World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong - narrative RPG from The Council devs - now on Steam

[Storyfag]

Add on top of that the "look we have oh-so-diverse cast of characters whose only purpose is to fill a gender/race/sexuality/whatever-the-fuck quota here"

The game is set in current day Boston so it's probably about as diverse as it should be. Save this argument for the medieval fantasy games!

Since each character is supposed to be a hundreds year old Elder, the argument still does not stand, as they could have been Embraced wherever.

 

[Storyfag]

Spoiler

While most of these are very well typical modern Boston dwellers, this lady is definitely someone on the artist team's waifu. Vitiligo is incredibly rare IIRC, and people only started finding it attractive when someone on America's Next Top Model had it. Very much a modern phenomena, and something tells me this chick isn't one of the newly embraced.

My money's on Vicissitude having been used on her.

 

[lycanwarrior]

https://wccftech.com/vampire-the-masquerade-swansong-preview-to-feed-or-not-to-feed/

Seems like a mix between Telltale game and Disco Elysium, since it has no combat that you control directly.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/va...hing-storylines-are-looking-bloody-impressive

Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong's branching storylines are looking bloody impressive
No mistakes, only happy accidents



I'm going to jerk back the curtain a little bit here, and I hope the devs will forgive me - it'll turn out okay, I promise! You see, since the pandemic happened everyone has discovered you can do hands-on game previews using remote streaming, provided all parties have a decent enough internet connection. It usually works very well, with the added benefit that I don't have to get on a plane anywhere. I had one of these for Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong last week, an upcoming thrillery-puzzley-investigation-RPG set in The World Of Darkness universe (aka all them vampy games), by Big Bad Wolf, who did The Council. For various reasons, however, my preview went terribly. But if it had gone well, I probably wouldn't be as excited for Swansong as I now am.

I'm not entirely sure what happened, but the software doing the remote link seemed dead set against my attempts to play the game. I don't think it was a problem with the game itself, or anything any human hands were doing, but in the end it was decided the best solution was to let me have another crack at it later on. The upshot was that I got to play through the level twice, giving me a broader sampler of all the different ways you can approach it.

The events of Swansong kick off with an attack at a swanky vampire Clan party in Boston, and you play as three different bloodsuckers dealing with the fallout in different ways. The preview focsued on the second scene of the game, playing the 300-year-old Galeb looking for a man named Jason Moore. Jason is a human and kind of a financial fixer and info broker for Galeb's boss. You turn up at a locked room murder at Jason's flat. The job is to find out what happened to Jason, retrieve five damning reports that Jason was working on, and remove any otherwise suspicious evidence of, you know, vampires before the (slightly janky) cops bag it and tag it. Excellent. Right up my street.


Jason has a very nice apartment.

One of my favourite things about The World Of Darkness is that vampires come in different flavours according to their Clan (which is what accounts for, basically, your character class). You can level up each of the three player characters in Swansong with detectivey skills, social skills and vampire powers. Galeb is a Tory Ventrue. He is haughty and has a very neat beard, and has abilities like Dominate and Presence to impose his will on humans. It's suggested you put points in dialogue skills, because you butt up against people in talk-fights quite a lot (much like you did in The Council), and for this level I found Deduction was important in putting information together or spotting more clues. I was happy to paw through everything myself to find, for example, phone unlock codes, but if you can't be arsed you can use a kind of vampire magic sight to highlight clues, or put points into Security and Technology to brute force things.

Doing so will cost you Willpower points, which you have a bunch of but can run down quickly. Using vampire powers, meanwhile, increases your hunger. Luckily you can refill Willpower by consuming certain items like old coins (presumably you look at them and are like, "Wow, lil' penny, I too am very old. If you can keep going, so can I!"), and refill Hunger by consuming, you know, people. Just try not to kill them, because killing people is sus.

I found I only really had to use my supernatural abilities in those talk-fights. These happen with key characters or witnesses, and you have different options - you could try psychology, or threats, and each has a chance of success based on the person you're talking to. You can increase your odds by focusing (costing you more Willpower or Hunger) but so can the NPC. Jason's aged retainer, for example, was so distraught and guilty at the headless corpse in the hall that he rebuffed my efforts to tell him it wasn't his fault. So in the end I just used Dominate to tell him to calm down.

