Having had my first real go at narrative management RPGs with Sovereign Tower I’m quite often on the lookout for new games where the character management and the relationships are the real meat and bone of the experience and the battlefield is somewhat of a secondary concern.
So I was absolutely thrilled to hear that a new RPG in that genre has just been announced and this time we’re going to be controlling nothing less than a network of vampires. Exciting, right? Absolutely so (at least for me).
Red Kiss (the narrative RPG from Wispfire and Fellow Traveller) has you in charge of undead spies whose personal issues could easily turn a very difficult mission into a nightmare. At the October 20 IGN x ID@Xbox showcase the devs confirmed that the game is coming to Xbox Series X|S with day one Game Pass availability, as well as its already announced PC release.
Set in Berlin in 1989 you play as a newly turned vampire recruited by a rather intimidating and mysterious figure known as Daddy. Your gift is that of an Augur (a seer) and you can communicate with the house operatives via telepathy and direct them via the Tabernacle (an occult device).
Berlin is already a city rife with political paranoia and the addition of supernatural interests makes it even more of a difficult place to do business.
The strategic element is all about picking the right vampire for the job. Berlin’s U-Bahn is a kind of map of opportunities with each station giving you access to a number of investigations, encounters and secrets. The vampire’s own skillset and their network of contacts will go a long way to determining whether they’re the right person for a particular assignment.
Skill checks are resolved via the Wheel of Fate which takes the six character skills and gives you a result. That gives the individual strengths of the cast a very tangible role in terms of how you go about tackling the various problems of the city.
Keeping everyone running requires managing blood, energy and money and of course keeping the house secure from exposure. Personal missions are also a major driver of character development in that you get to find out about an agent’s past and help them through their problems which in turn makes them better and shapes their ultimate fate. You end up forming a bond with the characters and they become better operatives as a result.
Relationships have a huge narrative impact too. Red Kiss combines its mission management with visual novel-style storytelling, blood bonds that grant you powers, and the opportunity to either cement your loyalties or break them.
Daddy obviously expects you to be onside, but there’s definitely room to challenge his authority and go your own way. The cast are all Live2D with motion capture so the intimate conversations have a very expressive visual presentation. A house full of attractive vampires all with their own agendas is fantastic story potential and sounds like an absolutely exhausting place to be sharing a kitchen.
Red Kiss is due in 2027 (exact release date TBC). The PC version is currently available to wishlist on Steam and the Xbox version will also support Xbox Play Anywhere. Below is the announcement trailer.
