Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong trailer kicks off a bloody party gone wrong

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The Nacon Connect digital event got underway with a bang today, with a new trailer and details on Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, a tale of an undead struggle for power in the 21st century.

The game will take place in Boston, where a new Prince is attempting to bring back the rule of the Camarilla, the vampire sect dedicated to preserving the Masquerade that keeps the World of Darkness secret from humanity as a whole. Players will step into the shoes of three different characters over the course of the game, each from a different clan, with different abilities and opinions about Camarilla rule. 

The game will begin with the shootout seen in the trailer, and your first task at hand will be to figure out who ordered the attack, and why. "It's the event that triggers all the twists and turns that you'll face as a player and try to influence," quest designer Eliott Hipeau said during the presentation. 

"The intent behind the choices we give you is to put you into difficult situations where nothing is black and white, everything is a shade of grey. You might have two options but not want to choose either of them. You play as monsters, and you'll feel that in all aspects of the game, at all moments in the storyline." 

Swansong was actually announced last year, but went under the radar a bit thanks largely to the much higher-profile Bloodlines 2. But it's being developed by Big Bad Wolf, the studio behind the very good narrative adventure The Council, so I have pretty high hopes for it.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is expected to be out sometime in 2021. Find out more at vampire-swansong.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.