Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York

While the writing is surprisingly high-quality and the UI is slick, the lack of any real choice and abrupt ending make Coteries Of New York tough to recommend.

It's hard not to keep coming back to that. Should a patch fix the saves, or at least the skipping issue (and it bloody should), I'd recommend this one, with the caveat that it's no RPG. Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York is essentially a collection of subplots for their own sake, largely set in stone. But they're written with talent and confidence and I would gladly read some more.

The audio is likewise impressive. I’m not usually one to praise a game’s soundtrack, but it really fits the modern urban environment. What I enjoyed most was the use of sound effects to emphasize the settings. While not uncommon in visual novels, I really felt they went above and beyond here.

Pretty interactive fiction that captures the atmosphere of the Masquerade.

Ready yourself for a dark storybook adventure that welcomes us to the world of Vampiric society in our Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York review. Survive and thrive in a world where Vampires wield their influence in the darkest corners of power. Is this a hidden gem, not to be missed? Let's find out.

That being said, Cotteries of New York is an excellent entry point and a good adaptation of the traditional tabletop RPG. If you're looking for a solid vampire story this is definitely for you.

Fans of the World of Darkness RPG universe will soon be up to their bloody necks in new video games. Next year Paradox Interactive delivers Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and Bigben Interactive has Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood and Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong in the works. But before you’ll be able to bite into any of that, we have Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York (these titles are going to give me carpal tunnel) a new text-driven adventure game from Serial Cleaner developer Draw Distance.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York boasts a strong story set in an already rich world

I admit I’m not normally a visual novel kind of guy. I enjoy reading, I enjoy gaming, but I’ve never really seen the allure of combining the two. Outside Ace Attorney, my experiences haven’t been positive either. So I admit I went into Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York a little skeptical. My introduction to the World of Darkness setting was through Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and I figured at the very least, this make the wait for the sequel easier. To my surpr...

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is a visual novel that has bright spots and some intriguing moments but is brought down by a lot of filler material that adds little to the overall package.

If you absolutely can't wait until Bloodlines 2 for your next Vampire: The Masquerade fix, Coteries of New York is a decent enough way to fill the time.

I went into this game really expecting to like it – and I did, for the most part. In the end, I couldn't get past the odd tone and the feeling that it was penned by someone who didn't actually respect the source material, but wanted to write a self-aware parody of it. Writing obviously will make or break a visual novel, as text is all you have. It's an utter shame, because the visual novel setup was a major draw for me, as I suspect it will be for many others. But reading about vampire cam girls with multiple personalities and vibe checks and other nonsense when I'm trying to come to terms wit...