Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

The world of Vampire the Masquerade is fangtastic, bloody amazing and humorously batty. After the great success with Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption, Activision You start your journey by plunging into the world of darkness after a dark kiss. Having woken up that morning as a mortal, and gotten 'lucky' enough to have gone to bed that night with someone who turns out to be a real pain in the neck, you start the night as a kindred, a vampire. The world of darkness throws you right into the fangs of the politics of vampire society right after you have been newly sired. It is a lot to take in, but as your initial mentor, Jack, informs you of what you are and teaches you what 'The Masquerade' is, you start to get the hang of it. Jack also tells you about the big players in town.. About the Camarilla and the Sabbat - the two main vampire factions in the game. Taking roleplay to new heights with making the different clans have some specific powers and benefits that can have some story impacts. The music brings a great atmosphere to the game and the Source Engine displays some nice graphics for its time. There are even more factions and clans to encounter in this dark, gritty and exciting world that Troika Games splendidly paints up. We can't talk about VtM:B without adressing its claws.. I mean flaws, Troika Games have always made fun games, sadly, not the most stable ones. Which is why GOGcom has taken steps to make sure this GOG version is released with WESP5's Vanilla Unofficial Patch from the get go! Plug and Play! This is a game for any RPG fan out there, it got everything you want: Talents and Skills, Story, Action, Intrigues, Friggin Chicken, Deb, Sexy vampires and different ways of completing quests. PLUS it is DRM-FREE, vanilla patched and ready to go. As a recommendation: Get the Unofficial Patch for the PLUS version by WESP5 if you want the restored content and some extra bells and whistles.

One of the best (Action) RPG's of all time, finally, DRM-free! Supreme Storytelling, excellent Atmosphere, a gorgeous Soundtrack, awesome and interesting Characters with, indeed, superbly written dialogues (and a fairly OK Combat-system) make this game stand out from the rest. Truly, a Masterpiece. Don't forget to apply the (unofficial) patch, and trust me when I say, this game is worth every single penny.

Пишу это своей заражённой кровью... Очень интересная, но не отполированная игра. Заброшенность сказалась на многом: отсутствие баланса навыков, линейность сюжета, мазохистские виды оружия, суицидальность боссов и т.п. Но, как говорят, хорошую идею трудно победить, поэтому эта игра приобрела статус культовой. Скептики скажут, что культовость здесь обусловлена не качеством продукта, а ролевым сеттингом "Маскарада", очень популярным у американской молодёжи (весьма вероятный источник кадров для Белого дома, Пентагона и Гос.депа...), но я полюбил эту игру не являясь ролевиком или готом и настоятельно рекомендую её к прохождению всем без исключения. Несколько советов новичкам, чтобы кайфануть при первом же прохождении: 1. Основных путей развития здесь всего два: - работа над шеями врагов в глубоком тылу в роли "сказочного воина тени"; - или стрельба в качестве приветствия, с мимикой героев К. Иствуда. 2. Не пытайтесь стать хакером, т.к. все пароли статичны и их можно узнавать сохраняясь и временно вкладываясь в hacking из запаса очков навыков. 3. Первые три физические характеристики временно максимизируются способностью "blood buff", которая есть у всех классов. Поэтому мудрецы в них не вкладываются, а носферату поднимают только dexterity, влияющую на всегда необходимую им скрытность. 4. Не игнорируйте огнестрел, т.к. здесь не создана система ближнего боя, которая позволит Вам фехтовать с боссами (за то существуют баги для их отстрела как кроликов). 5. Книги помогают постичь основы, а не сэкономить кучу очков навыков. 6. Главное не финал, а участие (представьте, что Вас пригласили сняться в Игре Престолов... в одном из сезонов). Думаю проклятье Troika Games уже проникает в Вас, уважаемый читатель и на этом свою миссию считаю выполненной! La revedere.

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.