Vampires will never get old; not only regarding their age, but also their presence in popular culture. It’s no wonder that these well-known and iconic creatures are central to a variety of books, movies, TV series and video games. One of them is Cabernet, a game in which we not only get to observe the secret vampiric society, but also experience the ups and downs of becoming a vampire ourselves.
Mirror withouth a reflection
Cabernet is a 2D narrative RPG set in a 19th century Eastern European inspired world, with a modern twist. We play as Liza, a young vampire struggling with her morality and the supernatural world she has been pulled into. But vampirism here is more than physical transformation, it’s a battle for your very soul. Will you cling to your compassion? Or surrender to the seductive nihilism of the night?
Cabernet offers a classic narrative RPG experience where player choices truly matter. With a limited timeframe to complete both main and side quests, each decision, often testing your moral compass, shapes the story and leads to multiple possible endings. The gameplay consists of clear and consistent guidance, as well as substantial freedom of exploration and action. It’s quite easy to keep track of current tasks and their implications, however, the way we set our goals is completely up to us.
While most of the quests involve interacting with the characters or performing specific actions, there were also assigments that didn’t directly state the objective, such as finding solution to prevent future problems or finding answers to riddles. I found them particulary interesting, since they required deductive skills and larger involvement from the players, and also introduced more than one possibility of advancing the plot.
In my opinion, Cabernet has two standout qualities that elevate it from being just another indie adventure game to an incredibly fun and memorable experience: its mechanics and narrative. Let’s start with the mechanics. Throughout the adventure, you unlock several unique abilities, most notably, a set of vampire skills that add depth and excitement to gameplay. The ones I enjoyed the most were invisibility, bat transformation, enchantment, and vampiric form.
Not only are these abilities essential for navigating new environments (often making them necessary for progression), but they’re also incredibly fun to experiment with. You can spy on others while invisible, enchant friends to manipulate their thoughts, or even drink their blood. Yet, the same powers can be used for good, encouraging characters to improve their lives or transforming into a bat to swiftly bring them aid. With so many choices at your disposal, each playthrough becomes a uniquely personal experience.
The choices that we encounter involve another mechanic which makes the gameplay even more absorbing and dynamic – our character development. The experience points we gather by completing tasks can be used to increase our konwledge in science, literature, art or history, which gives us major advantage in risky situations – the knowledge is treated as our greatest weapon.
Nevertheless, the thing I want to draw your attention to is humanity/nihilism meter. While it’s pretty obvious which decisions will highlight our empathy and which will lead to mayhem, the whole point is to manage them carefully. Maxing out one of them will come in handy in later parts of the game, however neglecting the other option will result in exclusion from some of the quests and interactions. It was interesting to see how the story didn’t label our actions as either entirely “good” or “bad”, but instead encouraged players to adapt to complex and ambiguous situations.
Beautifully Crafted Folk Tale
The second strength of Cabernet I mentioned is the narrative. Since the very beginning, we immerse ourselves in a story filled with suspense, danger and unexpected turn of events: death, politics, social conflicts and supernatural forces all work together to keep us invested in searching for answers. Elements like flashbacks and switching perspectives were especially intriguing, as they allowed us to catch a glimpse of what will be waiting for us in the grand reveal at the end.
At first, the quests from main story might feel like just another set of side tasks, but in the last chapters it becomes clear how they influenced our fate. I’d like to point out that after finishing the game it’s not that difficult to figure out which choices were crucial regarding the ending and which give vital information if we want to go for another route.
For me, Cabernet wouldn’t be half as good as it is without its remarkable setting. Eastern European inspired world, 19th century social context, motives straight out from the greatest works of literature and forgotten local legends. Saying it is atmospheric would be a huge understatement. The creatures we encounter, the rites we participate in, the customs and superstitions we learn are all based on actual elements of folklore preserved during that time. Moreover, adding a glossary with the most important terms and their definitons was a really nice detail that also emphasized the amount of research done for creating this title.
When it comes to the graphics and the soundtrack, the game does a fairly decent job at fitting them into the whole concept. The artstyle is clean and distinctive, which can be seen especially during smooth animations and sequences resembling chalk drawings. However, some errors tend to happen from time to time, like characters clipping through objects, glitching frames or stiff movements. At the same time I appreciate the fact that the game contains full voice acting, which truly adds another layer of immersion. The music is another aspect that works well with the rest of ideas, combining melancholic melodies with tunes that send shivers down the players’ spine.
Till death do us part
There’s quite a lot of activities we can partake in during our playthrough. Some minor ones include reading books, finding the pieces of a strange painting, helping local doctor as his apprentice or playing blackjack in a nearby tavern. Taking up different tasks allows us to deepen our relationship with others, as well as to unlock new characters in our connections map; we can even befriend a cute ginger cat, which is pretty wholesome. Nevertheless, there are moments in the story when we are responsible for making decisions regarding the characters’ fate, which sometimes can be a hard pill to swallow.
While I enjoyed meeting townspeople and learining their stories, I found the dating part quite confusing. After spending time with others and gaining their trust, our character can enter a relationship with them, it can even be multiple ones at the same time. However, the game doesn’t really indicate which characters we can view as possible love interest, what’s more, some of our actions and dialogue options towards someone appear as romantic, but then it turns out that person cannot be dated. Ultimately, the dating part does not have much importance to the story anyway (or it’s just the impression I got), so in the end it gets eclipsed by more compelling elements from the game.
Ending thoughts
Overall, Cabernet hits just right: not too much content to feel overwhelmed and confused, yet not too little to get bored and lose interest. Well-balanced gameplay is accompanied by rich worldbuilding and absorbing story, leaving you hungry for more (blood). Even though the game is centered around immortal vampires, in reality all good things must come to an end – that also includes finishing this title in about 10-12 hours. However, I can assure you that you won’t regret a minute spent in a twisted and mysterious world of Cabernet, all you have to do is allow yourself to get enchanted by it. So, are you ready to invite them in?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Engaging and suspenseful gameplay. | Occasional animation errors |
| Balanced and distinctive mechanics. | Confusing dating aspect. |
| Inventive tasks. | |
| Detailed but clear interface. |
Review copy provided by the publisher
4.8
English (UK) 
Hrvatski