Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York - Deluxe Edition

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3.4/5

( 5 Reviews )

3.4

5 Reviews

English & 3 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: September 15, 2020

Tarhiel

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 2

SoNY better than CoNY

„- You want the real answer or the interesting one? - The real answer should be the more interesting one.“ Exactly how Coteries of New York should have been. Coherent and well told story which, this time, can stand of its own and the educational part (intro into the World of Darkness universe for those, who did not play VtM: Redemption or Bloodlines) it´s just an icing on a cake. Compared to the previous entry, you do care about fate of the main protagonist and characters are written in a civil way. They got rid of the pesky feeding mechanic and this time you can enjoy delving into sidequests, which not only are well written, you are forced to choose only some, leaving the other for another run (replayability + different outcomes). Technical shortcoming from the previous entry are still untouched though: you still have only one saveslot, you can´t save to several saves at will (baring manual copying of folders, which is tedious and should have been in the game in the first place) + controls cannot be rebind - something which should be given in any game this time and age. Only difference is that this time, game does inform you about important decisions throughout the game (Julia´s traits). Many of the assets from Coteries have been reused + game takes place after the events of CoNY and glossing over events in that game. You will also meet many characters from there, but they are written in such a way that you do not have to play the previous entry, and still get all the necessary info. My advice is: forget about Coteries, and go straight to Shadows of New York. Worthwhile addition to the universe.

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Posted on: September 12, 2020

Seurath

Games: 258 Reviews: 3

A More Focused Successor to Coteries

If you've enjoyed the story, presentation, and mood invoked by Coteries of New York, Shadows of New York will not disappoint. I welcomed the fresh take of a more focused story seen through the eyes of a single Lasombra character, established quite compellingly. The eerie mood got kicked up a notch this time around, which fits the shadow clan well. Like Coteries of New York, it's mostly a story-focused visual novel, with few choices sprinkled in. Those not a fan of that approach will not find much in a way of improvement. Otherwise, for what it is, it's a marvelous treat, and a great companion product to other VTM books and games. It feels a bit longer than Coteries, but not by much, with similar level of modest replayability for those truly dedicated. As I am looking to recommend this to people who are not familiar with VTM, I am unsure if this game will appeal necessarily. It feels tailored more to established fans, especially VTM lore nerds like myself. For long-time fans of VTM games, there are even a few notible references to a prior VTM game I won't spoil. It's very hard to miss if you're familiar with that prior game's characters. Similarly, even though it is a standalone story that players can enjoy right away, Coteries players will benefit more from the familiar evolving conspiracy and established characters. Still, the Lasombra character's journey may yet pull in newcomers, given her unique struggles. One critique I'd like to give to the game's writing team is that, while having thoroughly enjoyed the more fleshed-out Lasombra character, there were moments, especially near the end, where she surprised me with the amount of knowledge she suddely acquires between scenes, seemingly "off camera" as it were. Though I enjoyed the resulting exposition (as a lore nerd), it felt a bit disjointed, the narrative overriding well-nurtured immersion up to that point. Otherwise, keep up the good work. I thirst for more! :)

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Posted on: March 10, 2023

gognodrm4me

Games: Reviews: 14

Garbage Money Grab

It's extremely short, and there are no important choices to make. It's all over just when you thought it was getting started. Stay away from all the Vampire the Masquerade visual novels unless you really like them or it's on a super sale. Even on sale, it's not worth it.

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Posted on: August 10, 2023

Hexling4

Games: 16 Reviews: 1

An Enjoyable but Mixed Bag

I love this game personally, and generally am a fan of the developers. But it definitely is a mixed bag and I'd recommend waiting for this game to go on sale before getting it, its rather simplistic and while the story is enjoyable there isn't much in terms of choice to be had. Its a worthy addition to the World of Darkness and continues a lot of the themes inherent to the tabletop, critiquing a lot of real world social issues like power structures, conspiracies, religion, and such. The game is also short, however the endings are not nearly as abrupt as Coteries. The obvious complaints are the lack of an ability to reload a save, the narrow railroad of the story, and somewhat stunted conspiracy. All choices are permanent and the dialogue options can be obtuse leading to some frustration in parts. However this is somewhat mitigated by the next issue, which is that outside of 6 specific dialogue options none of your choices impact the ending or overal course of the story. The dialogue options generally act more as "what is your flavor of protagonist" rather than meaningful options, and often they'll all just be the same option in disguise. Finally the conspiracy that the central mystery of the game revolves around is rather shallow and really predictable, especially if you played the previous game. While I personally enjoy the game for the personal story it tells, it definitely didn't land the mystery. However the personal story of Julia, our protagonist, is rather compelling and in all honesty the conspiracy is merely the simplistic backdrop for her tale. From her tenuous relationship with religion, having been raised catholic but now living as a goth lesbian, to her strained and rapidly deteriorating relationship, to her hopeless struggle to find her place in the new world she finds herself in. Julia is a really interesting character study in my opinion, and brings up a lot of rather important modern issues.

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Posted on: December 13, 2024

misterfixit

Games: 506 Reviews: 8

Better concept, worse execution

Like all good sequels, it takes the groundwork laid by he first and brings it to a new level. This one focuses the story (and storytelling itself) around one particular subject, her quirks and her journey. For example, the Codex no longer just lists monotonous details of the world's elements, this time they're written from the main character's perspective and with her unique attitude. I actually like having a character who isn't just a blank slate but unfortunately, for all the better design decisions, the main character in this is kind of annoying and doesn't have many redeeming qualities. Your choices are pretty much limited to different ways of being snarky and entitled, while inexplicably nonchalant. It does balance this at least when most of the Camarilla treats her like she's useless, but I couldn't bring myself to feel all that sorry for her. Then unfortunately this set up leads to some pretty unbelievable leaps to get things rolling which often felt fan-fictiony. Without spoiling anything, at least one of the endings feels like an absolute fever dream it's so bizarrely unearned. All in all, if they tried this concept with a variety of characters it could be amazing and this could just be that one character I didn't like, but unfortunately she's all you get and she's not star material.

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Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York - Deluxe Edition

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