Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York is the latest visual novel in the Masquerade series. Like Coteries of New York and Shadows of New York before it, Reckoning is a choose-your-own-adventure style narrative game filled with dark, brooding characters and countless proper nouns.
Any Vampire Masquerade fan will feel right at home with this new entry. Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York maintains the dark eery aesthetic the series is known for and adds a serviceable plot. It’s not precisely Ann Rice, but Reckoning is a fun story with enough twists and sexy characters to keep you engaged for its ten-plus hour story.
Editor’s Note: The Guide Hall received a review copy of the game from the developer/publisher/PR for this review. Their generosity does not impact our overall opinion or thoughts on the game!
The World of The Masquerade
The Masquerade series has a long history in both table-top RPGs and video games. White Wolf, the publisher of the board game, often outsources their material to different publishers and has seen varying degrees of success with the efforts. 2004’s Bloodlines still stands out as a fan-favorite RPG, but later entries in the series have had mixed results. With a rich, dark world built on storytelling, visual novels feel like the best medium for the series, and Reckoning is a worthy addition to their catalog.
Like previous visual Novels in the series, Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York is a stand-alone title that tells a contained story. The game builds off the established world, but prior knowledge of the complicated lore isn’t necessary to enjoy this piece of fiction. In fact, this visual novel makes it remarkably easy to keep up with the countless made-up verbs and proper nouns the series throws at you.
Masquerading Through New York
Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York begins on Christmas Day. Seven days until the New Year. You start the game as Kali—a young vampire from the Ravaneous clan who has lost her Sire Reynard Cassell. The story plays out throughout seven nights as Kali gets tangled up with the Camarilla in search of her Sire. If that sounds like many meaningless proper nouns, Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York does a great job of keeping everything straight.
At any point during the story, one button press brings up a handy glossary, index, and journal. This is a welcome addition to a game filled with thirty years of lore from the Masquerade series. Certain keywords will also be highlighted the first time they appear in the text. This is a great conceit that allows the story to flow freely without characters being forced into random exposition dumps.
Multiple Characters, Multiple Choice
Throughout the story of Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York, a few choices can alter the story. None of these choices, however, are telegraphed very well, and they all have little meaning towards the overall ending. You can assign experience points to three different traits at the beginning of the game, and this one decision more or less makes the rest of the game’s decisions for you. This isn’t inherently a bad thing. Fans looking for a gripping visual novel will be happy with the story and where it goes. But those looking for something closer to an RPG or choose your adventure may be disappointed.
After one playthrough with Kali, the game allows a second playthrough as Padraic. A Polish vampire who is much older and more mysterious than young Kali. Each character has flaws, but Kali, in particular, can sometimes be insufferable. Kali is a young vampire who recently turned, and her use of Gen Z vernacular wears thin within the game’s first hour. It’s not enough to destroy the narrative, but phrases like “Let her cook” feel shoehorned into a game featuring thousand-year-old undead beings.
Art & Sound in Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York
The standout in Reckoning is the gorgeous artwork and eerie score. New York in the wintertime looks lovely here, and each character looks unique with small tells about their character. Kali, for instance, keeps a walkman on her belt while Julia, a fellow vampire and friend, is constantly fiddling with a cigarette. These small details make the characters pop and provide a visual aid to remember who’s who. Based on their discreet tell, I could remember characters I had only seen once three hours earlier.
The audio experience in Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York is refreshingly understated. There are no voice actors or narration, just simple mood music background each scene, adding ambiance to the experience. Often, visual novels repeat the same songs ad nauseam throughout the game. I still get the ten-second song loop from the first four hours of Doki Doki Literature Club stuck in my head, years removed from my initial playthrough. But Reckoning creates a strong soundtrack that sets the mood and never overpowers.
Chasing Endings and Fighting Off Hunger
Other than wishing to read through the story again, there is little reason to replay Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York. There is an easy load feature allowing you to go back and try different paths that could lead to different outcomes, but it’s not necessary. Most players will be happy with their ending and not too curious about the various possible outcomes. Other than completionists looking to grab every achievement, there isn’t much reason to see where else the story can go.
I view this as more of a feature than a bug, though. Vampire The Masquerade Reckoning of New York tells a great story the first time and doesn’t make you go back to find the good ending. It’s easy to take Kali and Padraic where you want them to go, and each character gets a satisfying conclusion. This game will certainly appeal to fans of both The Masquerade and visual novels. There is enough here to justify the purchase, and the story delivers on twists and turns that entertain the reader.