Set in White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness, the game is based on White Wolf's role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade and follows the adventures of Christof Romuald, a 12th-century French crusader who is killed and subsequently revived as a Vampire. The game depicts Christof's centuries-long journey from the Dark Ages of 12th century Prague and Vienna to modern-day London and New York City in search of his humanity and his kidnapped love, the nun Anezka.
The game is presented in the first- and third-person perspectives. The player controls Christof and up to three allies through a linear structure, providing the player with missions to progress through a set narrative. Certain actions committed by Christof throughout the game can raise or lower his humanity, affecting which of the game's three endings the player receives.
The game includes multiplayer gameplay called "Storyteller", which allows one player to create a narrative for a group of players with the ability to modify the game dynamically in reaction to the players' actions.