Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

This game was a good introduction to the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. Even reading the manual was pretty enjoyable, and the love of story, character development and roleplaying is obvious in the writing and voicework. It feels like a very developed world, despite the dated graphics. Whenever the game involves characters interacting, it's highly enjoyable. Unfortunately, the majority of the game is tedious combat with high difficulty and poor controls, fighting the same two or three enemies per area and making frequent trips back to town to sell your loot. The levels seem to be designed for one person, and your party of up to four at once will literally get jammed into doorways and stairwells, or followers will get stuck on boxes and have to be micromanaged just to keep them from falling behind. Some levels are very atmospheric and fun, if rather repetitive, but others are dull and lifeless and can't end soon enough. So much of the game seems like padding, from the two different kinds of shops on opposite ends of town, to the lack of any kind of fast-travel system, to the countless rooms and corridors that become disorienting in their similarity, to the frequent backtracking to places you've just been. The different kinds of vampires are well-defined, at least, and do feel like distinct clans or species with different abilities and customs... it just gets boring fighting dozens and dozens of the same ones in a row. I ended up cheating a bit just to advance the story as quickly as possible and skip the endless combat and looting, and got some enjoyment out of the character interactions and plot. I'm hoping Bloodlines has better gameplay, because I really do enjoy the world of Vampire: The Masquerade, but this seemed like a pretty flawed way of making it into a PC game.

A game that (almost) no one knows about. I have been playing this game for years and years. It is one of those you either love of hate. There is a lot of reading for those of us that like that in a game. It is an RPG that isn't. The story is staight forward with little to no difference in how you play. Combat can be tedious but that gives you the chance to play around with your magic vs melee. Go in with the though of this is an older game that aged.... OK.

This is an old game, and for me one of the best role playing games, and still stands equal to anything done today. The history and lore of the Vampire world is so absorbing, this series could have run and run, shame it ended with only two games to the name. Thje Medieval period was my favourite era, and I hoped they would have done something similar with the second gane.

This game was flawed, yes, but still awesome. The graphics were incredible at the time (barely ran on my PC back then) and the game was fun, challenging and mature. Those who dismiss it because it isn't as good as Bloodlines are firstly comparing two completely different games, and secondly will be missing out on a unique experience, with excellent music, characters, atmosphere and progression. I highly recommend checking it out if you enjoy games of this type. Few games really explore vampirism quite as deeply as Masquerade, and that includes Bloodlines.

VTM: Redemption is an excellent action-RPG set in the VTM universe. You play a young crusader named Christof who is turned during the Middle Ages and subsequently buried unalive for five or six centuries. Christof's mission is to find some way to redeem both himself and his lost love Anezka. Along the way, he joins forces with (and does battle against) representatives of many of the clans found in the game fiction. As Christof and his companions level up, their blood pools and the different clan-related blood abilities they can access increase. Unfotunately, unlike in Troika's 2004 follow-up, in Redemption, the player does not get to choose the protagonist's clan (he is made a Brujah). Nevertheless, Christof's story and the characters he meets are compelling and the gameplay is quite good. This is one of those underrated gems that you might have missed the first time around; if so, grab it.