For centuries people have gravitated towards stories of night dwelling vampires from Bram Stoker's Dracula, Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, The Lost Boys, Buffy, and Nosferatu. Stories asking the question of what it means to be human; timeless quandaries through the lens of the human experience.

Nighthawks is a vampire RPG with skill checks and a visual novel presentation from The Curiosity Engine, that weaves strings from every vampire mythos to create something that feels richly textured and enjoyable to play.

After previewing Nighthawks earlier in the year, I already suspected it was going to be a memorable experience. The prologue gave me enough confidence in the storytelling, gameplay systems, and audiovisual presentation to want to continue the journey. And thankfully, my suspicions were correct.

You play as, well, whoever you want to. Like any immersive RPG, Nighthawks implores you to create the story's protagonist - a big set of decisions when you'll be spending over 15 hours meticulously crafting their personality.

After inputting your name, you're given a set of choices that mechanically change how your character can interact with the world. You begin by being presented five gold embossed cards in order to choose your sire's background: The Aristocrat who develops suspicion and infamy at a lower rate, The Hedonist who can drink tainted blood without it affecting skills, The Shadow who is an ace hunter, The Scholar who develops new skills at a greatly increased rate, and The Warrior who can wield any weapon like a master.

Even this small choice has a domino effect on how your game will unfold. I chose The Scholar to focus on levelling up skills, but there were times when being a vampire sired by The Hedonist would've been helpful. As sometimes I had no option but to drink tainted blood, instead of going against my character's principles to feed on an innocent human.

You make your first selection and the cards stylishly incinerate. Next, you select your sire's bloodline; their ancient lineage often best left in the past. Mandarin makes it easier to use your vampiric gift, New World gives you a larger benefit from any companion's skills, Old Country makes you intimidating to almost everyone, Imperial increases the rate you gain wealth and prestige, and Continental ups your seduction and manipulation stats.

Your lineage is a massive choice that impacts potential skill checks and how easy or hard it is to earn money and influence in the community. Each choice opens and closes doors to new dialogue options and story threads.

Then, most importantly are the vampiric powers. Abilities that are shrouded in mystery to keep the human population from mass panic and outrage. You can choose Beast Within to turn the tide in losing battles, Corpsetalking to commune with the recently deceased, Tenebrous Form to be one with the shadows, Natural Dominion to control a variety of creatures, and Mesmerism to hypnotise vulnerable targets.

Powers offer you distinct opportunities to complete objectives in your own way. Such as when you're tasked with sneaking into a secret meeting. As a vampire with mesmerism, I could hypnotise a human to give up the password to enter the building. But if I'd chosen Tenebrous Form, I would've been able to sneak inside through a different entrance. These vampiric power choices appear constantly throughout both side stories and the main quest. But in order to use them, you need to manage your blood meter as every use consumes a certain level of blood. As have too little, you'll be gutted to miss an opportunity to use your chosen power.

Lastly, you decide on your vampire's sphere of knowledge from before your death. Either a connoisseur of Culture, Technology, the Street, the Occult, or Academia. Each well of knowledge as impactful as one another. As every quest or conversation will logically veer into needing some form of expertise. You could need to know about a painting at an art gallery, or an ancient artifact at an occult store.

You begin the prologue as a newly born vampire. Still reeling from your death and birth into this new world of what Nighthawks calls vampires, Coldbloods, you cling to mementoes of your old life. As you arrive in the city without knowing anyone, you search for your sire's thrall, a human subject bound by drinking a vampires blood, as you suspect he's stolen the last keepsake from your old life.

It's a simple but intriguing setup that leads to all manner of introspective questions on morality, mortality and memory. The prologue and Act One introduces you to the basic gameplay loop. You begin in your safe house at the hotel; a location where you can eventually change your clothes and equip weapons and items. But first, you'll need to find ways to level up your money meter, such as working a shift as a bouncer. You don't get a specific amount of cash, you just need to level up a bar, which unlocks new items at stores. It's yet another system to boost skills and reputation, as equipment boosts certain skills.

