Reviews VideoGame / Vampire The Masquerade Shadows Of New York

A necessary supplement to Coteries.

Let's just get this out of the way — Shadows of New York was never intended to be a full-length game, only an expansion to Coteries of New York, and therefore the common critique that "it's too short!", in my opinion, isn't valid. I'll be reviewing Shadows based on its merits, not on its short playtime.

The story picks up after the end of Coteries, making this expansion a sequel of sorts. Instead of choosing from 3 premade player vampires of unique Clans like you could in Coteries, in Shadows, you can only play as Julia — the Lasombra.

This, as it turns out, is a very good thing. Julia feels like a much more complete and fleshed out person than any of the blank and vague player characters from Coteries, and you'll feel it in her narration, dialogue, Character Trait system, and the unique sprites she gets for her different moods.

As for Traits, we need to talk about this, because it's excellently done. Depending on choices you make starting from early on whilst roleplaying as Julia, her personality will change, and the story will subsequently play out differently (yes, this game actually has different endings, unlike Coteries!). Earlier video games that attempted to implement a kind of karmic system (Mass Effect, for instance) easily resulted in a player character that could feel at times bipolar, abruptly swinging from behaving one way to another. That's not the case with Julia. No matter what Traits she develops, the game is written well enough that it blends seamlessly into the narrative of the story you begin to weave. She could be loyal or disloyal, a liar or an honest woman — either way, she still feels like Julia Sowinski. I've noticed that the Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest visual novel employs a similar trait system as well, and I feel that this would be the right way going forward in terms of developing the personalities of customizable player characters in story-based video games.

Then there's the plot. The story, as I said, picks up after the cliffhanger ending of Coteries, and it turns that cliffhanger into the midway point of the overarching storyline of the NYC Kindred. Once you finish playing Shadows, you should feel like you've come to a satisfying conclusion of the events that have transpired, rather than with a dozen questions like Coteries left us with. Perhaps this is because the story was always intended to be continued in an expansion, I'll never know.

In terms of gameplay mechanics, the are almost none. You simply immerse yourself in the story and make your decisions as they come up. Again, this isn't a bad thing. The feeding mechanic in Coteries was difficult to work around, and here, it simply becomes an optional means of storytelling.

Many favourite characters come back in Shadows, with new art and more fleshing out to their lore. This should surely please fans of the characters.

Art is gorgeous, as always, and the music is dark, haunting, and atmospheric — elements that have carried over well from Coteries. The game is a good fit for the World of Darkness setting, and if you grew up religious or are LGBTQA+, you may especially identify playing as Julia.

In all, an enjoyable experience, best enjoyed blind. I tried getting into Julia's head and playing as a true Lasombra would, and I was absolutely satisfied with the ending that I got. Coteries was a quality experience of its own, if obviously low budget. Shadows completes the journey. As Vt M fans are the ones most likely to be picking up a copy anyway, they'll likely be pleased with Julia's cerebral, dark journey, but both Coteries and Shadows together should serve as an excellent introduction to newcomers as well.