Vampire: the Masquerade - Swansong Review

I caught a really bad throat cold during the week and was only able to record this today. Sorry for the shitty voice over but I had to take breaks in between recording.
There are a lot of things, good and bad, I left out of this review, but hopefully this review will paint up how incredibly frustrating playing this game is. There is a great game buried beneath all the obnoxious contrivances, and I am sad that I couldn't be more positive about this game.
If you are an aspiring Storyteller, play this game to see just how important it is to reward your players. This game reads, beat for beat, as a series of sessions where the Storyteller considers the players their enemy and provides them challenge after challenge without giving much thought what the point of them is.
This is a deeply flawed game, but unlike Earthblood, which I never got back to, this game had me play it all through as quickly as life would let me. It left me feeling that there were so many interesting plot threads, so many fascinating NPCs that never got fleshed out or were delivered upon.
All in all, I'm thankful this game got finished, and I think it's a game fans of Vampire: the Masquerade should play, but only after some patching, and hopefully not at full price.
I still want to say thank you to Big Bad Wolf Studio for making this game. You folks did your damndest and it shows. Don't let this poor review get you down, I know you didn't do this half-assed.
Oh, and if I got something wrong about the game, feel free to correct me. I got the game this week, was sick while playing it, and didn't have much time for a second playthrough, so I'm sure I got some details wrong.
Thank you for watching!
---
★ / theprimogen ★
Want to help decide what content to focus on in the future? I hold regular polls on my patreon to see where to interest lies, including clans and such. For a dollar a month, you can join in on the fun!
★ / theprimogen ★
Follow me on Twitter where I'll post quick little updates, thoughts on the games I'm covering and the occasional thinking out loud about editions and lore.
---
Thank you to thornedembers for making my avatar! If you're looking for an amazing artist, go check them out on twitter! / thornedembers
Music from:
Vampire: the Masquerade Swansong
“Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit white-wolf.com.”

[@ThePrimogen]

Time stamp 26:00 Sorry everyone!!

[@Apollo_Speaks]

First of all, amazing video! I agree entirely about this game being overly ambitious - I feel in a lot of ways Swansong is strained by its overall scope. I really want to like it, but the game doesn't make it easy. I'm so glad more World of Darkness games are being produced, but with this and Earthblood, I can't help but feel the franchise needs a title which can fully stick the landing.

[@ThePrimogen]

Thank you! I agree, I think a big issue is the scope. Titles like Shadows of NY or Nightroad aren't huge, expensive projects and they seem to have done well, and I've heard that Bloodhunt is doing remarkably well! Thanks for the nice comment!

[@rogueraccoon1840]

@@ThePrimogen we need a single player experience with the graphics of bloodhunt and have an open world with the movement system they have cause my God the movement in bloodhunt is just super smooth and gunplay is just awesome. Plus add some of the RPG elements of sawnsong and there it would be an awesome action adventure RPG where choices matter and you'll also get into gun fights with other clans or fight against vampire hunters.

[@wowcraft8784]

Im saying it and we all know it if we ever get bloodlines 2 it will look the same as the first gameplay we saw of it if WOD keeps this up they will destroy all of their franchises

[@Kammereer]

Re: Characters IMHO, this is one of the biggest issues of the game. Both Galeb and Emem are extremely flat characters. The reason everyone likes Leysha the most is because only Leysha has any arc and development at all! Emem starts her story as a vaguely Camarilla-hating outsider with an unresolved lesbian love affair with her sire and ends her story as a vaguely Camarilla-hating outsider with an unresolved lesbian love affair with her sire. She's supposed to be a savvy diplomat in tune with the city, but in every single diplomatic negotiation she goes "Woah bud, this is way out of my league!" before stumbling her way to success. Galeb starts his story as a low-Humanity Hard Operator ™ disillusioned in humans and Berel Underwood, and ends his story as a low-Humanity Hard Operator ™ disillusioned in humans and Berel Underwood. Nothing happens to these people. They go through a crisis, they deal with a crisis, and at the end of it they are exactly the people we saw entering the Elysium and leisurely pondering what "Code Red" means.

[@ThePrimogen]

Exactly this. There is an incredibly low amount of character development.

[@Kammereer]

When shirtless Galeb attacked SAD agents in slow-mo I genuinely laughed. It's supposed to look badass, but it looked so amazingly bad.

