TEST Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice: a blood-red masquerade!

Within the city of Venicethe famous city of Masks, we play a vampire named Justice in a bloody quest search for his master’s murderer and a stolen relic.

Immerse yourself in a gloomy Venice, a thousand miles from the postcard.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice immerses us in the Serenissima, admirably portrayed by the studio Fast Travel Games (Apex Construct, Wraith: The Oblivio- Afterlife, etc.) in a punk, gothic, repulsive, humid and gloomy atmosphere where rats and different factions share the streets of the city. This is not Venice as we know it in tourist guides, but rather a city with a dark and bloody appearance. Driven by our instinct, the thirst for revenge and a personal quest, we cross the streets and roofs of the city in a semi-open world looking for clues to advance our investigation. The studio holds our hand and guides us in a well-crafted story, through a main adventure and a few side quests, without locking us into a corridor. If the purpose of each mission and the objectives are indeed indicated in the form of indicators on the screen, going from point A to point B, just like completing objectives, can be done in many ways and this is what players will like.

The game borrows a lot from stealth gamesand, by its atmosphere, its graphic style and its mechanics of gameplay, could be similar to the excellent Dishonored license.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice offers us different approaches to achieve our goals

In this semi-open world, the revenge-seeking assassin that we play is forced to use his special abilities to achieve his ends. For example, we have at our disposal a crossbow equipped with poisoned bolts and numerous skills that we unlock as we progress. and in the exchange of experience points. Our skills and our agility allow us to use the city, its underground spaces, its nooks and crannies and its verticality to our advantage. to avoid traps, avoid guards and cameras for example. Like the discipline of parkour, we can climb along the gutters, jump from passageway to passageway, play balancing act on the electric cables and pounce on our enemies. But the possibilities don’t stop there. As vampires, we have unique abilities. allowing us to hide in a thick mist in order to go incognito, but also offensive abilities to get rid of our enemies.

If getting into the pile with your fists is not your cup of tea, opt for stealth and diversion by luring the enemies (with almost anecdotal AI) into a dark alley in order to take them by surprise, make them disappear or even throw them into the city’s canals. It’s a real pleasure and what makes the game charming, because the adventure then takes a very dynamic and truly tailor-made turn. If it is entirely possible to complete each mission the hard way (which can be, in many respects, quite enjoyable), we are led in spite of ourselves to embrace stealth in order to unlock all the objectives, which, for the most part, strongly suggest that we not make any victims or even go unnoticed.

As a vampire, all of these abilities have a neck (note the pun) and not all of them can be done without shedding a drop of blood.

Don’t forget the beast, hungry for blood, that lies dormant within you

Let’s not forget where we come from: we are a shadow being, a beast who, like many, must satisfy his impulses. It is here that the vegan will have to make a choice, because to be able to move forward, we must regularly recharge our blood/mana gauge. So let’s embrace the bloodsucking condition when it arises. Although it is possible to feeding on the rats that wander here and there in the city and the sewers, the human victims have a much better hemoglobin content. For sure, our vampire abilities are put to the test here and we like to use stealth to create ambushes in order to grab the necks of our victims. We have a skill allowing us to perceive the beating hearts of living beings through walls.So why deprive yourself ?

Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice was expected and it is a game that will not disappoint, despite its lack of difficulty, weak AI for infiltration and perhaps a lack of skills (we will quickly take a look at this). Her gameplay offering freedom, as well as its atmosphere and its well-polished graphic touch should appeal to players who love infiltration while offering them the choice to proceed in the desired way. The studio offers us something complete, with a compelling narrative, a magnificent soundtrack (Jeff Ball) and an palpable atmosphere in the streets and canals of an unrecognizable Venice. The adventure is sprinkled with a whole bunch of anecdotes allowing us to understand the background of the story, the issues and to immerse ourselves in the franchise World Of Darkness. The story will keep you in suspense for around seven hours and can reach ten hours if you go hunting for collectibles, complete your skill tree and complete the side missions. Note that even if the game is intended to be dynamic, many comfort options are available and we can thank Fast Travel Games for offering us full French subtitling as well as some rather successful English dubbing.

Editor’s note: tested on Meta Quest 3, but available on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro and PSVR2