Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is now available on Steam following a prolonged period of Epic Games Store exclusivity. Its arrival on the world's largest PC gaming storefront comes shortly after both Steam and Epic unveiled their latest free game offers.
Developed by Bordeaux, France-based studio Big Bad Wolf, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong released to mixed reviews and a polarizing fan reception in May 2022. While the game received widespread praise for its meticulously presented lore and role-playing potential, newcomers found it inaccessible due to its close nexus to tabletop games combined with lackluster tutorials, while the series veterans had various narrative complaints. Technical issues further detracted from the overall experience, although most major bugs were fixed come late 2022, gradually releasing alongside a handful of DLC.
Publisher Nacon today announced that Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is now finally available on Steam after its year-long exclusivity deal with Epic Games Store came to an end. To commemorate this occasion, the game was treated to a 40% discount and can currently be picked up at $29.99, or $34.99 for the Primogen Edition that includes all four of its DLC packs. The offer isn't exclusive to Steam and can also be found on the Epic Games Store. Both storefronts list the sale as ending on June 6, at 5pm local time.
Fans of the World of Darkness series are likely to find plenty of things to like in Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, but those not familiar with the franchise would likely do well to at least read up on its tabletop mechanics before diving in. The game's numerous convoluted systems can easily leave newcomers at a loss about what to do, which was a big part of the reason why Swansong was unable to widen the series' appeal.
Early technical issues certainly didn't help its case either, but they were likely not as damaging to the game's initial reception. After all, some of the past video game adaptations of the series such as Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines earned a cult status despite being rather rough around the edges, so a lack of polish is something that the fandom was clearly willing to forgive in the past.
As for what's next for the iconic franchise, a sequel to Bloodlines has been in works at Seattle studio Hardsuit Labs since at least 2019. The project ended up suffering multiple delays, though a late 2022 report suggested that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 might still launch in 2023. But with no release date still in sight and June being just around the corner, that's looking less likely by the day.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.