Draw Distance has provided new pre-alpha screenshots from the single-player narrative experience Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York. Additionally, new information covers the gameplay, mechanics and story.

Here’s the full rundown:

GENERAL INFORMATION AND DESIGN GOALS

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York presents the conflict between two vampiric factions: the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs. Their ongoing conflict plays out amid the iconic landmarks and night lights of The City That Never Sleeps. It’s a unique, atmospheric, single-player narrative experience, set in the rich, fully-licensed, globally-recognized universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.

The game does justice to the mature themes of the World of Darkness, and takes advantage of the excellent atmosphere of the source material. It also creates new stories, which, thanks to the full creative license from Paradox Interactive, It also creates new stories, building on and contributing to the vivid lore and cast of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition..

Coteries of New York present players with choices that matter, aiming to deliver a dark, atmospheric, and emotional narration mixed with morally challenging dilemmas, and many potential paths leading to the story’s finale.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is intended as the perfect entry point to the World of Darkness for players who may be new to the brand, but it will hold appeal for passionate fans of this setting as well.

Our cast of characters and the plot we tell will take their place within the official lore of Vampire: The Masquerade, and so great care is taken so that these individuals and motifs not only create a great story, but also fit well within the existing history of World of Darkness’ New York City, and the official metaplot that advances this fascinating setting.

We hope to deliver entertaining and excellent writing that will hook the players and keep them exploring the possibilities the setting offers. We plan to include significant branching and reactivity, so that the players feel their decisions influence the world around them and encourage multiple playthroughs for those invested in the world and story of Coteries of New York.

STORY OUTLINE AND MAIN PLOT

You are a newly-fledged vampire in New York. You must learn what it means to be one of the Kindred in a huge, vibrant, contemporary metropolis. On your way you’ll meet different NPCs – other vampires, thin-bloods, ghouls, humans… and more. You will perform tasks that will put your humanity to the test and take part in a complex and often brutal struggle for power between the Camarilla and the Anarchs. You’ll build your Coterie and learn your undead companions’ deepest secrets…or see them abandon you. You’ll feast on the living and ask yourself about the very nature of humanity as you feel the constant lure of the Beast inside you. You will make choices for your character, including which storylines to pursue and how to approach the different situations presented. You will be presented with branching dialogue choices, memorable characters – all among iconic locales of New York City. You’ll be able to use Disciplines appropriate to your clan to charm, sneak, intimidate or kill, and your choices will determine your path.

You are embraced into the world of the Kindred by a Sire who swiftly abandons you to your fate. Taken under the wing of an older, scheming vampire, you must learn the ins and outs of your current condition while a nefarious plot unravels around you – and you are unwittingly at the center of it.

As you learn about this bloody society and its role in the modern nights, you meet others like you – young, inexperienced vampires eager to prove themselves – who are regardless more rooted in the Cainite history of New York City than you are. They serve as your guides, windows into the different Clans of Kindred, and, perhaps, some night, friends. What starts as an alliance of convenience might blossom into a true camaraderie… or devolve into bitter antagonism.

Although you start off as part of the authoritarian vampire sect called the Camarilla, you soon learn that other factions exist – chief among them, the independent Anarchs. Your paths will inevitably cross theirs, but whether you choose to shun them, or try to learn more about what they represent, will be your decision.

MECHANICS – HUNGER, HUMANITY AND MASQUERADE

While the game is primarily text-driven and story oriented, several mechanics reflect the dark truths of being one of the Kindred. Beside Disciplines that can help with quests there are three such statistics are tracked by the game. All of these are modified by the player’s choices in the game, and their gain or loss is indicated in the fiction in a subtle, but clear way.

Hunger is used to indicate the constant need for blood that vampires must deal with nightly. Characters have the opportunity to hunt for blood during quests. Ignoring this need leads to warnings in the game’s fiction, and if disregarded for too long, to consequences that include succumbing to the Beast – a primal dark passenger all Vampires must try to keep at bay. This outburst is never pretty, and while it might satiate the protagonist for a while, it will almost certainly lead to a loss of Humanity, a decrease of their Masquerade rating… or both!

Humanity is a measure of how moral and rooted in humanistic principles the character is. This rating is used by the game to modify the results of choices in quests, offer additional story choices, or even lock certain choices out.

Finally, the Masquerade rating tracks how well the character blends in with mortal society. Staying inconspicuous and hidden from prying eyes is even more important for vampires than ever, due to the existence of the so-called Second Inquisition, a clandestine hunt for vampires concealed within global government agencies. Secrecy and not flaunting your supernatural powers in the sight of mortals is of utmost importance.

That’s all the information we’ve prepared for today. In the upcoming press releases we will unveil more about the characters, Clans, Disciplines and different types of quests!