Of all the many gaming genres I have played over the years, there is really only one that I have not experienced at length: visual novels. It is certainly not due to a lack of interest, and there are a few visual novels I have played here and there. However, for one reason or another, I have not particularly had a desire to actively seek out more visual novels to play, and I was more than content to let it remain a blind spot. That said, when I first found out that a new entry in the Vampire: The Masquerade franchise would utilize the conventions of the genre, I was admittedly quite curious to see how it would turn out.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths & Ashes takes the world the beloved RPG and applies a visual novel coat of paint onto it. It focuses on a small corner of the universe, and uses the mechanics of the genre to highlight the politics and power struggles within the so-called “Kindred” race. Despite the fact that I am still getting into the Vampire franchise, I was curious to see if Oaths & Ashes would give me a broader appreciation for both the elaborate world it has created, as well as the visual novel genre. Thankfully, my hopes were answered, as despite some mechanical shortcomings, Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths & Ashes is a fantastic visual novel and great entry in the broader Vampire series.
“Bind This Town By Oath or Burn it to Ashes”
Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths & Ashes starts with you taking the role of Alice, a member of the Camarilla that is eager to serve Justicar Lucinde and, in the process, improve her stature within Kindred society. After Lucinde is betrayed by someone she once considered a trusted ally, she tasks Alice with investigating and destabilizing the region in which her former friend became a traitor: Berlin. Unfortunately for her, Berlin turns out to be more challenging than she ever could have expected, as it forces her to adapt very quickly or face a final death.
Then there is the second playable character: Lenz, a drug-addicted Duskborn that would do anything to chase a high. Through several unfortunate circumstances, his journey soon becomes directly intertwined with Alice’s. To survive Berlin, the two must work together in order to overcome the many threats standing in the way of their personal goals. It is up to you, as both characters, to decide whether you want to serve the Camarilla or take the city for yourself.
The narrative premise of Oaths & Ashes is honestly brilliant, regardless of your experience with the broader Vampire: The Masquerade universe. If you are a relative newcomer that has only experienced the series through the somewhat mediocre Bloodlines 2, then the rich worldbuilding and dialogue will quickly captivate you. Further, despite the abundance of complicated terminology, the game makes it relatively easy to brush up your knowledge thanks to an in-game glossary. Those who are more familiar with the broader universe of the original tabletop RPG will constantly be rewarded for their knowledge with familiar characters and references to obscure pieces of lore.
Speaking of the writing, the characters and their respective dialogue are handled extremely well. Each member of the core cast is instantly memorable and interesting, regardless of their screen time. Crow, for instance, is a powerful information broker in Berlin. He only appears a few times in the first few hours, but his mere presence is consistently unnerving. Despite the lack of voice acting, Crow managed to get under my skin in much the same way as it did for Alice herself, and every encounter with him always had me at the edge of my seat.
Naturally, the good writing and characterization goes double for both Alice and Lenz. Each are extremely well established in their motivations and have a great balance of strengths and weaknesses that keep them compelling from start to finish. Alice, for instance, is motivated by a dark moment in her past and a desire to gain more power and control. Lenz, meanwhile, feels most in control when he’s chasing a drug high. Whatever consequences may come as a result of his addiction are irrelevant to him. These traits made it easy to fall in love with these characters, which made the wide variety of branching choices all the more thrilling.
Whatever dialogue you end up choosing, as well as the gameplay mechanics you end up engaging with, will have a domino effect that directly ties in to the ending you end up getting. For instance, in my playthrough I made sure that Alice was always rewarding Lenz for whatever help he provided, while also making sure that Lenz was far more courageous in his action. Furthermore, I attempted to see what would happen if I never gave Lenz the drug he was addicted to. Needless to say, all of my aforementioned choices directly affected the broader narrative in ways that were surprising and satisfying in equal measure.
What I especially appreciated is that there wasn’t necessarily a right or wrong choice, either. Dialogue options do not necessarily fit into a binary “good” or “bad,” unlike most modern RPGs. Even when I made what was undoubtedly the worst possible decisions, I was deeply satisfied when the credits ended up rolling. I have no clue if I could have gotten a better resolution for the core characters, but I am quite curious to eventually replay the game and try different choices in order to find out.
All in all, I was enamored with the narrative of Oaths and Ashes from beginning to end. The great cast of characters, the fascinating premise, and wide variety of meaningful choices constantly kept me engaged and had my heart racing, even when the on-screen action was pretty limited. In regards to the gameplay of Oaths and Ashes, it has a lot more complexity to it compared to the story, both for better and for worse.
