Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
Official Description (Ad Blurb)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York presents the conflict between two vampiric factions: the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs among the iconic landmarks and night lights of The Big Apple. It's a unique, atmospheric, single-player narrative experience, set in a rich, fully licensed, globally recognized universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
- Choose your character from one of several distinct Clans
- Every playable character offers unique powers (Disciplines), different ethical approaches to certain issues, and dialogue lines
- Character-oriented quests allow you to create your own coterie and shape your relations by reinforcing NPC loyalties
- Highly replayable - choices made in the game are reflected by the game's changing fiction
- Different variants of the ending, depending on playerâs choices and a grand finale that will leave players surprised and eager to see more.
- Suitable for both Vampire: The Masquerade veterans, and fans of mature narrative-driven games who are newcomers to the setting
The game does justice to the mature themes of the World of Darkness, and takes advantage of the excellent atmosphere of the source material. It also creates new stories, which, thanks to the full creative license, will be incorporated as official lore of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.## What is Vampire: The Masquerade â Coteries of New York?
Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York aims to translate the complex and fascinating world of vampires, their nightly struggles for power and attempts to hold on to their humanity, to a format previously unexplored by the brand - an atmospheric narrative experience. Think interactive story meets choices-that-matter; dark, atmospheric, emotional narration meets Telltale-like way of creating morally challenging dilemmas, answers to which are entirely up to the players, allowing them to reach one of a variety of possible endings.## How does Coteries of New York play?
You act as a newly-fledged vampire in New York. You have to learn what it means to be one of the Kindred in a huge, vibrant, contemporary metropolis. On your way youâll meet different NPCs â other vampires, thin-bloods, ghouls, humans... and more. You will perform tasks that will put test your humanity and take part in a complex and often brutal struggle for power between the Camarilla and the Anarchs. Youâll build your Coterie and learn your undead companionsâ deepest secrets⌠or see them abandon you. Youâll feast on the living and will ask yourself about the very nature of humanity and will feel the constant lure of the Beast inside you. You will make choices for the character, including which storylines to pursue and how to approach the different situations presented. You will take part in a narrative experience with branching dialogue choices, memorable characters - all among iconic locales of the Big Apple. Youâll be able to use Disciplines to charm, sneak, intimidate or kill and your choices will determine your path.## If itâs called Vampire: The Masquerade, does that mean you have something in common with World of Darkness, Bloodlines 2, the cult tabletop RPG system, or...?
Yes, exactly! Coteries of New York is set in a fully licensed universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition! However, even if you know nothing about the setting, don't fret! The game is designed to meet the expectations of both Vampire: The Masquerade veterans, and new players, who never had an opportunity to delve into the World of Darkness.## What about replayability and post-launch support?
Youâll be able to choose your character from three different vampires, representing three iconic Camarilla Clans (weâll unveil them at a later date). Every character has access to a different set of Disciplines (unique supernatural skills that are characteristic to that Clan) and different narration. Your initial choice also influences your Coterie membersâ approach to you, dialogue lines, possible side quests etc. Hence, it takes hours to experience every piece of content we prepared. Youâll go through the main quest, side quests and loyalty quests (aimed to build closer relations between the protagonist and members of your Coterie). BUT one playthrough is definitely not enough to see every piece of content weâve prepared.
As for post-launch support, you can definitely expect new, standalone stories, enriching the lore, telling different bloody stories from the history of vampiric New York and adding new twists to interpersonal plots.## Which platforms will Coteries of New York be available on?
Coteries of New York will be available on PC (Windows only! We may add Linux and MAC OS later). The game will launch on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in Q1 2020.## When will Coteries of New York be released?
Coteries of New York will be released on December 11th, 2019!## Will the game support controllers?
Yes! Youâll be able to play the PC version both with mouse and keyboard, as well as with a controller.
Source: Steam Store Description
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Credits (Windows version)
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Average score: 70% (based on 11 ratings)
Players
Average score: 1.8 out of 5 (based on 2 ratings with 1 reviews)
An OK visual novel with a weak ending
The Good
I have to be honest: I don't like vampires in media. I think the only vampire fiction I ever enjoyed was Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Coteries of New York is set in the same world, but I still expected a disaster after buying it in a Humble Choice bundle.
I am glad to be wrong. While the game is certainly no brilliant work of fiction, the setting and decent writing makes it a good product. In the end, this is a collection of several small stories held together by a framing plot. I especially liked how it does not fall in the usual visual novel trap: both the episodes and the whole game are short and to the point. The characters work well enough, but most of them are superficially written.
The game is built around player choice, meaning you can choose which episode to play next. You can't experience everything in one playthrough which means you are not forced to continue stories you don't care about. You also need to feed regularly or otherwise the beast will take control over you. Admittedly I'm not sure if you can actually fail the game, but the system gave me a sense of urgency I appreciated nevertheless.
The Bad
Unfortunately the player choice leads to some inconsistencies in writing. For example, during my first episode I investigated a murder and had the possibility to name a certain vampire faction as culprit. This is well and good, but at this time my character should have absolutely no knowledge about this faction! Another example: there are various dialogue boxes where the protagonist is referred to as "they" because the writers did not want to differentiate between male and female player characters. This wouldn't be a problem if it was used with consistency, but the writing jumps between "they" and specified gender pronouns.
Another problem is the game's conclusion: it comes out of nowhere and you are railroaded towards a cliffhanger ending. Your choices during the game don't matter at all, in fact you could cut out 90% of the content without the need to change the ending at all. I don't really object to the inevitability of the ending because it fits the setting. But if a game is built around player choices, it must at least give the illusion that they matter.
The Bottom Line
Because of the bad ending, I can't recommend the game at all. This is a shame because the rest shows much potential.
Windows · by Patrick Bregger (306045) · 2021
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Rik Hideto.
Android, iPhone, iPad added by Tim Janssen.
Game added December 12, 2019. Last modified August 2, 2024.