Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

First, I did not play this game a the time of its release over a decade ago, so no "rosy" nostalgic glasses here. Second, I generally and totally do NOT enjoy or embrace the whole 'vampire' theme, so I have never watched any shows, movies or anything else related to the vamp theme, nor have I ever played any related games... (well, back in the day I tried Blood Rayne, and hated it). Third, I did not get this game back in the day (though it was a venerable Troika game) because CGW magazine detailed all the BUGS... and I hate buggy games. In this release all the bugs are gone with the patch that GOG applied. Finally, this is a TROIKA game (or did I say it above? -- so sad Troika studio is no more, all their games are in my top 10 list of all time, and I've been gaming for over 25 years). So, having read many positive reviews, in spite of my reservations about the vampire theme I decided to get it here on GOG. I will not bore you with details (read other positive reviews), nor do I want to give you any spoilers. Just get this game IF : 1. You have been feeling betrayed by all the shallow crap the gaming industry has been concocting in the last decade or so; 2. You want a mind-bending, well-told, high quality RPG with great voice acting, interesting quests and outcomes, good combat mechanics, completely different classes and, hence, great replay-ability; One last thing - the graphics are twofold: a) Environments have aged VERY well. They look very good; b) Character models are somewhat crude by today's standards but they look okay, and animations are BETTER than many 'modern' games of today, so LET NOT 'dated' graphics deter you, especially considering this game is NOT about good looks, plus it was state of the art in its time. ONE WORD OF CAUTION -- on the first play-throug, do NOT pick a Malkavian Clan character :o) Things are not very straightforward as they are, no need to torture yourself trying to figure out what your colorful Malkavian is saying :o)) GET this game!

Best vampire RPG ever made !

This game brings back memories. Good ones and bad ones. Run the game with -console on the end of the shortcut if you need console in game. Then press tilde key and type "I am a cheater". Game get's 10/10 just because I liked it then and I sort of like it now.

...another scrumptious young plaything straight out of life and into my club?" Last work from Troika before they disapeared, Vampire Bloodlines is the best game of all time, THE game which had to be on GoG. I used to hate this game when I played the v1.0, all bugs really turned the experience to something painfull back at that time, but playing it with patches released since (official and non official alike) grants a magical experience without any annoying flaws (still, the funniest are here). musics are awesome, combats are really good, difficulty is here, graphism are still correct now. But what makes this game a masterpiece, the best video game for me, is its story and all secrets it contains, all these puns, easter eggs, private jokes, references... The best video game ever made, adapted from the best tabletop RPG ever made, if I could marry a video game, it would be this one.

I cannot say enough how much I love this game. Right off the bat though, let me say YOU HAVE TO PATCH THIS GAME. Don't let the fact that you need to go to Wesp5's Unofficial Patch (or the other one I don't use, I hear it works fine though, make your own choice) to make the game playable dissuade you though. Seriously, this game is immersive. The sounds of the city, of the wind, of the TV and radios that play different things depending on how you play the game, the unforgettable characters. What's your relationship with Heather like? How hard do you laugh at Fat Larry, how do you feel about Nines and Tung and those Sisters in the club? Do you want to demolish puny mortals with your spells? Do you want a game where the number of people you kill doesn't effect your experience points so you can actually just Obfuscate (magical stealth) past a dozen guards before killing their leader from behind with a fire ax while laughing like a lunatic? Do you just want to rage through moving ten times as fast as any mortal, his bullets whizzing through the space you were what seems like minutes before? My God, I've played through this game a dozen times and it never really gets old. Yes, the end is a bit of a grind with a bunch of combat, but by then you are invested as hell at seeing the ending. Play each clan... a couple times. Just play and immerse yourself (preferably at night with the lights off). Once you've beaten it a couple times you'll put it down... until someone mentions it on reddit or something and you'll play again. Even writing this review means that I'm going to play this again. Tonight! Maybe a Malkavian playthrough again (maybe not a good first time playthrough, FYI, but do what you want). This game is worth $20. Hell, it's worth $50, IMO. I'm buying it from GOG even though I originally bought it on Steam. Because DRM free might not normally be worth it to me. But for this game? Hell to the yes.