Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is an upcoming role-playing video game in development by Big Bad Wolf, planned to be published in 2021 by Nacon for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It is based on White Wolf Publishing's tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong
Cover art
Developer(s)Big Bad Wolf
Publisher(s)Nacon
Designer(s)Clément Plantier
SeriesVampire: The Masquerade
Platform(s)
Release2021
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a narrative-driven, single-player role-playing video game[1] in which the player controls three vampires with different vampiric disciplines (abilities),[2][3] switching between them over the course of the game.[4] The player can customize the characters by choosing to upgrade their disciplines and character statistics to suit their preferred playstyle;[3] this influences character interaction and skills used while exploring the game world, such as picking locks and hacking computer terminals.[5] 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.[6]

Throughout the game, the characters are put in difficult situations where the player has to make moral choices,[2] with no obviously correct choice.[6]

Synopsis

The story is set in Boston, in the World of Darkness, where vampires exist unbeknownst to humanity – a practice called the Masquerade, which is upheld by the vampire sect the Camarilla.[2][4][7] The new Camarilla prince there, Hazel Iversen, is trying to strengthen the Camarilla's presence by bringing Boston and Hartford together.[2] 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 make sure that all vampires in the Northeastern United States are safe.[6]

The story follows three vampires, each about a hundred years old, from different vampire clans with differing views on the Camarilla's rule:[2][6] Galeb, an intimidating man of clan Ventrue; Emem, a "seductive Amazon" of clan Toreador; and Leysha of clan Malkavian, who depends on a blood concoction to function.[6] The three investigate conspiracies in Boston following a shootout, starting with who ordered the attack and why.[2][3][4]

Development

Swansong is developed by Big Bad Wolf,[7] and is designed by Clément Plantier.[6] It is based on the fifth edition of the tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade,[7] and uses the portrayal of Boston from the 1990s tabletop game books Dark Colony and Giovanni Chronicles, while updating it for the present-day setting. The developers incorporated some game mechanics from the tabletop game into Swansong, but chose to focus on designing the game around player choices and consequnces.[6] Although referencing both past tabletop game material and another video game adaptation, Bloodlines 2, the game is still designed to be approachable for players who are not familiar with the series.[6] In adaptating the tabletop game to a video game format, the developers considered a role-playing video game the best option, for allowing them to tell a story and for giving players freedom to role-play.[5]

The game was originally announced to be in development in May 2019,[7] and was presented in October 2019 at PDXCON.[8] It is planned to be published by Nacon in 2021 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.[9]

References
  1. Macgregor, Jody (2019-10-19). "Vampire: The Masquerade—Swansong is a new RPG from the developers of The Council". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  2. Chalk, Andy (2020-07-07). "Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong trailer kicks off a bloody party gone wrong". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  3. Nunneley, Stephany (2020-07-07). "Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X – here's a trailer". VG247. Archived from the original on 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  4. Clayton, Natalie (2020-07-07). "Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong conspires towards a 2021 release". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2020-07-08. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  5. Hipeau, Eliott (2020-07-07). Nacon Connect | July 7th (7PM CEST / 1PM EDT). Nacon. Event occurs at 5:37. Retrieved 2020-07-09 – via YouTube.
  6. Caicoya, Bea (2020-07-12). "Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong: Everything We Know About the New Game". Comic Book Resources. Valnet, Inc. Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  7. Yin-Poole, Wesley (2019-10-19). "Swansong is the name of the Vampire: The Masquerade game due out 2021". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  8. Zwiezen, Zack (2019-10-19). "Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong Coming In 2021". Kotaku. G/O Media. Archived from the original on 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  9. O'Connor, James (2020-07-07). "Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong Is Releasing On Everything From Switch To PS5/Xbox Series X". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
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