Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong Archives

Based on the famous eponymous role-playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade is a narrative game that puts you at the center of an astonishing and intelligent plot. A work respectful of the basic model which will not be for everyone, and which unfortunately suffers from inexplicable and inexcusable technical problems. Explanations.

First of all, the average player should know that the experience offered by Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is not at all affordable. Indeed, the universe covered in the game, the different characters present and presented, everything is taken from the role-playing game published in 1991. Connoisseurs will appreciate and benefit from an extremely respectful and faithful background, neophytes as for them will quickly be lost in the immensity of this universe which is ultimately difficult to access. Indeed, to be able to immerse yourself as it should in the story and the experiences offered, it is absolutely necessary to take the time to read absolutely all the entries that are added to the codex as the adventure progresses. . Only downside: there are a lot of them. And even if that can be a good thing, it is clear that the rhythm of the title suffers (a lot?) Too much.

That being said, if you accept that fact and realize that it’s more of a role-playing game than a video game, then Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong has a few arguments in its favour, in particular its history. Taking place in the center of Boston, the plot invites you to embody Emem, a vampire who owns many clubs and who is part of a clan called La Caramilla whose thinking head is “Prince” Hazel. The latter aims to enforce an important law for vampires by the name of “Masquarade”. We understand very quickly, from the beginning of the adventure, that the red code triggered means that this said law has been violated and that it is necessary to investigate and find out what really happened. This is also the essence of the game since two types of gameplay are available to you: investigation sequences during which you have to do your research and discover elements to advance the investigation, and sequences of dialogues during which it is possible to make many choices.

Dialogues which are also extremely numerous and which add a layer to the “literary” side of the title. Typical of role-playing games, this mechanism is particularly cared for by the developers who offer a great many possibilities which will be defined by the way you personalize your character. Only downside: the richness of these lines of writing and the universe make things ever more complex. The many characters mentioned as well as the different factions rain, especially at the beginning of the adventure, and you really have to hang on to manage to put some order in the ideas and be able to follow the plot decently.

On the customization side, at the start of the adventure, it is possible to choose the type of character you want to embody, while also selecting the “powers” it will have. Thus, depending on these choices, you will be able to show seduction, for example, and therefore obtain certain answers from your interlocutor (as long as he is sensitive to this, of course). On the other hand, it is impossible to complete all the skills in a single and unique part, which offers, to the most courageous or passionate, an interesting replayability. This customization, reminiscent of the paper role-playing game (and its points to be given in certain skills), is an interesting mechanic and one of the strong points of the game. times, that the whole thing is so inaccessible for the average player.

On the other hand, where Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong puts everyone in agreement is on the technical level. At the time this review is written, the game is simply in a terrible state! The bugs are excessively numerous and completely distort the experience. Immersion, extremely important in a title with a strong narrative dominance, literally explodes after about ten minutes: permanent clipping and aliasing, colorimetry problems, unfinished models. It’s been years since a title has turned out to be so technically sad. Height of all these problems, facial animations refer to games from the beginning of the Xbox 360 era. So yes, all developers do not have financial means worthy of the biggest studios. Yes, we know very well that this AA game cannot compete with the tenors of the genre such as The Dark Pictures Anthology or Detroit. But from there to give us a game that is not finished, that, no! It is truly a red card which is given here to the game which risks suffering, like others before it, from this catastrophic launch.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a game made by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. Its complex universe and the richness of the latter are clearly not accessible to everyone, but should on the other hand satisfy fans of the original role-playing game. Fans who will however have to accept more or less significant problems such as menus with questionable ergonomics or, worse, an indecent and totally rubbish technique that puts the consoles of 2022 to shame.