In the past few years the Vampire: The Masquerade franchise has seen many development woes. While the free-to-play battle royale Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodhunt entered early access back in September and has since exited early testing only to be delayed indefinitely shortly after so the team could focus on bettering it, the franchise can't seem to get its games off the ground. Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines 2 has been mired in development hell for years now and currently has no named developer and now Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong has been delayed as well.
Originally due to arrive on systems this year and then in February 2022, which many would argue is a bad time to launch so close to such high profile releases like Elden Ring and Horizon: Forbidden West, Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong has now been delayed to May 19, 2022. The development team, Nacon, put out a message to fans apologizing for the delay and assuring them that production is going smoothly, but wanting to take the time to make a quality game. This will ensure that QA gets enough time with the game and the team will be able to give the game a little extra polish in places.
Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong is a spin-off of the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines 2 and is a narrative-driven RPG in the vein of a Telltale-type or Life Is Strange-esque experience. Players will have the opportunity to really delve into investigations and put a real emphasis on choice and consequence. Playing as three vampires with intertwining destinies, players will use each vampires' special abilities to sniff out the truth and uncover the lies. Choosing between intimidation, seduction, or stealth, players determine how the narrative and relationships play out of the course of Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong.
It will be interesting to see if Nacon can truly make the game materialize as Vampire-The Masquerade-Bloodlines 2 has fallen farther and farther from grace with each passing year. The title has gone from promising E3 demos to high-profile names leaving the project plus whole development teams being pushed from the project, to currently having an as-yet-to-be-named developer working on the title. It's been quite the road for this RPG, and while Paradox Interactive once considered completely scrapping Bloodlines 2, it seems they are now determined to get the game out at some point. At the very least they are bound and determined to make this a popular franchise among many of the RPG greats.
At this point, the future of the Vampire: The Masquerade franchise remains in limbo, but if Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong can exit this final stretch unscathed, and Nacon can deliver a quality title, the future of this franchise may just be saved yet.
Vampire: The Masquerade-Swansong releases on May 19, 2022 for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
