Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

Few games can be considered 'mature'. And I mean truly mature, not just violent with swearing. Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines was probably the first truly maturely written game I played back in '04, it was definitely the first one I played that had swearing. Years later and the game still holds up. Not the combat, the writting. Combat is spent mostly spamming Bloodbuff, I just speced out a character for ranged combat and most of the guns suck. Until you get the 44. or the Desert Eagle (maybe the AUG if you can handle the insane recoil) you're gonna be using melee weapons mostly. Thankfully the amazing dialogue, missions, and freedom to complete quests however you like make this game incredibly engaging and replayable. Highly recommended to anyone who likes damn good RPG's.

Once a year or so, I'll play it, use it as inpiration for the tabletop. I can't really say anything about it that hasn't been said When/if the second one ever comes out, even if it's just this again but with schmancy graphics, I'll still like it. That's just how timeless and good the writing is here I think. It's fun. But sometimes the running back and forth can get tedius in the downtown area.

This is a truly fascinating RPG with a wonderful mod community. You can feel how good it is from the first main quest (after the tutorial) and the first side quest. The designers and writers knew how to make a "real" RPG. Sadly, the game was released in a "broken" state 20 years ago. However, with the fan patch, the game is now free of critical bugs. In fact, if you quit and restart the game once per hour, you likely won't meet any notable bugs. Additionally, you don't need knowledge of VtM rules and settings to enjoy this game. However, it can inspire your interest in the VtM world. I bought the V20 rulebook and the ones about True Black Hand after playing the computer game multiple times with different mods. They also brought me lots of fun.

I've played all Troika games. Arcanum, TOEE, VTMB. IMO, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is the best one. Voice acting, vampires' unique abilities, story. Almost everything is perfect. Except, hand-to-hand combat is kinda not good. However, not THAT bad.

This RPG game is one of the best PC releases ever, in any genre. Despite its troubled and buggy start in 2004, it stands today as one of the best , most replayable , intelligently scripted and atmospheric works in the history of PC gaming. Nothing will make you feel more like a creature of the night than this game. Read up on its lore, many MODS and over 20 years of fandom. Hard to beat even with todays better graphics capabilities.