// PC GAMER — GAMING
Nighthawks review
If you're not put off by reading a lot of words then here's a well-written vampire chronicle.
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What is it?: A novel vampire RPG that's also a vampire novel's worth of great writing.Expect to pay: TBADeveloper: The Curiosity EnginePublisher: Wadjet EyeReviewed on: Windows 11, Intel Core i9, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 4060Multiplayer?: NoSteam Deck: UnknownOut: September 22Link: Official site
Nighthawks is what you get if you take the masquerade out of Vampire: The Masquerade. It's a world where everyone knows vampires are real and therefore nobody has to bribe the police into pretending exsanguinated bodies aren't constantly turning up in back alleys.
Instead, you just have to bribe the police into saying somebody else did the exsanguination. Wasn't me, officer, must have been one of the other dozen people dressed entirely in black who you never see when the sun's up.
Nighthawks is a text-based RPG reminiscent of Fallen London or Citizen Sleeper. You select a location from a map, do a little choose-your-own-adventure when you get there, and test abilities based on traits that increase through use. To be initiated into a biker gang I had to walk to their bar naked, which bumped up my exhibitionist trait—which, when maxed out, will eventually increase both my seduction stat (which is good) and infamy (which is bad).
Because I used the sewers to get to the bar I also increased a trait that got me one notch closer to being able to fast-travel through said sewers. Bringing companions on quests increases their respect for me, fighting thugs on the street pushes up my brawling stat, and so on.
Fighting is a simple matter of watching vitality dribble away while punchy sounds play, all the while hoping I win the fight before my health finishes dripping out of my pants completely. More complicated fights involve multiple skill checks and choices like whether to fight dirty or pull back to recuperate—a bit like Esoteric Ebb though never as involved. Combat's not the focus, however. Despite the obligatory Fight Club questline, Nighthawks is an RPG that's more concerned with people than punching.
Character creation involves defining your background and vampire sire, as well as choosing a single power. Though the veil's been torn down and everyone knows vampires are real, their more supernatural traits have been kept on the down-low. People might be a bit surprised when you spring the ability to talk to corpses or turn into a shadow on them. It's a nice balance—the big revelation happened less than a decade ago, so vampires are still mysterious enough to most people that they won't know how every single rule works. Yes, I do need to be invited in. No, I don't know how it works either.
The first act of Nighthawks is a detective story where I hunt a traitor across Cradlebridge—the world's first integrated city, where vampires are regulated, have ID cards, their own political committee, and a clinic that hands out watered-down blood. Later acts let you take part in the integration project, joining the community and becoming one of Cradlebridge's movers and shakers.