Gameplay Details & Screenshots Released for Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York
A couple of months ago, Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York was teased in the shadows of its bigger brother, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. Not many details were given on Coteries of New York, other then it gave the impression that it would be a narrative driven game, perhaps similar to the “choose your own adventure” inspired titles seen from the likes of Telltale Games.
However, the developers at Draw Distance have released further details on Coteries of New York, as well as releasing a few screenshots. Coteries of New York will see you placed firmly in the midst of a turf war between blood thirsty factions, with your actions, choices and dialogue choices with the NPC’s and missions, directly affecting the outcome of your story.
We have also learned that Coteries of New York is based upon and officially licensed from the role-playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. So with it being based upon the role-playing game, it certainly gives an indication to its potentially deep lore, with the story building and cast of intriguing characters, offering unique and branching paths, which ultimately lead to your stories finale, as well as multiple playthrough’s. The developers at Draw Distance also describe Coteries of New York as the perfect entry point to The Vampire Masquerade: World of Darkness role-playing games, so who knows, perhaps I will check them out too after playing this game a little later in the year.
Draw Distance also stated that you will perform tasks within the story that will have you question your humanity as you encounter other vampires, ghouls of the night and of course, humans as you can single handily shape the power struggle of the blood thirsty clans of the New York metropolis. However, Coteries of New York isn’t all about the blood thirst, as you’ll be able to politic, charm and sneak your way through your adventure. You may very well climb your way up through the ranks of your clan or you may even betray your way to the top of a rival clan.
Unlike some other “choose our own adventure” style titles from Telltale Games, Coteries of New York doest feature traditional gameplay in terms of moving your character about with the controller. Instead it will primarily be text-driven, which only lends itself further to the role-playing game source material that it is based upon.
As a vampire, of course you will have a thirst for blood in order to survive, so you will have to carefully stalk and prey upon your victims. But who/if you choose to feast, is down to you. Will you fight the urge or will you cave in to your primal instincts? Perhaps you’ll have a balance between the two urges. The test of your humanity will not only be shaped upon your choices in the main campaign, but also via the side-missions that will become available to you.
Coteries of New York will also have a morality rating, based upon your choices. However, depending on your morality, you will be hunted by a clan of vampire hunters known as the Second Inquisition, an organisation concealed within government agencies, and perhaps depending on your level of morality, will depend on how intensely they hunt you down.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York will release Q4 of this year for PC and Nintendo Switch. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will also release for PC, PS4 and Xbox One during Q1 2020.