[@ThePrimogen]

At that point, I was honestly kind of already checked out so I mostly just wondered why they were being so sloppy with restraining him.

[@DividedStates]

I think the game has an expectation and ambition problem. Expectation: People read Vampire: The Masquerade and expect Bloodlines 2. They expect combat and diverse RPG dialogue options, free choice of clans etc. This game is not that. It is a puzzle game, much like an multi-level escape room! Exploration and the willingness and patience to read are key and the game doesn't take you by the hand to make it any easier. Spoiler: You don't read the diary of the little child, you will not learn about the code on the chalk board. And that is okay. It just needed to be better communicated. All they kept saying that "the Council" is a good preparation for the game - and it was for all the game's merits and its flaws. Ambition: The goal was certainly to build a rich, vibrant roleplaying game, with many facets and intrigue and meaningful options that diverge the story into so many different directions. And regarding the level design and general atmosphere and the generally diverse character design (btw it is called Vitiligo) and the overaching story, they succeeded. But the devil is in the details. You play it and then you see it and you can't unsee it: The facial animations. The wonky skill and character progression system that break immersion because it doesn't align with the story. The non-VtMesque dice mechanics. The dialogue and exploration system which seems build around correct and free answers spiced with a plethora of traps and sinkholes to burry your precious focus or bloodpoints in - and that feels dumb, cheesy, wrong, unfair, and just so unnecessary. And like the taste of a rotten peanut it alters your experience of all the rest. You feel cheated when every exploration prompt using Education or Deduction only states the damn most obvious and you don't learn anything new. You don't feel good spending the points. All you do is think: "Hey Devs, you think there is 'a right way' to play this game, then let me play this game and don't bore me with the illusion of choice or punish me for doing 'the wrong thing'!" And then there is the quality - and that again very much like the Council. Missing dialogue and bugs. An example: In the Council, when you collect the tome Al'blabla too early from the docks in episode 5, the game breakes and you are locked from progression with no chance of restoring a previous save point. Good luck, you have play the game again. (I didn't!) And that bug is still in there after 3 or more years since the game was released. It was reported in 2018 and somebody from the support reacted to it, so it must be known! I can only conclude, they chose to not fix it at this point. And don't get me wrong... Bugs sucks, but they happen. You can't fault them for have certain difficulties to account for all possibilities and to ensure people aren't doing anything "out of line" that is not accounted for. Not fixing those bugs sucks more and it starts to speak for the quality and quality ensureance. In Swansong: I encountered a similar bug in the Red Saloon. I talked with Wyatt, who didn't entered into a dialogue, but only replied with a voice line. I talked with him before an NPC broke him the news that one of the vessels wouldn't come out of the injection room, which moved Wyatt to a different spot in the Red Saloon. Of course, I would speak with him the moment I see him. He is a funny character, I encountered before... but the devs 'expected' me to go to the next room first to talk with people there and follow the ghoul back? And this bug wasn't found in play testing? Different from The Council, this bug wouldn't break the game, only the quest, and this time I could at least restart the mission (careful: don't do this in the first quest before not all three characters have been checked out via the XP summary screen or you will restart the entire game!), but just the fact that something so obvious makes it into the final product is just... wrong! But now that the bug is in there, I am just wondering how long it takes for it to be removed - if ever. Expect more late game bugs. The game is okay, especially if you have your expecatations in order and bring the patience and the general willingness to read. It looks pretty good on the surface even, but it is far from perfect, esp. the mechanics. I give it 6 out of 10 points because I like the setting, level design and atmosphere. It has the potential to go up to 8 out of 10 points when the bugs are ever fixed. The mechanics prevent me from ever giving more than that.

[@Kanekonagase]

I thought I was the only one to experience the Wyatt bug! It was fricking annoying!

[@VerticalBlank]

I got the Wyatt bug as well. Had to resort to a walk-thru to figure out what was going on.

[@fireorb2]

Doesn't surprise me that another WOD game falls flat. I mean, in the right hands the series could soar as it stands right now, that's the struggle.

