Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

This game is renowned as a classic for very good reasons. Even though the game was marred by a poor release, the foundations of the game were very strong, and modders found ways to truly make it shine. As the title says, play it with unofficial patch plus. I promise you that you won't regret it. The dialogue is great. The writing is near perfect. The ending is quite great too. There is an overarching them throughout the whole game that really ties everything together. The music is spectacular. I can't go further or else I would be spoiling it, so it is best for you to go in blind to get the true experience of it.

Somehow on my 4th playthrough I encountered more bugs and glitches than the entirety of the previous 3 combined. It really complimented the cursed nature of the Nosferatu, which I was finally trying out this time around. Having now sunk nearly 100 hours into Bloodlines I can firmly say this is one of the greatest RPGs available, if you're looking for something that immerses you in its world. Yes the third act is combat focused and yes there's still that dreaded sewer level, but everything else outshines those rough spots. My personal highlights with the game are just roaming around the hub areas and soaking in the night life. Popping out of a sewer cap in Hollywood and seeing the expanse of the city in the distance, as the iconic score (composed by Rik Schaffer) began to play. Magical stuff.

The game has the best characters and dialog I have seen in a video game. Atmosphere is great and tone is mature like few other games (like Fallout 2). These parts make the game feel unique and worth throwing 40 hours in (side quests inlcuded). This said, many other aspects are at best mediocre : level design, combat, sneaking. Even with the unofficial patch, the game remains riddled with bugs: collision, invisible walls, enemies shooting you from nowhere. Some parts of the game are chores, no less, especially the infuriating boss fights and the very last quests with their never ending fights, weird difficulty balance and lacking ammo. The story, while being clever and thrilling in the 3 first parts collapses at the end, taking away one of the best aspect of the game. I think the unique aspects of the game overshadow how clunky and broken it really is. This said, there is nothing like it so if you have the patience, it's highly recommended.

I remember playing Bloodlines against my parents' wishes back in 2005 or so. Anything to do with magic, demons, vampire, or the otherwise supernatural was strictly forbidden, but I was just getting into my teenage years. After watching the Blade trilogy, I was unsurprisingly obsessed with vampires. Anyway, Bloodlines was exactly what I wanted; at the time, I called it "Morrowind with actual vampires." Fast forward to now, where I rediscovered this classic and am having so much fun. It's been so long that it feels like a new game to me, especially with some mods thrown in to improve things a bit. Considering the recent announcement of the sequel, now's a great time to come back to this and play it. Sure, it hasn't aged well graphically and the some of the voice work is downright terrible, but it woos with its charm, its mystique, and its otherwise awesome writing and atmosphere.

Отличная игра, с захватывающим и продуманным сюжетом для своего времени. Если бы можно было добавлять родной язык, а неофициальный русификатор есть - проблема в том, что при запуске с ярлыка - язык всё равно английский. Great game, with exciting and clever storyline for its time. If you could add the native language, and informal Softonic is - the problem is that when you start with a label - the language is still English.