Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

This game is a gem (albeit unpolished upon its initial release and plagued by many bugs) of the RPG genre. Although a decade old, Vampire Bloodlines remains one of the wittiest and most atmospheric modern PRGs to this day. The amount of different dialogue choices and their outcomes depending on your character class and stats are staggering in a game that includes so much fully-voiced dialogues and unique quests. On top of that, the writing is excellent, making for one of the wittiest and most subtle experiences you can get in an RPG. The game has many good things going for it, but it is probably its soundtrack that stuck with me the most throughout the last ten years. Rick Schaffer's score is staggeringly atmospheric, something that in my oppinion even the best of today's RPGs can hardly match. Dark, heavy on guitar riffs and ambient effects, it elevates the relatively small but rich hubs of this game to a new level. I heartily recommend everyone to listen to the score - it's a textbook case of overachievement in the genre. P.S.: Don't forget to install the community patch upon playing. For new players, I recommend the ones that only fix bugs and restore original content, not altering the game in any other significant way. It's the closest you can get to how the now-defunct Troika Studios imagined this game should be played.

Even though Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines pretty much ended up being Troikas demise, the game actually turned out to be one of the best RPGs I have ever played. Despite the tremendous amount of bugs and glitches (many of which have been fixed in the community patches!) it offers interesting and varied gameplay, flexible character editing and a deep, interesting storyline set in a dark, compelling setting. The game could be called "pseudo open-world" as it uses hub areas which are unlocked one-by-one and are used to allow the player to visit a number of locations where they can find and complete quests, pick up hidden loot, etc. Combat is also fun, albeit a bit clunky. The player can choose from melee weapons, guns and 'disciplines' (essentially magic) to fight enemies. Each hit is a dice roll with their values determined by the skill points the player distributed. It's far from perfect, but it works and is somewhat enjoyable. With all the talk about bugs and glitches, you may think that it's better to avoid this game - but you would be wrong. If you like RPGs and if you're even remotely interested in dark, modern settings involving vampires (not the Twilight kind, thankfully ;) ) - then Bloodlines is an absolute must-play.

I have to say first that I downloaded WESP's patch with all the enhancements and it only crashed twice. I didn't play it a second time in vanilla state. The game was fun and offered something fresh and new although being released almost 15 years ago. You need to think and immerse yourself into the game, beacuse there are no arrows that gonna guide you like in all these new kindergarten games. All in all it reminded me a bit on Shenmue, considering the way this game is being played, with fighting parts, RPG stats and the talking to other AI characters. The only thing that kept me from giving 5 stars is the dated graphics, the many loading screens, the unfinished state of the game (like strange hitboxes etc) and the empty or not too alive city. One could argue it's from 2004, but it still bothered me, although knowing this. Nevertheless, it's worth a buy, if you aim for a slow paced action adventure with RPG elements and don't mind dated tech.

Vampire the Masquarade - Bloodlines is the best single player cRPG I know. And I am a long time cRPG fan. You are a vampire and you are many vampires. The classes in this game are really different. Play a warrior (Brujah) or play a crazy bitch or a vampire noble or an real ugly guy (Nosferatu). It is always the same story, but you have to adapt your play style to the character. I bought VtM - Bloodlines again on GOG because it is so damned cheap as Xmas 2018 sale. Do a good deed, support the blood suckers at Xmas and get your own copy!

Played it for the first time this year and jesus christ it holds up! One of the best RPG's I've ever played.