[@Kammereer]

Re: Leysha and her yellow room Spoilers ahead read at your own risk you've been warned -------- It's exactly what you'd guess hour one if you read Leysha's, Halsey's, and Richard's bios. Richard embraced Halsey (Juliette), Halsey frenzy-embraced Leysha (Marie), and Richard keeps Halsey locked up because she's apparently the world's strongest vampire who can mind control groups of elder vampires* and entire platoons while staked. Richard regularly mind-wipes Leysha to keep control of her, but Leysha's malkavian obsession manifests fake Halsey anyway. *Early in the game you can find a note in Richard's office about Weird Shit happening in Quentin King's court, such as the Primogen randomly laughing in sync or every ghoul in the building vomiting at the same time. That's Halsey.

[@ThePrimogen]

LMAO this is exactly what I figured after reading those notes... Thanks for the heads up

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Yep. Pretty hamfisted and wrapped up in a package of being "subtle" Like, okay. The main audience for this game are people who have played/ran VtM tabletop games. Like, you would think the writers would just assume that we aren't idiots. But alas, they don't exactly pay for competent staffing in the writers rooms

[@OldSaltySean1]

Thanks for the review! I was excited for this game but then disappointed when it was Epic exclusive since I hate using the Epic store. Held off as a result and it sounds like I made the right call as a result. Love your content.

[@ThePrimogen]

Thank you! Honestly I'm no fan of Epic either but there wasn't any other option. Thank you for your nice comment!

[@jamesisaacson6379]

@@ThePrimogen hey are ever going to do dracula chacter lore video?

[@fakechemicals]

They released this on three platforms: two of which I don't own, one of which I refuse to engage with because I don't agree with their business model. But it should be coming out for the Switch which I have and was probably gonna pick it up there. Thing is, now I don't know if I want to anymore if the development was so noticeably sloppy. If I do pick it up maybe at least it will prepare me for what Bloodlines might be if it ever finishes.

[@CSmith-hx2pm]

Can I ask what console you oppose due to their business model?

[@DividedStates]

@@CSmith-hx2pm platform, not console. It is obviously directed against epic games, which take a smaller cut from developer and do so through an limited exclusivity contract.

[@joshshin6819]

Switch? This? Jesus Christ why? The loading times will be so fucking long.

[@fakechemicals]

@@CSmith-hx2pm Epic Games launched their "Epic Games Store" as a competitor to Steam, which was needed, but they did by snatching up titles as exclusives instead of offering better prices and services. Since stores like Steam, Epic, Origin, whatever are all just spyware anyway I'd rather not have more than one on my machine at any given time. I already have Steam so Steam wins by that technicality. Even if I didn't think Epic was engaging in shady business practices, I'd avoid it altogether for that reason alone honestly.

[@fakechemicals]

@@joshshin6819 Probably going to forget all about this game by the time it comes out for Switch any way.

[@rogueraccoon1840]

Dude Telltale games would be the perfect company to make a vampire the masquerade game. I mean they're the best at making story type games with choices that matter. We need Telltale games to make some WoD games

[@michaelmichaelson8861]

I'd love to see smth like "Detroit Become Human" or "Heavy Rain"

[@TheStupidLama]

man... I had a good first game and I thought it was not easy but absolutely doable. Also confrontations were the best part for me and well done. and when I failed I felt it was my fault. often there are RIGHT answers that don't require a skillcheck or a discipline - if you followed the little hints. that one woman has a young son, which is a weekpoint of hers! exploit it, no willpower or blood necessary, but you have to have picked up on it.

[@ricardogalvan1031]

Yes, I found that if you paid attention, the skill checks were not always necessary. Many confrontations could be won by picking the correct dialogue option.

[@ssaberwolf]

Completely agree.

[@ricardogalvan1031]

Re: the complaint on blood use. In the first couple of missions I was indeed concerned over blood and rarely used my abilities. However, as the game went on, I began casually using my skills at all opportunities without issue due to the plentitude of rats and victims. I didn't notice a drawback to having high suspicion.

[@TheCrowFairyTale]

Thank you for the review, Instructor! Very well informative 😁

[@SeekerOfArcane]

Your review was spot on with my own experiences with Swansong. I am ultimately glad I played it and the price point wasn’t terrible considering what other new games cost, but all your observations are valid. Halley’s lispy dialogue was just so grating that the first time I heard it, i wanted to shut my PC off. I will say that I found alt+f4 to be useful when I tried a roll and messed up in a confrontation., lame I know but the game did feel like there was a certain way I was supposed to play it. I guessed off of the codex and reading over the character dots and got lucky a few times but sheesh, Galeb/Berel situation is just annoyingly pathetic. In all, the game is helping to inspire me to write my own stuff and explore the WoD further. Great review.