There were lots of fun "I'm a vampire" asides with just the right amount of ham - Galeb's disdain for a rookie cop yakking up at the sight of blood, for example. But most of the time I was just looking around and noticing things, without the game pointing them out with a neon sign, and without being all vampire-y about it. An evidence marker quietly highlights a bloody footprint. You can follow that trail to the bin bags in the kitchen, and then what kind of fool would you be if you didn't open the garbage chute for a look? A text from Jason's wife mentions changing the safe code to their daughter's birthday, which indicates firstly that you need to find out that date, and secondly that wait, what, I haven't seen a safe anywhere. So now you're looking for a hidden safe.



Because there's so much to do, and many ways to do it, Swansong has many potential outcomes. Had the streaming gods been on my side, I would have probably only seen one of these during my preview, but thanks to my aforementioned technological breakdown, I actually got to see just how dramatic the differences can be by playing it a couple of times. In my first attempt(s), I was tracking down all the missing paperwork, and in the process managed to threaten a dude into revealing his, kind of, hidden vampire meth lab. This had a lot of interesting stuff in it that had ramifications for interactions further in the future. But in my second proper go, I accidentally figured out what had happened to Jason straight away and was railroaded into escaping the apartment, leaving not only the meth lab but also all the incriminating evidence I was supposed to collect.

This is obviously going to make me very paranoid while I'm playing the game proper. But also, how cool is that? The gulf between possible endings in that one scenario is pretty huge, and I know choice-based games like this are mostly tricking you into thinking you're making meaningful decisions, but in this preview, at least, Swansong seems to have performed the illusion very well. Apparently it has 15 different endings, and I probably wouldn't have seen how different it can be in practise if my first preview hadn't broken.

I'm going to confess that until I played it, I'd (very unkindly) pigeonholed Swansong as one of several B-side WoD games distracting everyone from the fact that Bloodlines 2 appears to have been pissed up the wall. But now I'm really excited for Swansong. The blood sings. If Big Bad Wolf can pull it off (and avoid the same final act pitfalls as The Council), this could be great.

 

[Infinitron]

More previews:



https://www.ign.com/articles/vampire-the-masquerade-swansong-first-hands-on-preview
https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2022/03/28/vampire-the-masquerade-swansong-new-gameplay-today
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/vampire-the-masquerade-swansong-preview/
https://www.nme.com/features/gaming...song-preview-curiosity-killed-the-bat-3190665
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/v...song-hands-on-preview-det-acula/1100-6501936/
https://screenrant.com/vampire-masquerade-swansong-preview/
https://www.gfinityesports.com/vampire-the-masquerade/swansong-preview/

 

[Zombra]

Seems like a mix between Telltale game and Disco Elysium, since it has no combat that you control directly.

I haven't read any of today's previews, but if The Council is any indicator, this isn't too far off. I'm also reminded of the Cyanide Studios Call of Cthulhu.

 

[agris]

Spoiler

While most of these are very well typical modern Boston dwellers, this lady is definitely someone on the artist team's waifu. Vitiligo is incredibly rare IIRC, and people only started finding it attractive when someone on America's Next Top Model had it. Very much a modern phenomena, and something tells me this chick isn't one of the newly embraced.

I can’t speak to the quantitative rarity, but in my brief life I’ve met more people with this skin disorder than I have with down syndrome.

Socioeconomic status is at the top of the list for distinguishing factors, I was not well off but was near people who were.

 

[Semiurge]

Spoiler

While most of these are very well typical modern Boston dwellers, this lady is definitely someone on the artist team's waifu. Vitiligo is incredibly rare IIRC, and people only started finding it attractive when someone on America's Next Top Model had it. Very much a modern phenomena, and something tells me this chick isn't one of the newly embraced.

To think that the people working on games even know what's going on with ANTM, or care for that matter...

Is the whole gaming industry overtaken by degenerate toreadors?

 

[Häyhä]

To think that the people working on games even know what's going on with ANTM, or care for that matter...

Is the whole gaming industry overtaken by degenerate toreadors?

Don't hate the player my Sewer Rat friend, hate the game.

 

[Drop Duck]

Add on top of that the "look we have oh-so-diverse cast of characters whose only purpose is to fill a gender/race/sexuality/whatever-the-fuck quota here"

The game is set in current day Boston so it's probably about as diverse as it should be. Save this argument for the medieval fantasy games!

This argument is never a good one regardless of the position of the person making it or the setting in question. Very few games depict the medieval world as it was and this vampire game features fantasy blacks instead of what the population actually looks like. You would think Frenchmen living in Paris would know what black people look like but they are making a game set in their idea of America which has these progressive tumblr influences of what is appealing and desirable. The audience for the game also has to be taken into question, and it consists of obese nerdy women and gay men, very likely to hold the particular flavor of progressive views previously mentioned. It has little to do with reality one way or another. They do seem to hit the spot for their target audience and it follows the conventions of the modern urban fantasy genre. That's all there is to it, you don't need to bring up demographic data.

