Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is a narrative mystery RPG set in the World of Darkness that is currently being developed by Big Bad Wolf Studios. It is expected to release on all major platforms (current and next-gen) sometime in 2021.
The game starts when the new Prince of the Boston Camarilla, Hazel Iversen, throws a lush party to celebrate the unification of the Boston and Hartford domains and to announce a new and revolutionary way to procure a stable, secure supply of blood for every vampire in the area. However, an unexpected guest crashes the party with a shiny set of guns and a mind set on carnage.
The Characters
In the aftermath of the massacre, the player will try to unravel the many mysteries surrounding the attack by controlling three separate characters. All of them are approximately 100 years old, and each has their own storyline, personality, backstory, and vampiric Disciplines.
Before the game starts, the players will be able to fill out their individual character sheets to customize their social and combat abilities, as well as the power level of their specific Disciplines, all of which will affect the available dialogue and options for each character.
Galeb the Ventrue is the man we see first in the trailer right after having a snack. Galeb seems very fond of clubs, sharp facial hair, and intriguing compass-shaped tattoos. He also features prominently in all of the gameplay images that have been released so far, proving that when you've been alive live long enough, holding a decapitated head is not so different from intimidating a nightguard to give you some information.
Emem the Toreador is a seductive amazon with impeccable taste for skinny daggers, limousines, and lipgloss. Emem is the second vampire to appear in the trailer, and, in good Toreador fashion, she has a red rose next to her seat.
Leysha the Malkavian looks infinitely more sad, poor, and conflicted than the other two and is apparently dependent on some kind of blood concoction to function. She also has an intriguing collection of blood samples stored in a mini-fridge in her sinister bathroom.
Hazel Iversen is the new Camarilla Prince of Boston and the owner of the inviting voice we hear in the trailer. Iversen is also known as "the Swan," and she lives up to that name. She has tattooed a stylized black swan at the top of her spine (which she also uses as a logo and a seal on her invitations), she wears her nails square and black like swan's talons, and in Swansong's trailer, she can be seen either ghouling or blood-bonding a subordinate while she takes in Boston's night lights. Iversen's clan has not been revealed.
The World
In the course of their investigation, Galeb, Emem, and Leysha will visit different areas of Boston and Hartford and will not only encounter vampires from other clans, but different species from the World of Darkness.
Eliott Hipeau, the game's Quest Designer, mentioned that fans of Bloodlines would be able to spot some connections between the two games, and hinted that they might incorporate Easter eggs from Bloodlines 2. Game Designer Clément Plantier grew up playing Vampire: The Masquerade and was very familiar with the old system, particularly with Dark Colony and Giovanni Chronicles, which described a time of power struggles within a region mostly dominated by a Malkavian prince. Swansong will reference this time period while updating the context and setting of Boston for Vampire: The Masquerade - V5. However, Hipeau clarified that you won't need a deep familiarity of the background to enjoy the game.
In Swansong, the focus has moved from faction rivalry to a struggle for survival and individual ambitions, particularly after Earth-shattering events like the Fall of London and the Tremere Chantry in Vienna. In this context, the Boston Camarilla is trying to make sure that every vampire in the Northeast of the United States is protected and cared for. The Tremere Chantry of Hartford, a traditional stronghold of this clan, will play a significant role in the game, and one of their blood sorcery rituals was featured in the trailer.
In the game, both the Boston Camarilla and the Tremere Chantry in Hartford are concerned by the increased risk to the Masquerade posed by an increasing number of fledglings feeding on the streets, and their common goal is to secure a safe, reliable and discreet supply of blood for every vampire that needs it. This motivates them to sign the peace treaty of reunification that opens the game before the celebrations go awry. Finally, Swansong will be part of the canonical metaplot that ties the World of Darkness together, and going forward, the events of future Vampire: The Masquerade products.
The Gameplay
Swansong is based on the V5 system, so new concepts like Hunger, Touchstones, and Blood Resonance and Potency will be weaved into the game mechanics. However, Big Bad Wolf has already said that they are mostly concerned with creating a game of choices and, more importantly, consequences, where the players have to pick between the lesser evil among many terrible options in order to progress. "In our understanding, it's more interesting to provide players with grey choices, because the more grey choices there are, the higher the chance for players to decide which is the darker one," said Plantier on the WoD Twitch Channel.
Plantier goes into detail on this, saying that players will mostly find themselves surrounded by humans, meaning they won't always be able to use their powers without putting themselves and their clans at risk. This will add a new level of challenge to the game, as (despite being incredibly powerful creatures) players will often have to use their Vampiric abilities for something other than brute force.