[@Valbruch]

Fortunately you don't have to replay a whole level if you fail a confrontation. As long as you quit to the main menu before the dialogue scene ends, you can continue your save and it will reload at the start of the confrontation.

[@zackdewey6474]

Let's face it,nothing tops bloodlines . The first one. Old but still as close as we are going to get.

[@sineater4077]

I’m absolutely new to the world of vampire the masquerade so this is my first time buying it

[@srdfh1]

Then we’ll have to wait Bloodlines 2 isn’t that right?

[@kamui003]

That's gonna be a long wait.

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Pack a lunch, bring a some jukeboxes and a sleeping bag. It's gonna be awhile

[@Jack-vj1nb]

“Fuck all these vampires there terrible people” Step 1 of inquisition recruitment complete.

[@daem0nfaust]

They made a pretty good movie, and totally forgot that they are actually doing a computer game.

[@michaelmichaelson8861]

Love your review! This game didn't grab me from the start, unfortunately, but since there's nothing else out there, apart from interactive and visual novels, I'll still play it...

[@nerdybirdnerd916]

Finding out how Galebs story ends completely put me off from playing. I saw it coming from a mile away but the fact that no matter what you do Galeb gets outplayed by his progeny is infuriating.

[@fiel81]

wat? I didn't get outplayed lol

[@nerdybirdnerd916]

@@fiel81 From my understand Galeb always gets outplayed by Berrel because he embraces Feng regardless of what you do. That could be someone just spreading misinformation though 🤷‍♂️

[@fiel81]

@@nerdybirdnerd916 nah you can confront berrel before he does that, thus embracing her yourself at the end, go watch a video about it if you don't trust me

[@nerdybirdnerd916]

@@fiel81 I totally do but now I'm mad I let the internet lie to me so soon after this game came out 😂

[@fiel81]

@@nerdybirdnerd916 don't believe everything you hear, some of these "reviewers" won't even play most games a second time

[@AioriaOgon]

This game is one of the worst I have ever played. I regret ever installing it. The only good thing I can say is that it has 4 or 5 very well written moments among the terrible story and I love how cool Monsignor Stanford is as a concept for a powerful vampire hunter. If you haven't played it, keep it that way.

[@sterasigma8734]

I was hesitant about purchasing this game, now I'm definitely not purchasing this game. Well, at least there's still Choice of Games...

[@stephenmagan3685]

💯 agree with all your points. Was it play tested for enjoyment before release? I have restarted 2 times now because of misplaced points in skills and abilities. And it’s still frustrating 90% of the time.

[@mmmproductions1247]

I think an open world sandbox game akin to The Prototype series would be an amazing entry. Have a strong core story, but allow your players to go apeshit in the sandbox with their powers if they really wanted to.

[@mr-century]

Based on a Gehenna event would be dope, being sired by an antediluvian secretly to explain power progression

[@mattd7695]

Great video Chris! This game had alot of potential and I'm sad that it fell short. With this and earthblood I'm skeptical if will ever get a WOD rpg that really captures the tabletop. At least we have the choice of games series 😄. Also great job on grand stand season 2 👏

[@lorddaffy]

I played this game on the PS4.....it made me so crazy at times i wanted to freak out. Almost every time i tried to start it i got "C-E939393939 Error" and it bluescreened and turned itself off. So i generaly had to restart the game up to 10 times b4 it started. That error occured several times ingame in the middle of the end of those long dialouge scenes you talk about...and i had to play through them once again. I found the story...good. I wanted to know more about it...and that was the only thing that made me finish it. It also had some really good moments here and there that was...cool. But the disciplines...i am not sure if i felt that i got more powerfull having 1 dot in a disciplin or 2-3 dots....as you say the skills where....random at best... I would still recomend it...and i concidered going for a second round...started the game....and it fkn bluescreened on me in the start with the prince. I turned the game on...and...well...i prob wont pick it up again in a long...long....long...time...perhaps never again. In the end i feel like this game had the chance to be something so much better, but they missed out on a good chance here. Still...i hope they make a sequel...thats...just better. And i must say, i do respect that they tried to make a game for the fans, but if you are not into VTM or similar games...this game must be a complete S**t show.

