Publisher Nacon and developer Big Bad Wolf Studio have just announced Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, an action-adventure title based on the tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf Publishing.
Players take control of three main vampires in Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong and follow their journeys and struggles against the world and each other. Set in a fictional Boston, players must “harness the powers, embrace the desires, and face the demons” of these three vampires, which then dictate the fate of the city shrouded in the supernatural. The story of Swansong revolves around Hazel Iversen (whose voice can be heard in the very stylish announcement trailer), the new Prince of the Boston Camarilla.
An overview explains that Iversen is “An iron hand in a velvet glove, she intends to assert her power and enforce the Masquerade, the vampiric law designed to ensure humans never learn about her kind. However, the best laid plans of mice and men are often torn asunder.” I’m assuming that she’s not going to be name-dropped by the devs without good reason. However, pivotal as her role might be, and whether it be protagonistic or antagonistic in nature, the player’s decisions made through the three playable vampires will have important and sometimes dire consequences that need to be managed.
The three vampires each have their own storylines and backgrounds that inevitably intertwine with each other. They also have unique skills from their specific vampiric disciplines that can be upgraded to suit the player’s preferred approach: intimidation, seduction, and stealth. Finally, the overview concludes that “Swansong puts the emphasis on consequence.” Maybe this is a foreshadowing that the game will mostly focus on dialogue, storytelling, and improving the weight of in-game decisions and consequences. Hopefully not, as the idea of an open-world title as a vampire is exciting enough, to say the least.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is set to launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via the Epic Games Store in 2021. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, the latest entry to the series, is set to be released later this year.