 

[Gradenmayer]

Add on top of that the "look we have oh-so-diverse cast of characters whose only purpose is to fill a gender/race/sexuality/whatever-the-fuck quota here"

The game is set in current day Boston so it's probably about as diverse as it should be. Save this argument for the medieval fantasy games!

This argument is never a good one regardless of the position of the person making it or the setting in question. Very few games depict the medieval world as it was and this vampire game features fantasy blacks instead of what the population actually looks like. You would think Frenchmen living in Paris would know what black people look like but they are making a game set in their idea of America which has these progressive tumblr influences of what is appealing and desirable. The audience for the game also has to be taken into question, and it consists of obese nerdy women and gay men, very likely to hold the particular flavor of progressive views previously mentioned. It has little to do with reality one way or another. They do seem to hit the spot for their target audience and it follows the conventions of the modern urban fantasy genre. That's all there is to it, you don't need to bring up demographic data.

This is what we get when retards spend too much time arguing about politics on the internet- terminal brain rot.

• We have black chick, white chick with cringe hairstyle and a middle-aged guy .
• The gameplay trailers shows them killing, mind-raping and robbing innocent people left and right.
• It's definitely the devs pushing their SJW values, guys!!!

 

[Drop Duck]

Add on top of that the "look we have oh-so-diverse cast of characters whose only purpose is to fill a gender/race/sexuality/whatever-the-fuck quota here"

The game is set in current day Boston so it's probably about as diverse as it should be. Save this argument for the medieval fantasy games!

This argument is never a good one regardless of the position of the person making it or the setting in question. Very few games depict the medieval world as it was and this vampire game features fantasy blacks instead of what the population actually looks like. You would think Frenchmen living in Paris would know what black people look like but they are making a game set in their idea of America which has these progressive tumblr influences of what is appealing and desirable. The audience for the game also has to be taken into question, and it consists of obese nerdy women and gay men, very likely to hold the particular flavor of progressive views previously mentioned. It has little to do with reality one way or another. They do seem to hit the spot for their target audience and it follows the conventions of the modern urban fantasy genre. That's all there is to it, you don't need to bring up demographic data.

This is what we get when retards spend too much time arguing about politics on the internet- terminal brain rot.

• We have black chick, white chick with cringe hairstyle and a middle-aged guy .
• The gameplay trailers shows them killing, mind-raping and robbing innocent people left and right.
• It's definitely the devs pushing their SJW values, guys!!!

You're reading things into my post that aren't there. I wrote that the game looks as it does due to the audience targeted and that it has nothing to do with real-world authenticity, that it is about the tastes of the customer group that is being appealed to. They want to sell their game to the same crowd that is into this particular genre. Where are you getting "It's definitely the devs pushing their SJW values, guys!!!" from?

 

[Silva]

This is looking good. I hope devs don't drop the ball in the final acts as they did in The Council. This formula is the best among the cinemeatic, "choose your adventure" games I've seen, much better than stuff like Detroit or Until Dawn.

 

[Herumor]

While I would like to look forward to the game, I can't help but loathe the devs for sticking with the vanilla Clans. Obviously, I'm not expecting shit like a Salubri popping out of nowhere or a True Brujah, but a little variety would be welcome. Toreador, Ventrue and Malkavian are just so bland and played out at this point.

 

[Zombra]

Yeah, that one game 18 years ago, and now this?

 

[J1M]

While I would like to look forward to the game, I can't help but loathe the devs for sticking with the vanilla Clans. Obviously, I'm not expecting shit like a Salubri popping out of nowhere or a True Brujah, but a little variety would be welcome. Toreador, Ventrue and Malkavian are just so bland and played out at this point.

Adding a dozen clans every time they wanted to sell a book was stupid. Thirteen was enough, and if they really needed certain enemy types, the characters didn't all need to be vampires or near-vampires. Also, looking at what they did to the V5 meta plot, you really don't want the new shit.

I'll grant you that it would be more interesting if they made a game about Sabbat politics or started with the "DLC clans".

 

[Semiurge]

Don't hate the player my Sewer Rat friend, hate the game.

Some of those points are not even accurate. All clans have gone down the toilet, watered down with the filth. So in the modern nights clan toreador would more likely embrace the social media "influencers" and other flavors of the week born in a creative vacuum. Either way, creativity dies with the mortal flesh, if it ever existed. Nosferatu at least used to be more than basement dwellers, they had high standards even for "Cleopatra" embraces.