[@alexneckoyami]

I wanted to like this game, but playing it with friends watching had my buddies howling with laughter at the visuals. Tbh i wouldn't have been bothered but they were really asking how much i paid for it. The voices moving as the camera did really irritated me, as well as how the point system was a nightmare, like playing mine sweeper. The joke was its literally impossible to pass a check, never did on anything that wasn't guaranteed I like a lot about it, the world building but...

[@mrksimka1159]

Omg not having session 0 analogy is exactly my feelings about this game. The punishment for not advancing characters correctly or doing something that games ALLOWS you to do is so fucking frustrating that I don't wanna keep playing this pixel hunting quest pretending to be an rpg anymore. This game makes me disillusioned with entire WoD franchise I don’t want to engage with it anymore if IP owners think this is an authentic experience. Screw you Paradox and Big Bad Wolf.

[@chibiprussia5574]

Galeb is my favorite, he's such a badass

[@thesanguinewizard]

It's sad how it seems impossible to create another stellar game like Bloodlines or Redemption.

[@eddybrock7818]

This may sound simplistic but, when I found out that you couldn't pick your clan I already lost interest in the game. 3 PREMADE clan members only. 3 clans out of 13?

[@ThePrimogen]

I don't think you'll ever find a game that will let you pick all thirteen I'm afraid, the closest being Night Road IIRC. Even Bloodlines only had the seven of the Camarilla.

[@eddybrock7818]

@@ThePrimogen 7 out of 13 is more than half, that's great i can deal with that. The only character that "felt"(not just looked like) like a member of their clan was the malkavain . In Bloodlines, I could "feel" like a venture. Sure this game had the disciplines right I didn't "feel" like a toreador. Sorry if that did not bring my point across.

[@Harbinger421]

About half way through i all but gave up trying to finish the game without help so I found what form of guides to each level I could to get the best ending I possibly could. And still ended got a subpar finish. Yes, all three survived. Emem left the court. No, I never found out who was behind the info leak so the end text wrap up was quite bad. (although its was blatantly obvious who it was). Yes, "Leysha" and "Halsey" lived remembering who they were and went off the grid. Yes I killed the old fart and had him replaced. No "Agent Smith" didn't get to embrace his 2nd ghoul himself, but atleast he saved his childe and put him in his place. And looking back, HOLY SHIT THE WEREWOLF "CAT AND MOUSE" GAME WITH LEYSHA WAS UTTER GARBAGE!! Three fails and you're dead?! fuck that!! Start the scene again.

[@SubwaySweden]

I took a different route, after having to replay the Moore mission 3 times I downloaded a walkthrough but the only things I checked in it was the confrontations and what I needed to succeed in them..... that made the rest of the game passable, not a fantastic game but still fun enough.

[@JoeStoryteller]

Im with you on this review; I think this game is lackluster; I'll likely pick it up when it goes on sale on Steam. Thank you for your honest thoughts and insights on this.

[@RoyalMudcrab]

Will it even come to Steam?

[@karcistthurgy3025]

So i should just wait for bloodlines 2?

[@ricardogalvan1031]

Some of these bugs must have been cleaned up since you played the game. I had no audio issues and didn't see any clipping. Galeb did start t-posing for a milisecond in one of the last missions when hitting certain objects, but was otherwise fine.

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Almost finished with it, but man oh man...if it wasn't for Cheatengine so that I could increase the walking speed of the characters, I would have rage quit early on. I understand immersion, but forcing players to creep along in a painfully slow animation to get ANYWHERE is just Machiavellian

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Not to mention glaring bugs that prevent achieving many, many, many sorry quests

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

And being forced to not skip dialogue that you've replayed 20 or 30xs because of having to restart around bugs during the first playthrough.

[@pinkgazelle3445]

Ummm.. Wheres the time stamp before part 2?

[@ThePrimogen]

Sorry I forgot it. 26:00

[@pinkgazelle3445]

@@ThePrimogen its alright.

[@ssaberwolf]

This game is far from my favorite, and there's certainly a lot of jank, but it really feels like you didn't appreciate the things that WERE done really well or DID succeed as design/writing decisions. It seems like a lot of people went in expecting or hoping for another Bloodlines (and, I mean, fair enough -- that game was awesome) and missed out on a decent little experience because of it. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, just couldn't help noticing that a lot of your criticism consists in you being too pissed that they weren't telling the story you wanted in the way you wanted to enjoy what was good about THIS story, told in this way. And like I said, that's totally fine -- but is that a "review"? I'm not sure it is. This video here does a really good job of touching on the things that this game does truly well (for the benefit of anybody who might enjoy it) in addition to the clear negatives described in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2GxZ36Jo7t-n9ksi=_RjtKsLtj2QwG_CE

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Wait.....is there a fuxking RUN button??? I used cheatengine to artificially adjust my player speed. I couldn't find a run button anywhere

[@VerticalBlank]

On PC it it's left shift by default.

