Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

Magic in game words Amazing games

I remember playing this gaming when I was in high school and then replaying it throughout college. Even though this game was buggy and needed the fan-made patches, it was still a good game overall with rich storytelling, fascinating lore, intriguing characters, good dialogue, and challenging (in an enjoyable way) combat. What makes this game truly great is its replayability. There are so many ways to solve quests: you can be the muscle and fight your way through or be the charmer who talks your way out.

GET WESP COMMUNITY PATCH! It fixes the game and restores cut features! http://www.patches-scrolls.de/patch/4647/7 Okay so first things first I haven't bought this game from GoG. The reason I havent bought it is because I still have the first copy of this game I ever bought. Waaaaay back in 2005 I bought this game on a whim because the chick on the front cover looked hot (Jeanette Voerman) and its the best purchase of my life. I have consistently played this game on and off for over 10 years now it is by far and a ways my favourite game of all time. I could go into detail as to why its so good but its better to be like me. Get this game on a whim, dont expect much and have your mind blown by its awesomeness.

With the latest unofficial patch this game is now remarkably stable. The gameplay reminds me quite a bit of the first Deus Ex. The story is complex, characters are mostly well fleshed out, there are often multiple ways of completing quests, each with different rewards and sometimes different consequences. Voice actors are mostly good and I actually wanna hear them narate their dialog instead of skipping through it. The graphics are holding up surprisingly well. This is the first iteration of the Source Engine, texture resolution and polygon count are a bit low, but lighting and sound are atmospheric and character's faces are well done. The game includes the basic unofficial patch. The plus patch can be downloaded here for instance: http://www.patches-scrolls.de/patch/4647/7/ (you may have to open the download link in a new tab for it to work)

If you're not blinded by nostalgia, no amount of hype will live past what this game does wrong. It's still a good piece of entertainment, I'd say, just not worth the flawless 5-star status it enjoys on GOG. Then again, this is GOG, so reviewing games based on rose-tinted glasses is to be expected.