“It has been 15 years since I performed that damned sport,” reads the brilliant blue textual content because the solar units over a sleepy Santa Monica. The sport in query is Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Troika’s 2004 World of Darkness epic that established a gold commonplace not only for TTRPG-inspired titles, however VTM videogames as an entire. However that is not what I am taking part in proper now, nor am I stalking the streets of Seattle in Bloodlines 2. No, this can be a side-scrolling RPG that you’ve got in all probability by no means heard of. Welcome to Santa Monica By Night time.
Born within the wake of Bloodlines 2’s 2019 reveal, Santa Monica By Night time is a flash sport impressed by the occasions that happen in Los Angeles forward of Vannevar Thomas’ tried takeover. You are thrust right into a pixel reimagining of the soiled, bloodstained streets that you recognize and love, however as a completely completely different character (this time a Thinblood, or weaker Kindred) with the objective of discovering Vincent Lenz.
Whereas easy in its presentation, Santa Monica By Night time is an genuine love letter to its supply materials. I am greeted with “hi there LA, you are up well past your bedtime,” a reference to the World of Darkness’ ever-iconic radio present, Deb of Night time. I meander over to the tv, and am solely a little bit disenchanted that it does not discuss again in a nod to one among Bloodlines’ Malkavian interactions. All over the place else, although, the little particulars are unmistakably VTM.
Created as a part of an itch.io jam (aptly named ‘Vampire Jam,’) Martyna ‘Outstar’ Zych and fellow dev ‘Memoriesin8bit’ constructed the sport in simply seven days. You might acknowledge Zych’s title, as they’re now a artistic producer for World of Darkness. It has branching story paths with a number of endings, seamless side-scrolling, and myriad easter eggs, which all weave collectively to create a brief, ten-minute expertise that is an absolute pleasure to play (or replay). In an unique interview, Outstar calls Santa Monica By Night time “a fan fiction challenge” born from “loving sport jams and vampires and being endlessly excited in regards to the [Bloodlines 2 news].”
“I really like Bloodlines and needed to create a spin on its story,” she tells me. “I used to be additionally role-playing a vampire on a massively multiplayer server that emerged on the time (and remains to be working sturdy to today!), turning into very emotional in regards to the tragic love story between the 2 characters we had in there. So, in fact, I needed to incorporate these characters in some way and pay tribute to them, and that is how Vincent and Julius [your character’s sire] made their means in, making it a (tragic) love story at its core. Nicely, relying on which ending you get, no less than.”
Once I ask why she selected Santa Monica as an alternative of the well-trodden streets of Downtown, the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, or the seedy alleyways of Chinatown, she tells me that she loves “small city tales.” Harking back to Silent Hill, Santa Monica seems like its personal character with quirks and oddities, which is one thing Outstar actually needed to showcase.
“Santa Monica in Bloodlines simply feels so small-town-y. It is portrayed as a dump with its personal energy gamers and native vibe, virtually like the start of a Western film, with a depressed shopkeeper, a neighborhood membership everybody hangs out at, and a assassin on the free,” she says. “I really like small-town tales, being from a small city myself, so Santa Monica at all times felt like dwelling. The sport’s total idea was primarily based on the craving for a home-from-home; a need to be part of this cool, darkish world, and experiencing it firsthand. Think about my disappointment once I visited it in particular person and it was nothing prefer it was within the sport!”
Bloodlines is iconic for a purpose. There are such a lot of memorable quotes, places, and characters: the cease register Downtown, Therese and Jeanette, the Ankaran Sarcophagus and Smiling Jack. I ask Outstar how she slimmed all the things down into what’s successfully a Bloodlines oneshot, and if there’s something she’d have accomplished in a different way.
“On the time, I used to be deeply immersed in roleplaying fifth version Vampire, and I needed to deal with explaining the setting to newcomers who had by no means performed Vampire: The Masquerade, in addition to clarifying the variations between the unique Bloodlines and the present setting for these returning to the fandom,” she tells me. “This was the primary purpose for together with the grownup retailer proprietor – I needed to point out how the Masquerade was a a lot greater deal these nights, how he received raided due to promoting tapes with Kindred on them. Skelter and Bertram [two Bloodlines characters] are nice ‘explainers;’ they fill you with information within the OG, so I discovered them greatest to play the identical position right here.”
As you traverse the map, you find yourself leaping into the sewers Nosferatu-style, confronting the Inquisition in Bertram Tung’s rundown haven, and passing by the Asylum, the place Jeanette, Therese, or each rule supreme. It is acquainted places reimagined in pixel type, but additionally iconic sport mechanics that instantly conjure up (largely) comfortable recollections (nobody preferred the Nosferatu warrens, let’s be sincere). “After all, some issues simply get caught in your head if you play via the Santa Monica part,” she says. “The poem within the letter in your desk, or the spam emails: they needed to make it in.”
There are some components which are lacking, however given the duo created the sport in simply seven days, I am hardly inclined to guage. “I remorse not placing Mercurio in. I liked that man, however we simply did not have sufficient time,” she laments.
However she additionally made the selection to kill the ever-preaching doomsayer who lurks exterior of the Americana diner – a choice that had me concurrently aghast and relieved. “You understand that feeling when there’s this one a part of the native atmosphere that’s mildly annoying, but additionally when it is ultimately gone, it feels weirdly empty and off?” she asks me. “That is why [I killed him]. You would possibly really feel relieved that he does not scream his apocalyptic traces in your ear anymore, however the silence left might be simply as uncomfortable. I felt unhappy drawing that.”
As Outstar mentions, nevertheless, there are a number of endings, they usually’re soulcrushing. Whereas I will not spoil them right here, they completely encapsulate the texture of the tabletop RPG and its overwhelming sense of hopelessness, loss, and anguish. My ending particularly was definitely a kick to the feels.
I ask her how gamers responded on the time, and the way the duo went about establishing a branching narrative in every week. “Gamers have been primarily stunned by the quite a few endings it featured. It was nice for us as a result of it extended the typical playtime and supplied us with extra suggestions as we tried various things to see all of the outcomes. Endings are made out of various constructing blocks stacked collectively, so it isn’t solely the final scene that will get affected by your decisions. After the jam, we additionally added a secret ending, which I imagine was the one one which gave a kind of ‘good’ ending to the love story half. I simply felt dangerous for these dudes by no means getting correct closure.”
What I really like in regards to the World of Darkness is its rawness. There are not any comfortable endings right here, and nothing is black or white. I discovered myself rooting for Vincent and Julius, however I had a sense that their story would not finish with love hearts and roses. And that is what Santa Monica By Night time does so proper: it encapsulates the essence of what makes VTM so particular. Whereas I am certain numerous you can be spending Christmas in Seattle this yr, I encourage you to take ten minutes to discover Outstar’s stellar flash sport. You will not be disenchanted.
