Review: Cabernet (Nintendo Switch) – Pure Nintendo

A grave awaits you as soon as you start the game Cabernet. It belongs to a woman named Elizaveta Morozova, a vampire (and doctor) whose story you control.

Taking place in 1800s Europe, Cabernet is a game with a lot of choices to make—not only through dialogue, but also how you shape Liza and her personality. Your choices gain you human qualities or nihilistic qualities, and as you advance you can trade points for different kinds of skills. You meet many characters in this game. Whether you choose to help them is, again, your choice. You hang with both humans and vampires, deciding their fates as well as your own.

Do you embrace your new life as the undead or try to remain as human as possible?

At her grave, a woman starts Liza’s eulogy, but very quickly loses her composure, allowing a man to take over. Here, you not only learn a little about Liza, but you actually get to choose her characteristics. During the game, Liza can gain skills in art, history, science, and literature. Depending on your answers in the game’s introduction, you determine Liza’s first set of skills. Skills are important as they help unlock certain actions and dialogue options. For example, when talking with a bookstore owner, it may be wise to have a high literature skill, as you can use that to your advantage and say something that may impress him and strengthen your friendship. Of course, that’s important if you plan on drinking his blood.

Upgrading your skills and using them in conversation is also important as it helps you gain experience points which are added to your vampire rank. Once that’s leveled up, you get 5 skill points. You can then add these skill points to your skills, and the cycle continues. You can also gain skill points by reading books, though this does take up a chunk of your night.

In Cabernet, time is of the essence. You are given four time frames throughout the night: dusk, midnight, twilight, and dawn. At dawn, it’s wise to be near home as the time actually counts down. The other three time periods only pass as you take actions. For example, hanging out with characters can take up time.

Same as traveling from one place to another, reading books, doing work in the doctor’s lab, and more. If you don’t make it back home in time, Liza will die with the sunrise.

If you want to pick up the pace when traveling, you can turn into a bat and fly to reach places more quickly. Also, you can leave your bedroom door open to fly straight home instead of walking through your building to get to your room. Along with turning into a bat, you can also turn invisible (which is useful if you ever find yourself low on coins and want to steal from the townsfolk), turn into your vampire form (for sucking blood of course), and enchant people.

Enchanting is used to put people in a sleep-like state in which they aren’t aware of what’s happening to them. You have to have a strong enough relationship with people in order for it to work. You can use it not only to suck people’s blood, but also to convince them to do certain things. For example, when learning how to enchant, you practice on an alcoholic named Trofim. You can tell him to quit drinking, and he listens, never knowing it was Liza who put the thought into his mind. You can use enchantment for good or bad reasons, which again affects whether you gain humanity or nihilism.

There is a lot that goes into Cabernet. With vampire rankings, skill points, time limits, your job as a doctor, building relationships, and helping the townspeople—all while staying hydrated on blood—it can seem a bit overwhelming. It helps that the art style, music, dialogue, and overall feel of the game are incredible. It even has a glossary to help teach you any words or saying you may not know of.

And the goal of the game? I’m still not so sure, even after hours of playing. There’s a lot that goes into the story, such as helping the countess (who is also a vampire), figuring out how and why you died, taking care of an old woman’s health, helping an irritated couple, and so much more. You must follow all of these are quests to help push the story along.

I believe Cabernet is less about one big story, and more about Liza’s confrontation with death and how she (you) chooses to exist as someone who can only do just that. Her life is no longer about living, it’s about existing.