Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

This is one of the best Vampire games you will ever play, nothing modern has even barely scratched the amazing atmosphere and crisp presentation. It has aged well, not perfectly, but well. Problem is: You need the unofficial patch+ if you want the full experience because Troike died soon after releasing the only official patch and did miss A LOT OF BUGS when doing so. The vanilla version is detrimentally prone to softlocks and gamebreaking crashes, so I absolutely urge you to get the unofficial patch+ This game also has one of the best difficulty curves and storytelling in ages, I can only recommend it for anyone who wants an excellent, dark adventure in the streets of LA. I am really not happy with the price tho, as you can grab a retail copy around 5 bucks and even most platforms don't go over 10. But it is Drm free on gog, so consider that.

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is a vampire sim that was released in the early 2000s during the first days of the Source Engine. In fact, it has the dubious distinction of coming to market on the same day as Half Life 2, which is possibly one of the reasons why it fared poorly at the time. On release, it also sported a whole host of bugs and could have used several more months of polish. Unfortunately the developer, Troika Games, was going out of business, so that particular onus was left for the gaming community to shoulder, and boy did they do a good job. For anyone that is thinking of purchasing this title, I would recommend picking up the unofficial patch (linked at the bottom). I bought this game on Steam a couple of years ago, having missed Masquerade way back in 2004, and after installing the aforementioned patch I didn't encounter any bugs or crashes. Bloodlines was very unique in the way that it truly encouraged you to immerse yourself in a chosen role. If you pick the Malkavian Clan, for instance, your character is cursed with insanity and all of your text appears distorted. You often speak in metaphor and npcs respond to your eccentricity. Perhaps what I love most about the game is that it doesn't shy away from being politically incorrect. Yes, it's depiction of women can be puerile at times, but Bloodlines owns up to that silliness. It also sports one of the more thoughtfully crafted urban landscapes in gaming. Wandering around LA at night is a thrill, and you even get your own pad complete with a personal ghoul who does your bidding! What's not to like about that? Overall, this game is one of the best from the early days of the Source Engine. It had a rocky start, but like Blade Runner - another work of dystopian scifi set in Los Angeles - Bloodlines has gone down as a cult classic. $20 is a reasonable price and comparable to what Steam charges. If you are hesitant, though, wait for a sale on one of these two platforms. They are pretty common.

This is not an obscure game. A simple search on the Internet will reveal hundreds of mentions of this game in many "Best of..." lists, plus tons of gushing reviews, interviews, critical analyses and retrospectives. I don't have the space or the skill to summarize all that has been written on the game here, so I'll keep it simple: this is one of the best action RPGs ever made, and the first half of the game beats or matches any other competitor. It's a game you HAVE to play if you are into RPGs, vampire stories, or both. Simple as that. As mentioned in other reviews, the game was very buggy at release, and official patches have only marginally solved the issues, so it is very recommended to install one of the many unofficial patches for the best gaming experience. It is also true that although in the first half of the game most builds or approaches are viable, towards the end of the game the amount of choice is reduced considerably and combat proficiency becomes more and more necessary to go on. In my opinion this - although a disappointment - is fundamentally not a game-breaker; if anything makes me wonder how the game could have developed if Troika had the time and the financial means to push their ambitious design as far as they wanted.

Namely when somebody mentions this in any way, shape, or form. Cult classic vampire RPG game that will make paradox sweat balls to über with their upcoming sequel. The most prominent features are the huge story, and the life-like character interactions/ dialogue. Whilst the game has a main story, and countless side-quests they can be finished in many ways, both from the choices you are given and your very own playstyle. Not going to say that this is the best RPG ever since I don't adhere to such notions but this one is pretty strong, so much so that it makes you forget/ forgive all the 2000's jank that comes with it. The gog version has the unofficial patch, but currently it's 10.2, whilst at the writing of this review the available version is 11.1. Go upgrade it.

I'm really not. I don't think vampires are cool, or sexy, or interesting. I'm really not into the whole mythos of them, the gothic aesthetic, or their cultural history. I've dated a girl who thought she was a vampire; was not impressed. When I was told that this game was really good and that I should check it out, my reaction was "....really? But it's about vampires." And I love it. I love this game, vampires and all. It's pretty janky, and a little buggy, and it doesn't look great, and indeed, it IS about vampires, but in spite of all that I can only ever positively glow about it any time I see or hear it mentioned. It's a game that really has it all. It's one of the funniest games I've ever played, even though I would describe it more as a horror/mystery game. The experience of playing through it is drastically different depending on your chosen clan and the way you build your character (while the character options themselves have a great depth to them). The way the game unfolds is largely reflective of your actions, even seemingly minor ones. And while it doesn't boast a particularly large world, it is very richly detailed and dripping with atmosphere. It even actually, kind of, sort of, makes vampires sexy and cool. Plus the soundtrack is all-time all time good. I don't know any other game in which I can stop playing for a few minutes and just vibe out. Being a pretend vampire in a pretend world, and feeling good about it. If any of this sounds remotely enticing, I recommend giving it a try.