[@marcocameriere1728]

1:39 So basically V5... Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with you, the game could've been great, but alas it's just wasted potential. Galeb could have been a great character (I think it's the first viedogame that allows you to play an Elder, except Cristoff from Redemption) but ends up being quite boring (amd surprisingly not very powerful? I mean, you would assume that a 300 yo kindred would woop the floor with a bunch of SAD operatives) and static. Emem has a great design but her character is slightly annoying, Leysha is decent. I know that v5 decided that the only chronicles that you can play are street level politics, but I would love to see other types of stories, like treasure hunts or exotic explorations in a wod videogame. Especially for a werewolf game.

[@Czermet666]

Animations in Swansong are clearly in Alpha state. It's like they only completed the character models for Caleb & Emem before shipping the game... Also the best VTM guide in the world (the Gentleman Gamer) wrote for this developer, yet they couldn't even consult him on how to pronounce "Primogen" or "Childe." It's pathetic really.

[@bhaktapeter3501]

Bloodlines did faces better

[@sineater4077]

Are these the same developers that made the council game

[@ThePrimogen]

Yep

[@TheCyberguy101]

I was surprised when I saw how THICC Hilda is.

[@LoneWolf-gz9mr]

This game reminds me a lot of the dishonored series... If you want the "good ending" in that series, you'd probably better never use the powers the game gives you... Same thing happens in the game "Vampyre".. If you want the "cool powers" then you HAVE to have a bad guy play style.... All of these games are completely baffling to me. This one seems to be the epitome of that idea... Which is completely silly from a development stance. If you want to play "a regular person", you wouldn't be buying a "vampire" game.

[@TheDreamStrider]

It's a subversion of typical 'video game' expectations. In Dishonored it's clever since you don't necessarily need the powers and it works with the story themes. A bit less so with Vampyr. Here it's just bizzare.

[@wowcraft8784]

It took them this long to make the game and when the first gameplay dropped out every one said the problems of the and they did nothing at least fix the face of the charecters and the only skill you need in this entire game is iron fist in the dominant skill tree and what the hell was wrong with the skill trees the dont give you any real vampiric powers they are all just used in talking with other charecters how the hell does fortitude help you help you win in a conversation celerity was absolutely use less and you can make your way in the game without giving any points to auspex and obfuscate

[@ixis]

1000% this!! Primogen doesn't miss!

[@craigkimber9294]

I throughly enjoyed the game. Played it through back-to-back twice. While I agree the models, animation need work it didn’t distract me. I agree the it would have been better to have one solid character then three weaker characters. The no dialogue skip is annoying especially if like me you play with subtitles and read faster then the speak. Oh and DONT EVER HIT THE MENU RESTART BUTTON unless you want to delete your save and restart the whole game. Usually levels are small enough you can explore them in one play through and not worry about hunger to much if you feed. Confrontation were my favourite part of the game and I would explore trying to learn everything about a person before doing because (spoiler alert)… If you explore you’ll learn stuff about the person you can use against them. Like a particular character is worried the S.I have already lost. If anything I thought disciplines were a little under used in early levels and then late game your expected to have dumped tonnes of Exp in them if you want “best” out come which you haven’t done because you haven’t needed them One of the few gripes I did have is the inconsistency with WoD lore. Because according to this game you can kill a kindred by smashing their head off the floor a couple of time (could just be how my group play but it’s either decapitation, fire or sunlight otherwise their in torpor) or to embrace someone you just bite them and the banes of a clan doesn’t come into it. Galeb can fed from just any old vessel, Emmen takes no I’ll effect from being in a prison or sewer.