Lo, how the parasites go down with their hosts.

 

[Lambach]

To think that the people working on games even know what's going on with ANTM, or care for that matter...

Is the whole gaming industry overtaken by degenerate toreadors?

Don't hate the player my Sewer Rat friend, hate the game.

Dunno how it is in V5, but in the previous editions, Nosferatu curse of being ugly is probably the least problematic of all Clan weaknesses. With just 3 points in Obfuscate, you can p. much negate it. I like how Requiem handled it better: a Nossie's ugliness is not necessarily physical, but they constantly project a sort of sense of dread and discomfort, making it more difficult for them to interact with others, specially humans.

 

[Storyfag]

Dunno how it is in V5, but in the previous editions, Nosferatu curse of being ugly is probably the least problematic of all Clan weaknesses. With just 3 points in Obfuscate, you can p. much negate it.

"Just 3 points", lel. 3 points is the total starting pool for Disciplines by the standard rules.

It is, however, easily negated with the use of a mask.

 

[Lambach]

Dunno how it is in V5, but in the previous editions, Nosferatu curse of being ugly is probably the least problematic of all Clan weaknesses. With just 3 points in Obfuscate, you can p. much negate it.

"Just 3 points", lel. 3 points is the total starting pool for Disciplines by the standard rules.

It is, however, easily negated with the use of a mask.

You can easily buy another 2-3 Dots with Freebie points. Point is, if a starting character is perfectly capable of p. much completely negating his Clan's weakness, it ain't much of a weakness. Compare that to the hassle Ventrue have to go through just to grab a snack.

 

[Storyfag]

Dunno how it is in V5, but in the previous editions, Nosferatu curse of being ugly is probably the least problematic of all Clan weaknesses. With just 3 points in Obfuscate, you can p. much negate it.

"Just 3 points", lel. 3 points is the total starting pool for Disciplines by the standard rules.

It is, however, easily negated with the use of a mask.

You can easily buy another 2-3 Dots with Freebie points. Point is, if a starting character is perfectly capable of p. much completely negating his Clan's weakness, it ain't much of a weakness. Compare that to the hassle Ventrue have to go through just to grab a snack.

True, esp. since the points invested into Obfuscate provide more boons than merely negating the Clan's weakness.

 

[whydoibother]

Seems like a mix between Telltale game and Disco Elysium, since it has no combat that you control directly.

Deus Ex Human Revolution tier dialogue system.

 

[Herumor]

Thirteen was enough

I agree. If they were to start bringing in various Bloodlines, I honestly don't think they could do them justice in fleshing them out properly. Hell, even the regular thirteen clans barely get fleshed out.

Also, looking at what they did to the V5 meta plot, you really don't want the new shit.

Yeah, I skimmed through some of the books, never really thought I'd say this, but I'd prefer playing Requiem (2E) than this. Hell, Requiem would probably make for a decent game , as you can write up pretty much anything you like, given how barebones the general fluff is.

I'll grant you that it would be more interesting if they made a game about Sabbat politics or started with the "DLC clans".

Not going to happen, sadly enough. They seem to have forgotten people actually would like a chance to play as inhuman monsters in a game about inhuman monsters, and Sabbat games don't necessarily have to revolve around eating babies or some of the more fucked up Tzimisce Vicissitude works. A Sabbat game exploring the various Paths of Enlightenment would be great, but let's face it, there's not really any developers out there whom you could trust with making a game with such subtlety, not to mention portraying the Sabbat as something more than just shovelheads and cackling maniacs that kill indiscriminately. Well, actually, there's one developer out there I would trust with this - Iron Tower Studios - but they're making their own thing right now and it'll take a while until they're done with it. I feel like any VTM game really needs to emphasize choices and consequences and not just the bigger main story-relevant stuff, which is something that ITS would be really good at, given how well they did this with Age of Decadence.

 

[Sykar]

The true Nosferatu!

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Drop Duck]

We have black chick, white chick with cringe hairstyle and a middle-aged guy .

Let me try this again since it seems nobody can understand me, or they don't want to. There is a fantasy black woman, an obvious lesbian and some gay bait. My point was that this decision was made to sell the game to people who would play urban fantasy games about vampires, that it was the market that helped with this decision, they aren't making a documentary game. There's also nothing wrong with some guy buying a vampire game because he feels homosexual attraction to the vampire guy in it. Do you disagree with any of this?