Being a vampire, you must return to your abode by sunrise or risk losing vitality and getting wounded. These injuries must be healed by a medical professional or your vitality will remain permanently lowered. Nighthawks essentially runs on a calendar and time system: story acts give you an allotted amount of days to finish your objectives.

Nighthawks gives enough days to explore new locations found through conversations by walking the streets and sewers, or using a taxi. As well as completing side quests for companions or other quests found during your adventure, such as a ghost story mission and a classic dungeons and dragons campaign. All while time elapses with every dialogue choice, event completed, and due to distance travelled.

Every decision made within the time system makes choices feel important. It means players will miss certain things, but it never feels bad as you're steadily building your main character's story and personality. There wasn't a single time where I felt compelled to load up my save to change the outcome of my decisions. But I was intrigued to see how different choices would've changed the story and the ending.

Although, Nighthawks doesn't make you invulnerable; vampires can, and will die. One failed skill check or forgetful moment in managing your blood supply is the difference between surviving and permanent death. If you do die, you can simply access the mobile phone, which acts as the game's hub to see in-game texts and a quest log, and reload an earlier save.

Nighthawks' layered RPG systems run in unison with everything. It has so many systems that make up a complex foundation for a fantastic gameplay loop. Time creates tension and consequence. Vitality is managed separate to your hunger for blood, and requires any serious wounds to be healed in order to return to max health. You must drink clean blood from a blood bank or an innocent human to keep your hunger at bay and to maintain enough blood in reserve to activate your powers. You'll also begin to raise suspicion to more nefarious actions, and need to barter with someone to lower it. And that's without taking into consideration skills and dialogue options.

The game will even tell you if you're likely to fail a skill check, but because you're immersed in the story, you'll still feel compelled to try. While at the same time failure is used in the prologue to foreshadow future story beats and how powerful of a vampire you can actually become.

The mission structure and storytelling are integral to Nighthawks. Both reminiscent of detective games, as seemingly simple objectives and story beats unravel into tangled and textured story acts. Take the Act One for example: a seemingly linear plot weaves to new locations and characters before arriving at its destination. You're free to explore at your leisure, and sometimes, you'll experience random encounters travelling around the city. Sometimes they're adversarial and want to beat you up, or simply a new companion in need of help.

These moments teach you how to fight, or when to run away, or test your persuasiveness. The beginning is perfectly paced and open enough, to let players explore whilst steadily becoming accustomed to important gameplay systems.

Yet, Nighthawks doesn't truly start until after the first act. Through events I won't discuss, your character ends up managing a night club - a major component of the game. It tasks you with applying business strategies to improve the club to become highly profitable. But again, it's your choice. A selfless player might prioritise upgrading staff happiness over club events, while another focuses on improving their own room by building gear to upgrade skills. It's a weekly event where you decide how to distribute funds before venturing out for the night.

After managing the club for a while, it was clear to see how different decisions would've impacted my story. I chose to balance staff and community happiness with profitability by promoting events whilst building add-ons like a soup kitchen. This gained me enough money to buy new clothes and weapons, whilst opening new dialogue choices at times where influence was needed.

But when you finally explore the club, you'll find companions congregating at the bar. The extensive list of companions is one of my favourite elements of Nighthawks. Like all strong novels, writer Richard Cobbett captures a unique voice for every character, and makes the world itself more than a backdrop. Characters have interesting and often traumatic back stories. They've been changed by the world. And as you slowly get to know them, you earn their trust.

Each one is written with a unique voice and given an interesting backstory and companion quest line that really immerses you in the world. They're all so varied, morally grey, and fleshed out. From Agatha, a centuries old child vampire that finds comfort in her rat friends, or Saoirse who's a long way from Ireland and hides behind a hard exterior, the magician Madame Lux who is haunted by a tragic past and more.

