‘Vampire: The Masquerade’ – ‘Swansong’ Gameplay Reveal
Vampire: The Masquerade‘s newest video game, Swansong is shaping up to be a moody, atmospheric mystery. Take a look at the gameplay reveal.
We have been excited about Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong for a while now. The upcoming cRPG puts you in the well-shined shoes of one of three different vampires. Ensconced firmly within the World of Darkness, this game wears its atmosphere like a vampire wears a lace choker.
What’s particularly exciting about this one is its focus on the tale of courtly intrigue and betrayal. It plays itself out not as one might expect from a game like VtM Bloodlines (R.I.P.), but rather more like what the tabletop experience might be like. As the three different vampiric protagonists, you will experience the World of Darkness firsthand.
And in a new Swansong gameplay reveal trailer, we got to see what that looks like.
VtM Swansong – Gameplay In Action
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is an upcoming narrative-RPG based on the iconic tabletop roleplaying game. Skills, disciplines, a hunger for blood, and more; how you manage these affects the way you approach the game.
Right away we get to see the old familiar World of Darkness dots and attributes. The Storytelling system hasn’t changed too much over the editions. So even with the newest design, you still pretty much know how to handle everything.
And in the Swansong Gameplay reveal, they really emphasized how much even a single dot can make a difference. In the gameplay reveal we got to see a little bit of what combat is like. Like the tabletop game, it’s not really anything to do with twitch reflexes, so much as choices and a roll of the die.
Your Vampiric Disciplines play a role as well. With each vampire power opening up new options. For instance, we got to see the Venture, Galeb Bazory, using his dominate ability to force an NPC to shoot her partner.
My initial impression is that it’s more like a 3D adventure game than your typical RPG. Your skills and disciplines open up new doors and new options when exploring. Having the right stuff can make the difference between the Masquerade soldiering on, or utter ruin.
But what has me the most excited is getting to see the tabletop mechanics play out. That’s always been one of the more difficult aspects to translate. But with the mood and atmosphere here, this game might be the Vampire game folks have been waiting for.
‘Vampire: the Masquerade – Swansong’ releases May 19th
