Vampire: The Masquerade Clans of London Offers Five-Minute Commute Matches, TechRadar Says

TechRadar said one of the game's distinguishing features is its card art and character names. Where Marvel Snap lets players unlock figures such as Luna Snow, Blade and Spider-Man, Clans of London offers a barrage of original characters with names ranging from Sid Scabies and Cathy Carmine to Helen Lloyd and Ms Harriot, TechRadar said. Instead of illustrations or CGI, the developers used photographs of real-life actors in makeup and costumes to represent the vampires on cards. TechRadar said the shots are heavily Photoshopped and vary in believability, but show a level of care it said is hard to find elsewhere in the mobile space, especially as sloppy AI assets spread on the platform.

TechRadar's reviewer said they had played the game every day for a week, and each new card unlocked was a treat. The appeal extends beyond aesthetics, according to the article. Matches last about five minutes and take place between two players at either end of a board with 15 card slots. The slots are split by a shared central row of three. The first row is for pawns: ideally low-level cards with simple effects placed early to support the hand later. TechRadar gave the example of Abir, a low-level vampire perfumer who automatically buffs the strength of the next card deployed.

Above the pawn row are rook slots, which TechRadar said are a good place for more powerful characters to defend against opponents trying to set down cards in a player's territory. Allied cards can generally receive reinforcements from adjacent cards in combat, adding their power levels together. The highest number wins a fight, so filling these slots wisely can pay off when contesting the middle row, which contains two knight slots and one prince.

TechRadar said the prince slot is by far the most valuable space on the board. It awards its occupant a number of victory points determined by how many cards they have in play at the end of each round. The knight slots are less significant but still award two victory points each, for a total of four if a player controls both. TechRadar said that often clinches a close win.

Placing cards requires a resource called blood, so players cannot put down their entire hand right away. TechRadar said blood is in short supply in the first few rounds, forcing careful decisions. Because unused blood is discarded at the end of each round, players cannot simply accumulate it and then spam powerful cards in the final rounds. A match has only seven rounds, so the game moves quickly, and TechRadar said players risk falling behind if they sit back.

Mechanically, TechRadar called the game very Marvel Snap, but said its theming reflects Vampire: The Masquerade lore. Fans will recognize the prince title as one given to a powerful vampire controlling a specific domain. The game is set in modern-day London, a city that, in-universe, is still recovering from a massive vampire purge, so different figures fighting over positions like this makes sense, according to TechRadar. Many vampire factions and types are represented, often with special card effects to differentiate them. TechRadar said it focused mainly on Ventrue, a powerful clan embedded in the upper echelons of society, whose status effects center on buffing other Ventrue characters. That produced a satisfying domino effect of boosts and bonuses that made it easy to steamroll later rounds, the article said.

More cards are unlocked for free as players win online matches, TechRadar said, and it recommended frequently trying new combinations because many come together in interesting ways. It highlighted a "make me a deck" button that automatically creates a fairly decent setup out of any chosen card, reducing the need to think too much about interactions. TechRadar also noted that there is a battle pass with both free and premium tiers.