Swansong is a role-playing game that delivers the entirety of its drama through dialogue–there is no combat to speak of. Critical scenes between characters are resolved within conversational set-pieces called “confrontations.” RPGs can exist without traditional battles–just look at Disco Elysium, for example–but the dialogue now thrust center-stage needs to sing, or at least harmonize with a deep skill system. Swansong, sadly, delivers neither. Its writing is pedestrian, often incoherent, and its supporting systems are underutilized, adding little flavor to distinguish the three playable characters.
You play as three vampires–Emem, Galeb, and Leysha–summoned to a crisis meeting at Boston’s vampire HQ, after a party to mark an alliance with the Hartford Ch…