Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong

 I see your white door

Not that long ago I dived into the wild and crazy World of Darkness video game universe to talk about all the plethora or 'in-process' or recently released games that were coming towards us waiting 'Vampire: The Masquerade' fans in order to soothe or aching hearts after the whole 'Bloodlines 2 losing half of it's development and going on extended hiatus' incident. As much as it saddens me to say, in that time we've heard absolutely nothing new from the game and I think (judging from all that's come out regarding warring opinion's of direction and higher-up dissatisfaction) we're edging ever closer to either a complete reboot of the project or just a straight cancellation. Honestly, I hope for neither eventuality as I was really liking what I was personally seeing, but there we are. During my hopeless groping search for literally anything worthy of clinging onto, I spotted this little game called 'Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong' which intrigued me for existing in name only.

Typically whenever a new game gets announced you want to do that along some form of content to at least prove to the public that something is indeed being made. Be that a trailer, some screenshots or, if you're feeling real spicy, maybe even a demo. (It happens! Don't give me that look!) Swansong hit us so abruptly and so 'sans-trailer', that I initially thought this was a surprise reveal of the new subtitle for the Vampire game. (This was before I discovered that 'The Masquerade' was in reference to the tabletop's edition. Or that the game was even related to a tabletop to begin with.) It was only later that I realised this was actually it's very own game with nothing more than vague words that sort of implied we were looking at something narrative based with RPG elements to it. It wouldn't be until this E3, actually, that we managed to get a trailer for the game which could put it's money where it's mouth was, thus we now have footage to flesh out this proposition for us.

Or rather, this is a trailer that has fleshed out what one third of this game is going to be, because we know from the mission statement that this is going to be a game of multiple perspectives, so our enigmatic developers are still playing things close to the chest on that front. Instead we have a single perspective being highlighted, which at least shows how the team are dedicated to making each part of the game substantial enough to stand up on it's own. What we're still missing, however, is the concrete evidence that this game is an 'RPG' as the initial statements claim. Remember that? 'A narrative RPG'. What does that even mean? 'A Narrative game' makes me think of something akin to 'Life is Strange' or a Telltale title, where you follow a story and make choices for how events should play out, sort of like a 3D interactive VN, but RPG opens that definition up so much more. Is there going to be levelling? Skillpoints? Combat? You leave us with so much to speculate on, Big Bad Wolf Studio!

So what of the trailer? Actually things seem pretty intriguing, with as getting to see a rather disturbed looking female vampire who seems to be caught between some sort of delusion of being a mother-like figure in some idyllic mindspace and the harsh reality being a Kindred. Of course, we're currently looking at the Malkavian's perspective on this Swansong story, with this particular branch of vampirism being forever renowned for their loose grip on reality fuelling seemingly random bouts of lunacy covering the odd kernel of supernatural perception. We've never really gotten the chance to explore one of these kindred in a video game format before, which could prove quite interesting. The most I can think of is in Bloodlines one, where if you picked the Malkavian then you would be treated to singsong dialogue choices that would infuriate just about everyone around with their indirection. This looks a lot more involved than that.

There was even hints of actual gameplay in this reveal, and when I say 'hints' I mean actual slithers of barely anything tagged with the label 'beta gameplay' to let us know the developers have actually coded something during all of this time. Once again, we've no indication of any of these RPG elements that have been hinted, but there's plenty of Life is Strange parallels to me made with all the personal one-on-one conversational moments we're spying and the walking around. There will be walking in this game. Okay, at the very least we saw our player character dressed in a police uniform and walking towards a cordoned-off section of what I can presume is a classified crime scene, which implies some form of stealth here, but that could be as 'involved' as your typical David Cage game for all we know; actual gameplay is still very much sitting in the 'you'll have to trust us on this one' camp.

Which leaves us with little more than speculation, my absolute speciality, for deciding what we've got in store for us. For which I'll immediately say, I really want to see some examples of mind-bending Malkavian nonsense winding it's way into the actual narrative. That lore alone serves as an invitation for some really creative and non-conventional storytelling techniques, and I just love the idea of the studio choosing to challenge themselves like that. (Provided they actually live up to it.) I'm guessing that RPG elements that might show up in the game will be more useful in a social sense, which would fit in with one of the tenets of World of Darkness as a whole. Multiple endings should be a given, I don't think that's even speculation. And mostly I hope for a genuine and worthwhile crossing over for the perspectives in this narrative, don't have the three stories mash into one for the sake of it, have their goals and desires wrap up together in a manner that feels unintentional, and then you could even get away with not even having the protagonists meet. That's pretty much the extent of what I'm hoping for right now.

Curiously, and fitting to my tastes, Swansong appears to be putting players in the shoes of various members of the Boston Camarilla in their struggle to maintain the masquerade on the verge of something that could endanger it all. I've always wanted to be in the shoes of the 'law' for this world without law, and thus I think this will make a grand backbone for the various tales to shoot off from, especially as questions of loyalty and politics start to be thrown up. I can't wait for some of the hard choices and frayed allegiances that could expand from these sorts of narrative threads, as well as that inevitable opportunity to bring the whole house of cards tumbling down which I may or may not shoot exclusively for like the unhinged anarchist I am at heart.  

I've said it before but somehow, inexplicably, it's still a good time to be a Vampire fan. Even as the flagship title softly fades as it dwindles from sight, the shear smattering of different titles out there are enough to satiate those willing to seek them out. The only question comes from how many people are willing to do such, as there were still people during the Swanswong trailer that didn't know this wasn't Bloodlines 2. Maybe there needs to be a more centralised advertising effort from the Masquerade rights holders (Paradox) to ensure despairing fans become fully aware of the sheer wealth of options in front of, next to and behind them. At the very least let the guys over at DONTNOD know they've got some serious competition in the works...