about Swansong is to have all these politicking depicted as layers of conversations and sleuthing, which are exploits that are far more human than the game’s supernatural brethren would believe.
Swansong is a good investigative adventure dressed up in vampire finery, but doesn't quite live up to my expectations due to some overly restrictive design and a disconnect between the third person perspective and the largely text and table top mechanics. Once some of the bugs are patched and there are resources available to support the build choices you make, there is a solid adventure to be found here. It's not the new Bloodlines, but it's an authentic Vampire: The Masquerade experience nonetheless.