Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

I’ve never been so engrossed by a game. Truth be told, I don’t like vampires much but the whole universe this game has is more than superb. The voice acting and storytelling are on another level and the fact that Troika did it in such a short timeframe and pulled off this level of quality is amazing. That much I agree with everyone else. But then 28 hours of playtime later, I finished my first playthrough. And I never want to play this game again. I feel like the people giving the game 4 or 5-star ratings aren't being very open with how frustrating the combat is, especially for a first timer like me. I dreaded fighting because melee combat is literally just mashing left-click. Guns in this game wobble and wiggle around, the recoil for these guns are horrible, and you have to max out Firearms and Melee for this game to have good combat, which goes against the whole “customization” aspect of this game. You need good combat and gun skills because the game has segments and bosses that require you to have heavy damage in order to get through them without banging your head against a wall. If you’re playing as a Clan that’s predominantly combat-focused, this shouldn’t be a problem, but I can’t imagine what playing as a Tremere is like when going through the Nosferatu sewers. I gave it a try because of all the praise and found it lacking in the gameplay department. Which in a game, is a pretty important factor in deciding if people like me will stick around for it or not. It’s also got plenty of bugs and animation glitches because Bloodlines is in the Source engine. I agree Troika needed more time to develop this game, but I don’t think it’s a “flawed masterpiece,” I just think it’s “flawed.” If you’re a BIG fan of vampires and edgy stuff, this game’s incredible and has some fantastic lore. But I can’t in good conscience say that this game is worth buying, and that genuinely hurts me to say. Because it could have been so much more. So close, but no cigar.

srsly tho ...

Aside from miscellaneous Source jank, it is a lot of fun. You get to feel sneaky snakey.

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Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines was the send off of Troika games. Set in the tabletop RPG Old World of Darkness setting of Vampire the Masquerade, this game takes the best of VtM's deep setting, pairs it with a great story, great voice acting, and a game that is that rarity among RPGs, very replayable. I've had the game on Steam for a few years and have logged about 300 hours into it. It's an engaging storyline that is a quite different game depending on both your clan choice, and many of your in-game decisions. Do yourself a favor and buy it. Just remember to download and install the Unofficial Patch, which fixes a lot of the out of the box bugs, adds a lot of new content, and makes things all the better.