Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York

.. but with so much unused potential. The game has nice graphics, the story is well written, it is quite easy to play or solve and its characters make an impression. But the game is incredibly short and no matter how you choose your ingame actions, you never get the chance to complete all quests in one run. It is annoying, that the script forces the player to complete the main quest line after only four side quests. The play experience feels rushed like this. It is also full of wasted opportunities: For example you build up your so called "Coterie" but in the end this one only comes into play for one time and that with just 2 of your gathered 4 friends. Why are there no options to interact more with those allies? Why is there no way of actively feeding? Why can't you explore New York more freely? Why would you build up a relationship with the sheriff, if it doesn't matter at all? Why start the story line with an random event? Why are the outcomes of the side quests always the same, no matter which option you choose? Why can't I join one of the sects? Where is the sabbath? Why is there no real alternative to the ending? Why are there just three characters to choose from? ... Why don't you work on all these questions, and make an AddOn for that game? could be great... Even though I had a nice time playing this game, I can't help feeling disappointed, since I had wished to do more, had wished to explore more inside the game and the world.... at least now I am back in the mood of playing VtMB again... thanks for that!

The game bleeds (pun intended) atmosphere. The sound effects and music perfectly capture the world of vampires living in a modern city for me. The background graphics are also often really good and somewhat detailed, but, sadly, the drawn characters don´t hold up to that standard. Some look ok, some just stupid, and they never change appearance. The story is not as bad as some reviewers make you think. It includes many unique characters and lore. Yes, it has kind of a cliffhanger, yes, it doesn´t make sense at once.. but once you look at it from different angles and review what happened in the beginning, it becomes a bit clearer and less nonsensical. For the asked price of 20 i have been well entertained for 10 hours, and I that´s only one playthrough. The reasons for 4 instead of 5 stars: - you actually can´t "complete" the game, some storylines will be cut short by the "grande finale" before you know it. - "the hunger" seems to be a bit buggy; although i´ve fed, it still shows the dialogue for being hungry. - some answers fit to all of the story choices, making it seem like the choice didn´t matter

Fine for a linear vampire-noir text adventure with little in the way of meaningful choice and a somewhat abrupt ending.

Commits the cardinal sin of ending in a cliffhanger

I don't have a lot of experience with visual novels, but this was engaging and kept me interested. There was enough variance to keep it from feeling stale on the replays. Def worth at least a sale price.