The recently-released Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong places players right into the thick of the World of Darkness. While it was announced that Swansong will more heavily rely on the lore of the table-top games than the other Vampire: The Masquerade video games, those who had never picked up the original spin-off Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines released back in 2004 may be coming into this recent release completely blind on its lore.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong released to mixed reviews, with a majority of reviewers commenting on the difficulty for those new to World of Darkness to know what everyone in the game is talking about. A female 'Prince,' vampire clans, blood magic wielding vampires, Camarilla, Chantry, Primogen, or even the 'Masquerade' itself – all these pay a large role in the lore of World of Darkness, and players old and new could do well to take a quick refresher course.
What is the World of Darkness Behind Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong?
The realm of World of Darkness is actually much larger than Vampire: The Masquerade. It is White Wolf Publishing's series of table-top role-playing games that places players in scenarios based in the real world. In essence, World of Darkness is the modern world lived in today, but with dark, gothic-punk elements where supernatural beings roam the Earth in secrecy.
Aside from the vampires, or Kindred, seen in the Vampires: The Masquerade series, World of Darkness also includes werewolves, mages, angels, demons, wraiths, 'changlings' (fae in human bodies), and mummies. Thanks to the existence of these creatures, hunters have also come into existence to keep the supernatural world at bay and stop it from overly harming humans. Unbeknownst to the general human population, these supernatural beings play a role in the history of humanity, with their fingerprints seen on historical events – all while fighting not only themselves, but each other, too.
Vampire: The Masquerade is described by its creators as 'personal and political horror,' as not only do its players have to struggle against the infighting of the vampires, but themselves as well due to the ravenous, blood-thirsty beast within. The Kindred are an incredibly fractured species; not only are they split into various 'sects' like the Anarchs and the Camarilla, but they are also classified into 13 different vampire clans. Clans that Swansong players will experience through its protagonists include Ventrue, Malkavian, and Toreador, with each clan classified by unique visual characteristics and powers.
Vampires in World of Darkness are bound to total secrecy, and any vampire found guilty of exposing the highly illusive society (aka 'the Masquerade') to danger will be met with their final death. While vampires all agree that the Masquerade is important to keep vampire society alive and thriving, they are split into the different sects due to their differing beliefs on how the Masquerade should be maintained. For example, the traditional Camarilla sect are tyrannical, highly suspicious of modern technology, and are deemed the enforcers of the Masquerade. As for the Anarchs, they are younger vampires that embrace modernity at the risk of being outside the Camarilla's protection.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong sees the Prince of the Boston Camarilla, Hazel Iversen, forming a pact with the 'blood sorcerers' – witches and warlocks who became vampires – of the Hartford Chantry. A 'Prince' is the loose term used by Camarilla vampires to refer to the leader of the day, while the Chantry sect is used by Clan Tremere to establish itself within a city the same way the Camarilla does.
Throughout player's gameplay, they will mostly be exposed to the main characters' three Camarilla clans. Emem, Galen, and Leysha are sent by the Prince to investigate the perpetrator behind the attack at the pact celebration party between the Boston Camarilla and the Hartfort Chantry. Through interaction and exploration, they will be able to further expand the lore of World of Darkness by unlocking text to read.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Nintendo Switch version in development.