Review: Vampire: The Masquerade–Coteries of New York is a Great Primer to the World of Darkness – thirdcoastreview.com

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York

Vampire: The Masquerade has been a tabletop staple for decades now. Though, when I was first introduced to the lore-rich setting of Vampire: The Masquerade it was ironically from a computer game, Vampire: The MasqueradeRedemption, which released almost 20 years ago now. With those anticipating the release of Vampire: The MasqueradeBloodlines 2 later this year, Im sure theres renewed interest in this franchise. Thats why when Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York released last month, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to refresh myself on the World of Darkness setting, and immerse myself in the shadowy night-time societies of the kindred.

Coteries of New York opens as many of the Vampire: The Masquerade stories Ive played: you are a human, who gets tricked by a vampire into drinking their bloodand before you know it, youre a vampire. Soon, youll learn that you must live amongst a society of kindredas the vampires refer to themselvesand if you dont follow their ancient rules and customs, youll be beheaded with supernatural grace and remorseless severity. But you will soon learn the ropes, and learn who to trust, and hopefully some kindred will take you under their wing while you navigate the many aspects of being a vampire: the powers that come with it, but also the many weaknesses. And theres the constant hunger, and the call of the beast within.

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York

While learning how to tame that hunger, and keep up the masqueradethe illusion that youre a regular human, and totes not a vampireyour goal is to form a group of vampires into your coterie. This will take you across the city you once knew as a human, and now must navigate as a vampire, which brings with it its own problems.

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York is called an adventure game in a few storefronts, but the truth is that its one-hundred-percent a visual novel. For those unaware, visual novels arent video games as most people might picture them. Instead, they sort of work as interactive choose-your-own-adventure stories, but often with many more paths, and much deeper interactions. But there is little gameplay, and most of what you can do amounts to multiple choice answers. You do have the option to use vampiric powers from time to timeand if you dont make sure to regularly feed, you are locked out of certain optionsthis represents the hunger overwhelming you.

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York

Just because its a visual novel, that doesnt mean you cant fail. You can piss off the wrong people, and make them ignore youor even get yourself killed. There are three different characters to choose from at the startall three have different backgrounds, and personalities. As a result, they also have different clans which represent the lineage of those who embraced them. But there arent skills or abilities to put points into, or even behind-the-scenes dice rolls or random number generatorsits purely a visual novel. And Coteries of New York is one of the most stunning, well-written visual novels Ive had the pleasure of playing recently.

When I say stunning, I absolutely mean it. Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York has amazing art, and surprisingly great music. I love the art style, and the animated backdrops. Many of them are striking enough to stand alone as a background for, say, a point-and-click adventure game. Each character is unique, and has a great character designand drawn excellently. If a visual novel can be said to have high production value, especially for art and music, Coteries of New York nails it. But none of that is worth it if the story isnt interesting. It is.

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York

The most important aspect of any visual novel is the story. That includes the characters, and the dialogue. Im happy to say that not only does Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York use The World of Darkness setting to great effect, its full of its own interest and intrigue that anyone familiar with the setting will enjoy. Since this is primarily a narrative-driven experience, I dont want to spoil too much of the story. It has great, unique characters and interesting dialogue with an over-arching plot that is interesting, and ties the whole experience together.

Despite the inherent rigidity of visual novels, Coteries of New York feels pretty openespecially on the first playthrough. I did find there to be a decent amount of replayability as I chased the choices I didnt make in my first playthrough. As with any story you know the plot to, subsequent playthroughs are predictable, but thats expected. But what I didnt do the first time around had me so wracked with curiosity, I couldnt help but peek at the other paths.

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York

I enjoyed my time with Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York. The art is brilliant, and the music is surprisingly competent (and catchy). I dont play many visual novels, and it can be hard to find high quality onesbut Coteries of New York is one of the highest production value visual novels Ive ever seen. This one was put together for deference and love for the source material, and it really shows.

Vampire: The MasqueradeCoteries of New York is available now via Steam, and will hit consolesPlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switchlater this year.

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Review: Vampire: The Masquerade--Coteries of New York is a Great Primer to the World of Darkness - thirdcoastreview.com

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero