As long-time fans of the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop game are aware, the Tremere are awful. This carries over into Vampire‘s latest video game adaptation, Swansong, where your attempts to negotiate with one of Boston’s Tremere groups lead to getting caught in a surreal “memory trap.”
It’s not that difficult to simply escape the trap, but unless you explore the area thoroughly, you’ll end up leaving some memories behind. This can dramatically complicate Emem’s life going forward, especially if you’re aiming to resolve some of her personal subplots.
Here’s how to find Emem’s scattered memories in Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong. This will unavoidably involve significant spoilers for scene 4.
Finding All Emem’s Lost Memories in VtM: Swansong
Every time you successfully find one of Emem’s memories, you’re transported to a circular hallway. Find the door with light coming from underneath it in order to continue. You usually don’t have to do anything more than simply witness what happens.
These memories are numbered in the rough order in which they can be found, and they are named simply for ease of reference. Neither the number nor name are in any way official.
#1: Arrival at the Chantry
You can’t miss this one. It kicks in automatically as you cross the bridge near your starting point. This requires some exploration to finish, but it’s simply a question of using Blink to get from point A to point B, and there isn’t anything else to see or do in the meantime.
After resolving this sequence, Emem reappears in the prison with a new trait: Amnesia. This effectively zeroes out her Education and Deduction skills. You don’t need either to finish the scene, thankfully, but it does conceal one potentially important asset.
#2: Embrace
When you reach the Tremere’s reading room, turn around (facing away from its entrance) and look towards the central tower. There’s a hidden jump point for Blink to its left. You can use it to drop down and reach a small ledge with a lit candle at the end. Interact with it to return to the hallway.
In this memory, simply go to the end of the path, then turn around. You’ll reclaim Emem’s (moderately NSFW) memory of the night she was turned into a vampire. Sit through the ensuing sequence and enter the glowing portal when it appears.
#3: Leaving France
This memory is very easy to miss, as the game doesn’t provide much of a hint about it. If you have at least 2 dots in the Education talent, you can analyze Emem’s cell door right at the start of the scene, before the Amnesia trait kicks in, to figure out that something other than a lock is keeping the doors shut. With Heightened Senses, you can even see the magical seal on the other side of the cell bars.
Even so, this does require a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. When you reach the reading room, you’ll find two levers on the wall which control two portcullises on either side of the entrance, granting access to the cellblocks. You’ll also receive a weirdly-timed tutorial on the use of Emem’s Fleetness ability, which is part of her Celerity Discipline.
If you activate Fleetness before you throw one of the levers, Emem can move quickly enough to get underneath the corresponding portcullis before it lowers. While the portcullises are down, the Tremere wards on each cell’s door are gone, which lets you enter and search the remaining intact cells.
First, raise the right lever, then activate Fleetness and lower it again. You can now dash out of the reading room and hang a left to access the left-hand part of the cellblock.
The second cell from the entrance contains a table with an old radio on it. Interact with it, and Emem will relive a memory from World War II. Simply wait it out and enter the portal.
#4: The Breakup
From the previous memory, leave the cell and head down to the end of the hallway. The final cell has a few rats in it, a dead guy who’s holding a useful piece of gear, and a point from which you can Blink to another well-hidden part of the prison. Follow the path to its end and inspect the impact crater on the wall.
Getting four of Emem’s memories back, in any order, is enough to remove the Amnesia Trait. This doesn’t grant you any immediate benefit in this scene, but if you have even 1 dot in Education, you can now backtrack to the start of the level and Blink into the partially-collapsed cell.
There’s a table inside with a lockpicking tool and a mysterious coin, the latter of which you can opt to take if you analyze it first. This can come in handy later in the game.
#5: Disco
Return to the reading room and open the portcullis to the other cellblock, on the right. Activate Fleetness again, throw the lever, and dash through before the portcullis finishes dropping.
The fourth intact cell on your left contains another prisoner – hey, more free blood – and several empty bottles on the ground at the base of the far wall. Interact with them to reclaim a memory of Emem’s friendship with Journey.
#6: Capture
Leave the cell from the previous memory and go all the way to the end of the cellblock’s hall. From here, you can Blink to another distant ledge, then climb down and Blink across the gap to an interrogation room. Blink one more time, backtracking to top off your Hunger meter if necessary, into the bloodstained cell.
Inspect the bed in the cell to reclaim an unpleasant memory of Emem’s previous run-in with the Tremere.
#7: Trial
When you reach the 4th floor of the tower, after solving all three of the elevator puzzles, take a moment before you leave to inspect the poker sticking out of the lit brazier.
This will transport you to another crucial memory of Emem’s, which explains another major point of contention between her and her sire. If you’re really getting into the story, it’ll also go a long way toward explaining why nobody really seems to like the previous prince of Boston.
Completing all seven memory sequences unlocks the How could I forget? trophy/achievement. Emem having a full recollection of her life’s events will also play a significant role in the rest of the game.
Conversely, if you don’t reclaim memories #4 or #6, Emem will forget two crucial pieces of personal information. Skip #4, and she won’t remember that she and Hilda broke up 30 years ago; skip #6 and she will no longer remember who Journey is.
If you subsequently speak with either of them (assuming you didn’t encourage Journey to flee in scene 1), you’ll gain the Allies in short supply trait, which gives a 10-point discount to the experience cost the next time you upgrade your Social Attribute.
And that’s how to find all of Emem’s memories in VtM: Swansong. For more guides on the puzzles of Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong and more, keep an eye on our official tips hub for the game.
