Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

very good buy it, if you dont you SUCK

I just finished my first playthrough of this often spoken about cult classic and I have mixed emotions. The first two thirds of the game are absolutely fantastic. They were some of the most fun I'd had in a video game in a very long time primarily due to the exceptional writing, world-building, and atmosphere. Running around and roleplaying as a vampire is really fun. The characters you meet feel individual and interesting each with their own personalities and often difficult to uncover motives. I had so much fun in this game just talking to people and thinking about what might be going on in the world around me. The levels are detailed and intricately designed offering many different ways to approach their objectives and they connect with the story and characters around you in meaninful ways. The actual implementation of the mechanics can feel a bit janky at times but that rarely gets in the way of enjoyment. Besides, everything comes together so well and makes for such an immersive and fun experience that the jank and dated elements hardly matter. It blows my mind to think that this level of detail, interconnectedness, and thought could exist in a game from 2004 when it's rarely seen in anything released nowadays. Unfortunately, the game really starts to dip during the final third. It declines gradually with an increasing number of poor quests turning up. It becomes very obvious that the devs simply did not have enough time or money to bring this part of the game up to the level they intended and that's a real shame because a lot of the ideas seemed really cool and the parts that they were able to finish were great. The final few levels proved so tedious and difficult that I turned on God mode (which is something I never do) so I could get through them and see the ending. The dip in quality is mostly due to the shift in gameplay from immersive sim roleplaying in wonderfully designed open-worlds to never ending corridor combat in mazes. You quite literally cannot finish the game unless you build a combat focused character for this reason. Even if your character can fight well, the combat mazes still feel like a boring and repetitive slog with their spongey enemies and the game's buggy combat mechanics. Unfortunately, many of the endings aren't very satisfying either. Many of the decisions you've made earlier on that you'd think would impact the ending in some way just don't. Most of the payoff for your choices arrive long before the final levels. It's hard to argue that the game is worth finishing. It's probably better to look up whichever ending you were aiming for on YouTube (or God mode the final few levels like me). Despite the consistent decline in quality throughout the final third of the game, I highly recommend playing this one. The first ten or so hours are an incredible time and quite unlike anything else I've played. Just don't get your hopes up for an ending as exciting as the rest of the game suggests it could be. Also, be sure to play with the unofficial patch! It fixes loads of bugs and restores cut content. You can download it for free on GOG if you buy it here. Otherwise you can find it online.

My first bloodlines game was the 2nd one. I didn't see why everyone was complaining about it. Now, that I've played the 1st one I get it.

For a game this old its still the best vampire rpg ever made sadly bloodlines 2 couldn't exceed it either

It may not always be the lore accurate face your inner demon game that the tabletop is; but it's fun being a vampire super hero.