Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong delayed to ensure 'a healthy work-life balance' for devs

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The World of Darkness RPG was set to be out in February, but Big Bad Wolf needs a little more time.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
(Image credit: Big Bad Wolf)

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, the in-development tale of politics, intrigue, and blood that is not Bloodlines 2, has been delayed again. Following a postponement earlier this year that saw it moved to February 2022, developer Big Bad Wolf has announced that it needs a little more time, and has pushed it to May.

"This wasn't a decision we took lightly, but one necessary to ensure the highest possible quality while retaining a healthy work-life balance for our team," the studio said. "Granted, the pandemic also threw a couple of wrenches into our planning, but this delay will allow us to apply some additional polish and give us some extra time for QA. We're a small but very passionate team, eager to create an immersive experience that rivals the sort of personal storytelling you'd experience from a great tabletop session."

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is the World of Darkness RPG that gets the attention, but Swansong could be a surprise sleeper hit. Big Bad Wolf's previous game, The Council, is a narrative RPG about an 18th century secret society, and it's really quite good: There are shortcomings, including dodgy voice acting and a lack of polish, but the writing, dialog, and character development are top notch. It forgoes the more action-focused aspects of some RPGs, but the scheming and intrigue seems like a perfect fit for the shadowy world of the Camarilla.

Another upside to the delay: It gets Swansong out of February, which is on track to be a very big month for new game releases, including Sifu, Destiny 2: The Witch King, Elden Ring, and possibly others.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is now slated to come out on May 19, and will be an Epic Games Store exclusive at launch. Find out more at vampire-swansong.com.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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