Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong Developer Diary

Nacon and Big Bad Wolf Studio bring us a new developer diary for their upcoming narrative RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong where the game’s lead quest designer Eliott Hipeau tells us a thing or two about Swansong’s story setup, its World of Darkness setting, dialogue “battles,” and even what a narrative RPG is and how it works.

Check it out:

And here’s a press release with some extra details:

Lesquin, France, February 18, 2022 – NACON and Big Bad Wolf Studio are pleased to release a new video for Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong. This developer diary focuses on the core elements that the game experience is based on.

Eliott Hipeau, Lead Quest Designer at Big Bad Wolf, first talks about the studio’s DNA and what makes their games unique. Like The Council, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a story-driven RPG. The various branching storylines depend on the player’s choices but also on how they shape the game’s three vampire heroes. Every player can use the character sheets to determine their heroes’ strengths as well as level up their skills and vampiric Disciplines in a unique way. This opens up fresh approaches to solving problems and moves the story forward in a specific direction.

In the world of Vampire: The Masquerade, vampires live among mortals, hiding their monstrous nature. The social interactions stemming from this dynamic are central to the game, forcing the player to use their heroes’ powers to cover their tracks and convince others to reveal their secrets. The RPG component takes on even more significance because every NPC has their own statistics, so the player must use their skills and Disciplines to gain the upper hand in “dialogue fight”.

All the action takes place in Boston, where players will explore many fascinating locations ranging from sumptuous luxury homes to the city’s underground where countless secrets are buried. Scheming is rife in a vampire community that has been plunged into an unprecedented crisis, and it is up to the player to unravel the threads of the mystery.

In this narrative RPG adapted from the 5th edition of Vampire: The Masquerade, the player takes control of 3 vampires belonging to different clans of the Camarilla, the secret society to which most vampires belong. Weaving between their intertwined tales, the player has to confront the different points of view of his characters to unravel fact from fiction. With whispers of conspiracy, murder and power struggles, the player must protect his clan, discover the truth and above all enforce the Masquerade, the vampire law designed to conceal the existence of creatures of the night from humans.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong will be available on PC (Epic Games Store) and consoles on May 19, 2022.