Vampire The Masquerade Oaths and Ashes feels like the ultimate VTM visual novel

The sound of opera reverberates around the room; bouncing off of ornate, hand-carved facades and murals. There are plush, red velvet stalls; private boxes overlook the cheap seats below, a reminder not only of wealth, but of status. It's in one of these that my prey lurks: a former Camarilla agent turned Anarch; a Toreador with a flair for the dramatic (what's new?). My colleague - Thomas - sits by my side, arrogant, stoic, deriding. The opera - supposedly a leisurely activity - has taken on a new form. While I am the hunter, I am also the prey.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Oaths and Ashes is a brand new visual novel from Revive the Spark. Set in the Berlin By Night universe, it reimagines the German capital in the modern day, building on White Wolf's extensive lore, while simultaneously adding its own flair. You'll play as two characters: Alice, the power-hungry Ventrue, and Lenz, a Thinblood that's simply trying to get by. How these characters intertwine remains a mystery to me: in my early preview of the game's new Steam demo, I play solely as Alice, and I'd be a liar if I said that she didn't intrigue me.

Oaths and Ashes plays similarly to the likes of Draw Distance's Shadows of New York, with the dual storylines akin to the studio's latest endeavor, Reckoning of New York. As my mark leaves the opera house, signaling to a mysterious woman in a gaudy pink shawl to follow him, I'm presented with my initial choice: ignore her existence, or interrogate her. Much to Thomas' chagrin, I choose the latter: I'm a Venture, I know better, and I know how to extract information.

It turns out that our pink-clad femme fatale is, in fact, the Toreador's ghoul. Inconvenient: the power his blood has over her will likely mean that I struggle to get anything out of her. Thankfully, I have disciplines. While you can use disciplines Draw Distance's series - so long as you don't break the Masquerade, and ensure you keep yourself topped up on blood - abilities in Oaths and Ashes cost points. Compel, a basic, one-dot power in the tabletop game, costs one point in-game, while something like Forgetful Mind, a three-dot power, will set you back by three. It helps you keep track of things a little easier, perfectly mimicking one of the core aspects of the TTRPG.

My powers of persuasion, however, fail to make a dent. The blood is too strong; it's made her resilient. As a stubborn Camarilla Ventrue player on tabletop, I channel my inner Blue Blood and kill her outright, for fear that, further down the line, she'll break the Masquerade. It's a mistake.

My own Masquerade counter, displayed in the top left, flickers to broken; the traditional mask shattering. I know, there and then, that I've messed up. Badly. That particular run ends in both mine and Thomas' untimely demise; a stake through the chest, my head on the floor. Oaths and Ashes has consequences: consequences that felt like they've been missing from Draw Distance's titles post-Shadows of New York. The Masquerade meter makes things easier to understand at a glance: I can push once, but I can't push twice. I reload my save and return to the opera, armed with new understanding. Strangling someone and shoving their corpse into a prop room? Bad idea, apparently.

To evade spoilers, I'll simply state that, post-opera house investigation, the newly confident Alice is sent off to Berlin to mend the broken foundations that the Toreador has left behind. I'm briefly introduced to the city's up-and-coming powerhouse, Danielle Diron, a Gangrel rebel with a cause. My job is to destabilize and dismantle Berlin, and open it up for the Camarilla to re-establish itself. I have Diron on one hand, myriad gangs on the other, and the current Tremere Regent, who, while aligned with the Camarilla, will do anything to make my life miserable. I'm brought back to my time at the opera - when a predator is surrounded by predators, who is the prey?

Oaths and Ashes' demo is designed to be a prologue, so I don't get to see much of Berlin itself, or the game's Thinblood alchemy mechanics and faction-influenced map. What I did experience, however, is a genuinely interesting story, with mechanics that are familiar, yet reinvented. Balancing hunger, abilities, and Masquerade breaches are all core parts of the VTM experience, but I'd argue Oaths and Ashes does a better job of visualizing them than Draw Distance's Shadows chronicle.

As I step out of my cab, I'm asked a question: what will my backstory be? Am I a former Scourge, the Camarilla's hellhound, removed from Paris for my brutality? Or was I once the Keeper of Paris' Elysium; the diplomat, not the fighter? My preview ends shortly after, and I'm immediately intrigued by how these choices will affect my playthrough. Who will my Alice be?

One of my primary criticisms of Draw Distance's more recent titles is that they've felt quite railroaded: even Shadows of New York is limited to two different endings, and while I love the character of Julia, you play as her, not really as you. What Revive the Spark does well is give you a character - one that's also genuinely likable - and let you mold her to suit your playstyle. It'll be interesting to see if that transcends past the demo, and whether or not Lenz offers the same level of freedom, but having done two runs, my Alice felt different each time.

The Vampire: The Masquerade - Oaths and Ashes demo is out on Steam right now, with a release date pencilled in for 2026. You can try it out right here.

I'd be remiss not to mention a couple of technical issues: some written sequences do repeat themselves, and I spotted one occasion where a text box was attributed to the wrong character. In my run where I killed the ghoul, I also got a stray line of dialog during the proceeding rooftop scene that implied she was still alive, but it didn't appear to impact the actual gameplay. This is an early demo; however, exercising forgiveness is a good thing.

Of all the myriad World of Darkness games that are slated for the next couple of years - Hunter: The Reckoning - Deathwish, Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Rageborn, and VTM Eternal Whispers - Oaths and Ashes is, for me, the most intriguing. It builds on the visual novel format that I love, transports us to one of the game's most interesting settings, and looks absolutely stunning. The neon lights of the Berlin underground pop against the darkness and the gothic; it really is a VTM dream come true. I'm excited to see how the new systems play out, and even more excited to step into Alice's shoes once more.