Mechanically Complex
From what little experience I have with the visual novel genre, the amount of gameplay mechanics it offers are pretty slim. They usually forego a series of complex systems in favor of a deep story with numerous branching paths. Going into Oaths and Ashes, I expected it to follow the same pattern as other entries in the genre. Instead, the game has a surprising amount of features that add to its mechanical complexity. While the choice to add a bunch of systems to Oaths and Ashes does make the game feel closer to its more RPG-esque siblings, it often makes the game a bit too overwhelming and hard to follow.
Berlin is a vast ecosystem, and in order to overcome it, Alice and Lenz need to take advantage of every tool in their arsenal. The most important rule, much like with other entries in the series, is to maintain the Masquerade by any means necessary. What this means is that any action that may result in humanity learning of the existence of vampires is punishable by death. You are only allowed to make a few breaches of the Masquerade, and if you completely shatter it, you get an instant game over.
I never tested it for myself, but it seems like your playthrough comes to an end immediately if you break the Masquerade. This mechanic in particular is great in how it constantly forced me to carefully evaluate my every action. It certainly helped that, even if you try and save-scum to undo any breaks in the Masquerade, the game keeps track of it and leaves your actions intact. The only way to restore any breaches you cause is through the wide variety of side missions around Berlin.
The map is where you can keep track of the most powerful figures within Berlin, and your placement among them. It is also where you select all of the main missions, as well as the numerous side missions. These side missions each have various utilities. Some of them give Alice and Lenz a way to satiate their own hunger; for the former, that hunger is quelled by the blood of mothers, while for the latter, its through finding ingredients for his drugs. Beyond the hunger quests, there are other mini quests that give the protagonists more influence in Berlin, as well as a way to rebuild any breaks in the Masquerade.
You cannot simply do every side mission in the course of a single night, though, as each costs a certain amount of both the night phase and influence resources. These are replenished at the beginning of every night. While the addition of these resources does balance the game out, I never felt like the side missions themselves mattered to my playthrough. Sure, rebuilding the Masquerade is extremely useful, but the influence I gathered never seemed to affect my broader gameplay experience. This is mainly due to the blurbs under each side mission being quite vague. I could never tell if the mission I was about to select was going to give me more influence or rebuild the rapidly fracturing Masquerade. More clarity would have made me feel like I was making a more informed choice; instead, I felt like I was blindly picking missions at random.
Beyond these mechanics, there are several others that similarly have a limited impact on the story and gameplay experience. One example includes how, as Lenz, you can craft drugs to give you more capabilities in dialogue by gathering resources around the world. In addition, the beginning of the game, you can craft a cover story for yourself before going into Berlin. It is worth noting that the fact that I rarely used these mechanics is more due to my unique playstyle, rather than it being a shortcoming of the game itself. At the same time, though, the sheer number of these systems is extremely hard to keep track of, especially when considering how many of these are instrumental for progression.
Worst of all, there is one core mechanic that most visual novels have that Oaths & Ashes lacks: the ability to look back at previous conversations. With the sheer number of important lines exchanged between characters, it is extremely frustrating to not be able to look back on what was said previously. There were a few times where I forgot what a character said a few lines ago, or accidentally pressed a button too fast, and missed out on a key moment that I couldn’t revisit.
While some of the systems and features that Oaths & Ashes highlight work really well, the overwhelming number of them alongside the lack of certain key ones does hinder the game’s overall quality. Still, these are not enough to offset its brilliant narrative and other high moments, that overall make the game a fantastic entry in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe.
Win or Lose?
My biggest takeaway from Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths & Ashes was that I really need to play more visual novels, as well as other entries in the franchise. This game offers a fantastic take on the universe of the original TTRPG with a compelling cast of characters, fantastic dialogue and worldbuilding, and decisions that all felt like they mattered. While the gameplay sometimes suffers from an oversaturation of mechanics, the fact that you can choose to not engage with most of them is much appreciated.
Overall, despite some frustrations, I had a fantastic time with Oaths & Ashes. It has made me extremely excited for the future of the Vampire: The Masquerade IP, especially considering future games will seemingly continue to experiment with new genres. Most of all, it has made me extremely curious about other visual novels. I cannot wait to return to Oaths & Ashes once I have more experience with the genre, and to see what new choices I make in Alice and Lenz’s journey to overcome Berlin, no matter the cost.
Disclaimer: Revive the Spark provided a PC (Steam) copy of Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths & Ashes for review purposes.