[@rogueraccoon1840]

Dude if you want a better game that a lot better than sawnsong then play Vampyr that game is a lot better. Plus choices Matter and there's multiple endings depending on if you embrace your vampiric side or try to stay docile and help the people of the city. You gotta try it primogen it's an underrated vampire game

[@TheStupidLama]

I love this game... solid 8.5/10 for me personally

[@chibiprussia5574]

Same

[@wowcraft8784]

They delayed this game for long time and made zero empowerments i cant help but to worry that they will give us bloodlines 2 with the same gameplay and bugs we first saw if they even release the game wich i doubt they will do

[@GernotKienzer]

The frustration you felt during playing shows in this review. I think you focused too much on the bad sides of the game, which ceratainly are there. The fact that you cannot skip dialogues and have no viable way to reload is unforgivable, but all in all I'm halfway in and I think it could seriously be the best Vampire Masquerade game to date (and I've played them all including Bloodlines) because of the branching story depending on how you play. Your conclusion that the game is worth playing at the end comes out of nowhere considering what you focused on during 90 % of the review. Yes, some (most) skillcecks are really hard, but every skill you could have invested in can enhance your experience. The great thing is, you only have to use them in rare occasions to be successful. Most confrontation stages for example are winnable with normal answers if you pick the right ones without using skills/disciplines at all. In most cases your skilly only give you more information or a more satisfying experience. At first I also felt compelled to use my skills on every occasion, but this is the wrong approach in this game. You have to carefully consider in which situation you really use your blood and concentration points to have them ready when the situation demands its use. Just my opinion though and I've not finished the game yet. I hope you give the game another try when they fixed the skip-dialogue issue and maybe put in a reload function with this^ in mind . I think it's really more than worthwile for every Masquerade fan. Thank you for the review anyway!

[@ThePrimogen]

I absolutely see that much of my focus in this review is on the negative but sadly those overshadowed the rest of the game for me to the point where I had a hard time enjoying the good things. I enjoy going through games very meticulously and I was expecting to play through twice, at one point I even took notes of skill checks for a replay, but due to the lack of dialogue skip and, frankly, free time for me I opted not to because I needed to get the review out. I know I missed a lot of well written material, but even the baseline experience I had was quite lacking. That being said I’m with you that this game could potentially have been one of the best. The environments and npcs are up to snuff, it just wasn’t finished.

[@ThePrimogen]

As for my conclusion, I have a habit of picking at things I enjoy more than things I don’t. I gave this game more of my time than Earthblood because I saw the good stuff beneath the bad. In my mind, a game that evokes a desire to pick at things that don’t work well is a sign that it at least caught my attention so I think it’s something that should be played by as many vtm fans as possible because it is a flawed gem.

[@GernotKienzer]

Alright, sounds good. Just to mention it again: on your next playthrough, dont focus on skills, but take notes when reading extra information scattered around the place. Oftentimes NPCs give hints when you just walk by and thus give you an idea what is important to explore. Save your blood and concentration points for occasions they give you a real edge. The game is really more a pen&paper adaptation than a classic video game in this regard. Just the fact that it gives you the opportunity to use skills at every corner doesn't mean you have to. Beware the final nights ;)

[@kvltshxt3922]

Easy to be the best when literally every other option is just as bad or worse lol. This game is trash and people like you excusing this Is why companies are so comfortable pimping out trash products with this IP. Literally the entire point and click genre fixed most of the glaring problems this game bad in the 90s lol

[@GernotKienzer]

@@kvltshxt3922 I enjoyed both Redemption and Bloodlines very much, the latter is a PC classic even among non-WoD fans. Coteries of NY and the sequel also didnt leave much to be desired for graphic novels. And Swansong was storywise a very interesting and satisfying experience for me with lots of replay potential. A pity you dont like it. Ultimately its always a matter of taste.

[@evoltaocao5078]

the story is good but the elements that would make it a game are absolute trash. unskipable things and chaite saving are the ultimate disrespect to player's times and freedom(i h8te to say this but stereotypes sometimes carry some truth, dear french). having a character sheet doesn't make it an rpg at all, especially if choice is an illusion and we are forced to blindly guess which choices can be used since choosing anything else is punished.

[@blitzedoblivion4280]

So early it’s 360p

[@nicofernandez89able]

There's a good game here under a lot of bad design decisions. I think that with a few quality of life mods and balance tweaks, the game could reach it's full potential.

[@LordWardenOfThePrivy]

"hours and hours of work" ? Games take years, its incredibly hard to ship a quality game. Just a wee issue of wording perhaps? your other points were fair though. Im just thankful for ANY released game of vtm.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

= D