After meeting companions, you can have one accompany you on your adventure at any time. This gives you a boost to whichever skills said companion is attuned to. But it also changes how other characters will react with them in your presence. It's worth the conversational changes, as you grow your bond with your companion and unlock personal side quests. Bigger side missions with larger consequences and big rewards. Sometimes unlocking romance options, as Nighthawks is a mature story that doesn't shy away from anything.

Unlike most video games that neglect minor characters, Nighthawks gives the entire cast a unique personality due to Richard Cobbett's skilled writing. Everyone feels connected to their place and time, talking in a different cadence or style. Often informative, emotional, and funny. There's even some nice video game and movie references without them feeling overused.

Yet it's the exemplary voice performances that polish an already shining narrative diamond. Everyone is voiced apart from the player created protagonist. As it would've been a gargantuan challenge to give countless options for the expansive personalities players can create. Thankfully, The Curiosity Engine together with the expertise of their publisher Wadjet Eye Games of point and click game fame, have chosen a fantastic group of actors including the talented Sally Beaumont from the brilliant Old Skies. There really isn't a bad performance in the game.

For such a hefty script with so many potential story paths, I wouldn't have been surprised if an indie title had chosen not to voice the entire game. But the choice has paid off immensely. It fuels the twisty mystery story that dips in and out of multiple genres. One moment it's horror, another it's comedic. The Curiosity Engine skilfully balances genres to make a constantly engaging tale that can be changed and directed by the player. There's obviously limits to how far players can mould the story, but you don't feel them.

Nighthawks tells a gangster story, a vampire power struggle full of political intrigue, a murder mystery, and so much more. All while grounding the lore in real world history, philosophy, and being introspective and unafraid to touch on tough subjects and difficult questions.

I've been intentionally vague when it comes to the narrative, as alongside the RPG mechanics, it was the main aspect that kept me losing track of time. It's kind of like a fine dining buffet where everyone goes to the same place to eat, but you decide what food you want, and how to eat it.

There's even an atmospheric score to match. It compliments each location from spooky abandoned buildings, grimy sewers, and ethereal occult stores. Another creative aspect that works tirelessly to keep you in the world of Nighthawks.

I also cannot forget about the static character portraits and detailed background art. While motionless artwork might not be to everyone's tastes, I prefer swathes on handmade art over something that's been generated and lacks character. Everything is captured in incredible detail, allowing players to fill in the gaps themselves in their imaginations. Violence is captured in all its grotesqueness; vampire vices are thoroughly envisioned; and characters feel distinct when the portraits have boundless personality.

Nighthawks also includes a small set of accessibility options, such as subtitle sizes, cursor size, and a more. And outside of one small bug, my playthrough was flawless. I spent the majority of my time playing on PC, but I did try it out of Steam Deck, too. The controller layout on Steam Deck felt just as natural as using a mouse and keyboard, so it's another good addition for the platform.

After completing Nighthawks I reloaded my game for the first time to see a few different endings, which were satisfying in their own way. But I'm also eager to return to the world with a drastically different character for another few full playthroughs. As when Nighthawks' RPG choices and stellar writing coalesce, it's one of the most enjoyable RPGs I've played in a long time.

While it might not be hands-on enough for certain people, and the static art could be a stopping point for those who prefer animation, Nighthawks doesn't have any massive issues. My only minor qualms were how easy the combat felt by the midpoint, and some pacing gripes. But nothing impacted my overall enjoyment. As it offers enough systems and more than surface level storytelling; vampires seem like an ouroboros repeating history - a mirror to how cyclical human nature can be.

Nighthawks is a don't miss vampire RPG with a charming visual novel presentation. Richard at The Curiosity Engine has delivered a memorable vampire tale on top of fantastic RPG systems that are just complex enough to make every choice matter. It's a rich tapestry of story where even the tiniest threads are deeply textured and woven with care. The Curiosity Engine and publisher Wadjet Eye Games are a perfect match, and if Richard Cobbett at The Curiosity Engine chooses to build upon Nighthawks' systems for another fascinating story, I'll be there in a heartbeat.

*Review Code Provided By Publisher

Nighthawks Review - A Must Play Vampire RPG

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