Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

I may have been turned off a bit because I played Bloodlines first, which I highly recommend over Redemption if you can find it (it doesn't appear to be on GoG), but Redemption is still a good game. You start in medieval times, becoming a vampire drawn into a conflict with the Sabbat, which carries you to various exotic locations. Without spoiling the story, you eventually end up in more modern times, a vampire out of place in a world of guns and electricity, and must finish your quest by defeating a demon. That summary doesn't do the game justice, it's got well written well spoken characters, and if you don't mind the lack of freedom that comes with Redemption, you'll probably appreciate the story. The graphics have aged well. Still, if you can find it, Bloodlines is highly recommended over this.

The game starts out feeling like a bad Diablo clone, and is especially not helped by the first dungeon being an incredibly boring cave. But as the game goes on, and you finally get vampiric powers and a few levels under your belt, as well as some coterie members, it comes into its own. The dungeons become more visually interesting and intricate, combat becomes more dynamic and fun, and the story and characters get very interesting. That's not to say it becomes a game without flaws, in some ways it still feels like a bad Diablo clone, in that they took a lot of mechanics and ideas from Diablo without really understanding why they worked for that series. Enemies drop random loot but it never comes with random improvements, and some gear needs to be identified, but it identification always results in the same stats, so its just a barrier to equipping the item, and not actually an exciting "what will I get out of this". The coterie AI is also pretty bad, but it became less of an issue as I got further into the game and their stats got better. At first I was in a rush to get to the modern day part, but I did end up really enjoying the 1100s timeline as it showed an aspect of VTM history not often seen in video games (I'm not really familiar with the tabletop but I assume that's all modern day too). But I'm not going to lie, I definitely had the best time once I reached the modern day, as that's not a common setting in this sort of RPG. With all that said when the combat works it is genuinely fun, and the disciplines (spells) add a lot of variety to potential play styles. I'm not going to say "you have to play it for so many hours before it gets good" because that always makes my eyes roll, and if you can't stand the early snooze fest I don't blame you. But if you're willing to put up with a very slow start it does get rewarding the more you play.

Redemption has all the makings of a good Vampire-flavored Diablo-like dungeon hack: good atmosphere, interesting levels, fun powers, and a decent (if completely linear) plot. Unfortunately, it suffers from an atrocious interface and player character AI worse than Knights of the Old Republic. If it were possible to decently micro-manage the characters under your control, it would be worthwhile. Instead, you have to sit and watch while they run back and forth without attacking in the middle of combat, find the most obtuse paths possible, and of course endlessly block each others' movement. The stance system is a decent attempt to correct the poor AI, but instead simply results in characters standing around and doing nothing while they get pounded, or worse yet running off and drawing aggro from enemies rooms away rather then attacking those right next to them. If you loved Bloodlines and are desperate for another V:TM game, you might want to take a look at this; the flaws might be worth weathering to get your Vampire fix. Otherwise, give this game a miss.

Going from a crusader to an ancient vampire and having all the abilities that come with it is great, but really this game just consists of massive numbers of enemies getting in your way on small to medium sized maps to make the game longer. Fun, but feels way too much like the first 20 hours of FFXIII. Long narrow hallways, endless waves of enemies. Worth buying at the GOG discount price, though.

I have to say I realy hoped to enjoy this game but it failed me so hard I feel like I have to submit a review. I loved the Vampire the masquerade - Bloodlines and ı have been warned this is nothing like it. Even then I was hopefull. I was dedicated to enjoy it somehow. At least it is said to have a good story. So I started. I played and endured. Endured so much but enough. Story was promising I'll give you that. The despiration, agony of a righteous man, the atmosphere was good despite the old age graphics. Sound was just fine. But all shattered realy quick. Camera was too narrow, controls were torture. AI? Sorry but didn't see any. While I can cut clean 3 vampires without using any spacial power (which means basicly just clicking them) my NPC "helpers" somehow managed to die miserably agains a single foe. (Don't worry, I am a generous master, gave them quite a good gear). I was even happy when they are not wandering around and lost my track (which sadly happenes not frequently enough) And yes. It is a merely one step above a hach'n slash. Once in a while you can choose what to say but I didn't see any effects on the game so far. Can't say "a good RPG". If you can name a game RPG just because there is a character advancement, inventory system and choosing dialogs, fine but sorry, I can't. I realy tried. I didn't stop trying even my fellows died 15th time against the golem. But enough is enough. There are way better games then this on GOG. Go buy them.