Cabernet Review

Vampires have been a staple of horror media for centuries, but rarely are they explored with the level of depth and nuance found in Cabernet. Developed by Party for Introverts, Cabernet is a 2.5D narrative RPG set in a beautifully crafted 19th-century Eastern European town.

The game follows Liza, a doctor’s apprentice who is thrust into the world of high society after being turned into a vampire. Players must help Liza navigate her newfound existence and learn about how – and why – she was turned in the first place.

To do so, you must balance your relationships with both vampires and humans while ensuring she has a steady supply of blood—whether through buying pre-extracted blood in bottles of “Cabernet” or if you get desperate, by feeding on those you call friends.

Excelling in Storytelling and Character Development

At the heart of Cabernet is its deeply engaging narrative and well-developed characters. The world feels alive with unique personalities, from a down-on-his-luck, drunkard poet struggling to find inspiration to a vampire yearning to witness sunlight with her own eyes. These relationships aren’t simply a means to an end; they are the core of the experience, evolving based on your choices.

Unlike many RPGs where morality is black and white, Cabernet presents a nuanced system where actions have tangible consequences. Assisting someone isn’t always about doing the “right thing”—sometimes, characters require morally ambiguous favors, and doing the right thing can strain relationships or even fail their questlines entirely. You can shape Liza’s personality, leaning into her humanity or embracing a nihilistic, vampiric nature. This duality extends to dialogue, with your choices unlocking special options that significantly alter the progression of the story.

This freedom to choose your path – as well as nearly 100 achievements – lends itself to multiple playthroughs where you can embrace your evil side, or even try to kill every character.

One particularly memorable early-game moment allows players to enchant an alcoholic and influence him in two very different ways: encourage him to moderate his drinking or, tell him that he should drink more! While I chose the former option as I’m not a terrible person, it does make me want to do a second playthrough just to see what happens if these choices are selected.

Deep and Engaging Systems

Beyond its compelling narrative, Cabernet offers a wealth of mechanics that elevated the gameplay experience far beyond my initial expectations. 

Two such systems are the time and blood systems. If money runs low, securing blood becomes a challenge as Cabernet is not cheap—should Liza feed on her friends at the expense of her humanity and relationships? I really like that in Cabernet, you can only enchant and feed upon those who trust you. This adds a layer of complexity where you can’t just prey upon people you hate, you must choose from those you’ve built up bonds with, which presents its own moral dilemma.

The game also introduces a time management system reminiscent of the Persona series, where you must carefully decide how to allocate your limited in-game time. Completing quests can help to develop your relationships, reading books can improve your skills, and completing tasks as the doctor’s apprentice earns you money. You’ll need to balance these different priorities to be able to achieve everything you want to do. You always have to return to your coffin by dawn, however, because, well, you’re a vampire!

A Labor of Love

For a game developed by a two-person team at Party for Introverts, Cabernet is an impressive achievement. 

Every line of dialogue is voice-acted, which adds depth to character interactions in comparison to visual novel games with unvoiced dialogue. While some minor characters suffer from weaker acting, Liza’s voice actress – played by one half of Party for Introverts, Laura – delivers a standout performance that really brings the character to life.

The game’s commitment to historical and folkloric accuracy is another highlight. A detailed glossary is included, providing players with explanations of Eastern European folklore and terminology. This small but meaningful addition makes the game more accessible to those unfamiliar with myths and legends.

I will say that the game does have some shortcomings in animation quality, which is understandable given its indie roots, but it would be a lie to say it wasn’t noticeable. The walking is merely the characters sliding across the screen, the character models hardly ever change poses or appearance, and many scenes, including the more intimate or gory, are left to the player’s imagination with a black screen. 

It’s not something that necessarily worsens the experience playing Cabernet, but I’m sure that including these scenes would’ve made certain scenes far more impactful.

A Slow Start and Bugs

While Cabernet is a fantastic experience, it isn’t without its flaws. The game starts off slow, really slow. I did like how you chose your character’s backstory and the impact it has on your skills, but the game takes its time introducing a variety of characters and vampire traditions.

For players already well-versed in vampire lore, this exposition-heavy introduction felt sluggish. However, once the game opens up in Chapter 2 and allows free exploration throughout the town and the mechanics introduced at the beginning start to come alive, the pacing improves significantly.

The biggest issue that Cabernet suffers from, however, is bugs and sequence breaks. The complex systems occasionally result in immersion-breaking moments, such as lines of dialogue not lining up with the sequence of events that have happened in your particular playthrough. In one funny instance, a side character sets off to do a particular activity which is a big moment in the game, but while interacting with another character, she just appears as if she hadn’t had this big send-away just before.

Similarly, some dialogue sequences seemed to contradict themselves, with a negative response appearing before the positive one. Near to the start, the doctor tells us off for visiting someone else before him (deteriorating our relationship with him), but then a few lines of dialogue later, he praises us for how prompt we were to see him! 

Cabernet: Final Verdict

Despite some bugs – annoying but never game-breaking – which it seems like are getting steadily patched out and a slow introduction, Cabernet is an outstanding narrative RPG that delivers a rich, immersive experience. Its strong storytelling, deep relationship mechanics, and morally complex choices make it stand out in the genre. The game’s attention to detail, impressive voice acting, and engaging systems make it easy to overlook its flaws.

For those who love vampire lore, deep character-driven narratives, and RPGs with meaningful choices, Cabernet is a game that should not be missed.

Final Verdict: Highly Recommended

Cabernet is available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Disclaimers:

1) The team at Horror Game News received a review copy of this game from the developers. We have done our best to ensure this has not influenced our review in any way, and our opinions remain our own.

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