Vampire: The Masquerade — Sins of the Sires
In this elegy of blood, Athens is burning!
Vampire: The Masquerade – Sins of the Sires is an interactive novel by Natalia Theodoridou. It’s entirely text-based, 300,000 words, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
Nebula Award Finalist for Best Game Writing in the 58th Annual Nebula Awards!
Athens, Greece: a city with an ancient past now thrust into the modern age. A city torn between the Camarilla establishment and the Anarchs, where everyone owes your boss a favor, and that makes you an untouchable vampire in this nocturnal society where you and your fellow Kindred must conceal yourselves from mortal eyes—the Masquerade of the Kindred.
Rumors spread of an ancient vampire, Aristovoros, intent on bringing about a new world for the Kindred, an end to the Masquerade. Why hide from mortals when you can reign over them as gods?
Who will you use, who will you help, and who will you prey on? Will you topple the old Prince Peisistratos? Will you betray your boss when your lost sire returns? What miseries will you inflict to fight for a fairer, more humane world?
- Nebula Award Finalist for Best Game Writing in the 58th Annual Nebula Awards
- Become Clan Tremere, Ventrue, Malkavian, Banu Haqim, or thin-blooded.
- Play as a man, a woman, or a non-binary person, femme, masc, or androgynous, and as gay, straight, bisexual, queer, or ace.
- Outlast a dark tale of corruption, power hunger, betrayal, and yearning for what you once were.
- Rise within the ranks of the Camarilla, stand with the Anarchs, or forge your own lonely way ahead.
- Unmask your true sire. Is it the Prince Peisistratos? One of the city’s Primogen? Is it Aristovoros himself?
Which part will you play in this game of masks?
Steam User 2
Coming back weeks later to say...
This game haunts me. I've talked to so many friends about this game. I think about Neoptolemos constantly: in the shower, on the bus, while walking to the city center. I have talked to SO many people about Neoptolemos. I have read Sophocles' Philoctetes for the sake of understanding Neoptolemos' namesake now. I have compared translations of Sophocles' Philoctetes to best obtain the best Neoptolemos dialogue lines. I have read parts of the Aeneid. I have gone into the pits of reading books on modern Greek history (sadly written by white and very British men teaching at stuffy old colleges). I have machine translated whole swathes of 18th and 19th century Greek poetry. I have scrubbed the internet for scholars who have written analyses on the portrayal of Thanasis Vayas in Valaoritis' poem. I have COMBED and RECOMBED the game script for hours on end to lick and slobber at the character lore lines.
(shotgun sounds)
Thank you mister Natalia Theodoridou, the OG Neoptolemos fan. I can only TASTE how hogwild the author of this game went for Neoptolemos, but I am cooking up the soup. I am DRINKING the soup .
mMMmMMmmMmmmmm...
Steam User 1
I'll say outright that this one is well written, although one can tell that it was by a different hand. The witty humour present in the others is not to be found here, but it is not a bad thing. And yes, it's indeed way shorter than the others.
The length being the most often voiced criticism here: If I were to compare it to something tangible: at the beginning it feels like a continuous story, a game running smoothly, but at one point, the whole world springs frantically to action and your frame rate drops so hard that you only get a snapshot here and there. One can get the whole picture, but it sure feels like you should be able to do and see more than you're allowed.
The other frequently voiced point - the lack of transparency when it comes to character creation: You do not get to choose explicitly, but if you know your Vampire the Masquerade background, you can easily guess which choices get you what, stats as well as the possible clan. So, just as with the others, with a little planning and thought you can easily get a character you might be aiming for.
And the last but not least - the frequently discussed seeming lack of choice: Your choices have consequences just as in the other games, but there is a unique twist in this one. The role of fate - explored from various POVs and, in my opinion, handled well enough to even make you come back and re-read. One may feel powerless on occasion, but I believe that it's kind of the point - sometimes IRL your choices do not bring you the results you had expected or wished for, which makes this particular story indeed feel realistic and dark, completely worthy of being part of the WoD series. It is precisely this aspect of the game that in fact made me replay it (given the shorter length) even more times than the others - I enjoyed re-reading it through the eyes of different characters to see where it would take me given the same or different choices. And I will definitely come back to it some more.
Having stated all that, I feel compelled to say that if you liked the others, you should give it a try and read this one too: the setting and the perspective is unique and intriguing. But, given the metaphoric number of blank pages in this tome, wait for a sale.