Who doesn't love a good vampire? But, the fanged creatures can be notoriously difficult to get right when it comes to video games, let alone playing one yourself. Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong doesn't get everything right, but in adapting the '90s tabletop RPG's penchant for intrigue and politicking rather than combat (the flipside being an issue in our Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 review), it nails a juicy, claret-running formula that my fangs are itching for a second taste of. Swansong, at times, plays like a Vampire Hitman.
Of the game's three playable characters, Galeb Bazory has a few things in common with Hitman's Agent 47. Both are the strong silent type, men of action who get the job done even against seemingly impossible odds, and even have mysterious pasts throughout which they have both carried out a huge number of assassinations. While all three characters in Swansong are sent by the vampire Prince into some pretty dangerous situations to deal with an attack from the Second Inquisition, Galeb's missions are the most deadly, and he just has to roll up his sleeves, then roll his eyes, and roll with the circumstances to doggedly dismantle the vampire hunter threat. How? By getting a bit Hitman with it.
