Vampire: The Masquerade Swansong

A tabletop-inspired mystery worth drinking in, claret stains and all

- Jess Kinghorn

INFO

FORMAT PS5 [reviewed), PS4 PRICE £49.99 ETA Out now PUB Nacon DEV Big Bad Wolf PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 25+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Basic subtitles and vibration on/ off; independently invertable X and Y axis

Jason Moore, an accountant to both the living and the dead, has lost his head. Our initial investigation suggests it took an a garbage disposal chute but in the World Of Darkness few things are clear-cut. Based on the enduring White Wolf tabletop roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquerade, Swansong sees you desperately trying to untangle a web of conspiracy that could otherwise spell the end for you and your fellow fanged folk in Boston.

Returning to the aforementioned blood-smeared. kitchen, you could ignore the gory trail of investigation and leave the scene without even scratching the surface of this little introductory mystery. Or you could pore over the files, phones, and secrets strewn throughout the Moore family's apartment to see just how deep things really go. Along the way, you may stumble across a ghoul determined to derail the case, a thin-blooded vampire with a strange connection to a long-disappeared undead prince, and perhaps even the rest of that poor, misadventuring accountant. Whatever you decide, your choices have a surprising amount of staying power.

It would be all too easy to stake Swansong's fate on its less-than-triple-A production values. From stilted animation to visual bugs and bizarre sound mixing choices, it's all a bit rough and ready. But even while the limitations of the production hold us at arm's length, there's a vein of ambition and flair running through the whole thing that compels us to lose ourselves in this chronicle. Yes, some of the NPC character models are a bit stare-y and wooden looking, but we're willing to look past that.